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16 Małgorzata Z. Król

gonc through numcrous revi$ions we lind “Ucmocratic State is baicd on the idea of separatum of powers which disallows lawrnaking by the courts'7¹ which statement is foltowcd by “Not bcing an independent source of law the courtf - through their interprctive activibcs and, above all, inle/cncing (whereby norm* arc inferrcd from other nonrn) as well as by rccognising custom - mty efTect the way legał norrr.s arc cstablishcd, if only by making them morc precisc or specific. This is cquivaicnt to according the judicature a measurc of law makmg powers. Soch a sub-sidiary rulc of the courts in the Polish system is bowcvcr mhcrently intertwincd with the judicial application of law/*¹* In another civil law tcxt (by Uwa Lętowska, a rccogniscd expert) there is a chaptcr on the functional aspect of the sources of law wherc we read that those inelude the usual rulcs of social inicrcoursc. custom. social conventions as wdl as carlicr adjudication. The author then goes on to stress that “adjudicating by the courts is not the same as law making - it is judicial application of law in specific situations. Whcn it comcs to the interpretation of generał, often fu łzy eoncepta or regulations related to rules of soda! inicrcoursc, the courts cnjoy much morc intcrprctivc freedom then in the casc of 'normal' legał niles. In that rcspcct tbc courts arc involvcd in law making • • - \ Functionally speaking. adjudication by the courts can and docs involvc a crcative aspect rclativc to the legał system. For all their protestations to | Ihc contrary. the courts do contributc to law making.® At the same tirac legał theorists make frcqucnt references to adjudicatory practioes whcn discussing IcgaJ institutions, though they hardly cvcr usc the word ‘precedens.*¹ While constitulional writings do not considcr the functional or factual elTects of prccedcnt by definition. Polish legał theory has rccently I shown increasing interest in it, the most likcly rcason beiog Połaod*s accession to the EU and the need for the lega] profession to bccomc familiar with EU law and the laws of other member States.

¹¹ Z. Rad wańiki. Prano cywilne - czgłć agoJńtt |Q%il law - General pani. & od. War uawa 2003, p 42.

* Ibidem.

⁹ Ł Iflowika, PoJua+y pe*w* cywilnego |Bacc cmi law], Wa/izaw* 1993. pp Si 55.

⁹ Scc c g A. Szpon ar. Komentarz prawu wekilemtgo * prawo ciekowego tCommenury to law of eachange and cbojue law], Wirem 1994. p. R. M Pyiiak-Szaf aick t, Dino*ie długu lAccepunoe of debel Wartzaw* 1996^ p 11 lf; M Pyziak Szafmeka. Potrącenie w prawi* cywilnym (IfeducUoft of debt ra cml lawl Zakamycze 2002, p. 2tł, J Jankowski, Przebieg poUfponcnśa egzekucyjnego, upadłość urn ego i układowego Strukturo poUfpowań w ujęciu dynamicznym [Ihc cotne of etecution, hanknipecy and court agreematt prcKctdirjci A d>niruc approach Co ihe procedurę], Zakamyczc 1999. p. 23f. A Kidy ba. Atypowe tpółki handle** e (AlbypocaJ commercuJ ccenpanjcv[. Zakamyczc 2001. p ISf; A. Ml* na Alk i. Prana i obowiązki nzstfpcow prawnych w pranie podatkowym fRighu and dutiet of legał mcoeuor* in la* law], Waiirawa 2001, p. 47f.

In Polaad‘s cooimunist past (beforc 1989) Ihc acocptcd vicw was that law making was the cxclusavc prcrogative of the parhamcnl . . bdng in a sense a rcprcscntation of the clcctoratc's socio-political op*.nions. The objcctłve was (o make surę that the norms (abstract and generał) thus cnacted be of the highest rank. law making by any other organ would thus violate the ideological principles."”

One may think that the infleaibte stance charactcnstic of communist Foland was rooted in tbc ideology of the day. Afler all the rcprcscntation of the nation that the parliament (sejm) was involvcd carcfully selccted individuais who wcrc thus given powers to make the laws. Still. another rdevant factor in the Polish contest was the legał positivism that dominatod both in legał theory and in judicial practice.

The post 1989 transformauon has brought with it, among others, demys-tification and dcmythologssalion of the proccsscs of law making and application. A gro w mg volumc of writmg takes a fresh look al the quc$t:on of prcccdcnt and the law making aspect of adjudication.^u

VI. SUMMAKY

The Polish legał system being o( the statutory kmd by deTinilion, thcrc ii no room in it for prcccdcnt. The task of the courts, as prescribcd :n the country constitution, is the admuustration of justice basing on the legał norms laid down by the Polish parliament. Howcvcr, the laws - all laws - arc a product of language, with all that involves, includmg amhiguity and fu/ziness and. for that reason, they usually havc to be madę morc preosc. The judicial application of law consists in derivmg a particular, concrctc norm from the norm that is generał and abstract. In performing such an operation a jtidge intcrprcts generał norms rclying, in addition, on a vancty of inferemial rules Moreover, in this process hc or she makes usc of prcccdcnt, drawing insptration from decisions or arguments cmploycd in other similar cascs.

A particular concrctc norm amved at in this way has a normativc-linguistic basis. in this sense it is possibłe to regard statutory law, mcluding Polish law, as involving the prcccdcnt principlc. In the present discussion such prcccdcnt is referred to as *rcgulative'. It can be found in all typcs of legał system if only bccausc it is a conscqucncc of the naturę and language

“ J Wtóbicwtki,    łMWWiut..., p. 399.

¹¹ Set U Leszczyński, op en. Chapc 7; L Morawski, <Hó»nt probUmy mfutiruw; filozof u prań er. Prawo w toku prumtaa fMijor atua tn cenlccipomy ptilosopfcy of law. law li the procesi of tłansfornulioo|. War run* 2000. p 21 If.