Jerusalem, especially the Temple Mount (Moriah), has been sanctified by the three biggest monotheistic religions. By Judaism – the binding of Isaac (Old Testament), King David pronouncing Jerusalem the capital of the ancient country of Israelites, and two demolished temples. By Christianity – Christ prayed in the Second Temple, becoming later crucified and buried in Jerusalem. The ruins of the Second Temple became the site where the Muslim Al-Aqsa Mosque was built. The contemporary conflict is marked by: the emergence of the State of Israel (1948) and the capturing of Jerusalem (1967), Russian influences exerted by the Orthodox Church and Oriental churches, the political impact of Jewish messianism combined with a mass support for evangelical fundamentalism as offered by the Republican Party in the US,the conflict between the West and Israel, focusing on Jerusalem as the tinderbox for “contemporary messiahs”.

The paper indicates the most important arguments raised by the participants in the dispute concerning the possibility of control by the administrative courts of decisions of the President of the Republic of Poland on the refusal to appoint a judge and an attempt to make a substantive evaluation of them. In my opinion, the refusal to appoint a judge, as well as refusal to accept the judge’s position under the amended Act on the Supreme Court (SC) should be strictly exceptional and in principle be justified at the constitutional level, which should be seen as the duty of the President to ensure compliance with the Constitution. Both of these resolutions should contain the motives of the President, which would make this act, with all its arbitrariness, more transparent. This is important not only from the point of view of the person concerned, but this also has an important social dimension. The public has the right to know, not only which candidates, who met the requirements for the appointment as a judge and were recommended by the National Council of the Judiciary of Poland (NCJ), were not appointed by the President, but also what reasons were at the heart of such a decision of the Head of State.

In 1942 the American military authorities interned over 120 thousand persons of Japanese ancestry in fear of sabotage on behalf of Japan. In a landmark 1944 case the Supreme Court rehabilitated Fred Korematsu but upheld constitutionality of the wartime laws leading to the internment. As transpired later, there was no evidence of the Japanese-Americans’ forming a fifth-column. The court decision was criticized as unconstitutional and driven by racism. In view of the dissenting judges and commentators it was condemned by the court of history. This article claims that the original decision was justified by the circumstances of the war, including the uncertainties it brought with it. Unless we equip the government with the power of clairvoyance, it has to be able to act, and even err, in emergency. The debate around Korematsu ignored the previous experience of both World Wars in which German fifth columns were active and effective. One such eyewitness account, not known in Western literature, is presented in the article. Modern his-tory confirms that the fifth column as such is a timeless phenomenon. The fear of hybrid wars techniques, justified or not, has led to the reemergence of the fifth column legislation in XXI century, although the range legal instruments intended to contain it is different. It is too early for judges and scholars to speak authorita-tively on behalf of the court of history, for history is still in the making.

Jerusalem, especially the Temple Mount (Moriah), has been sanctified by the three biggest monotheistic religions. By Judaism – the binding of Isaac (Old Testament), King David pronouncing Jerusalem the capital of the ancient country of Israelites, and two demolished temples. By Christianity – Christ prayed in the Second Temple, and was later crucified and buried in Jerusalem. The ruins of the Second Temple be-came the site where the Muslim Al-Aqsa Mosque was built.
The contemporary conflict is marked by: the emergence of the State of Israel (1948) and the capturing of Jerusalem (1967), Russian influences exerted by the Orthodox Church and Oriental churches, the political impact of Jewish messianism combined with a mass support for evangelical fundamentalism as offered by the Republican Party in the US, the conflict between the West and Israel, focusing on Jerusalem as the tinderbox for “contemporary messiahs”.

This article discusses the issue of explanations given by an accused person, showing their dual nature - that of evidence and that of a measure used for the purpose of defence. The author raises a question if the scope of the right to defence granted to the accused encompasses the right to lie, and takes a stand on the limits to the accused making false statements. This is followed by comments on the practice of defence counsels making use of falsehood as part of their defence strategies. The reflection has been based on the author's own studies involving in-depth interviews made with barristers working as defence counsels.

Artykuł omawia Case Method – dominującą metodę edukacyjną stosowaną w amerykańskich szkołach prawa, która polega na nauczaniu prawa poprzez analizę orzeczeń sądowych, stworzoną w latach 70. XIX w. przez Christophusa Collumbusa Langdella. Langdell postrzegał prawo jako naukę, podobną do fizyki czy chemii, a więc jako uporządkowany system obiektywnej wiedzy. Stworzona przez niego metoda nauczania służyć miała przygotowaniu osób zajmujących się prawem w sposób naukowy. W artykule przedstawiona została koncepcja prawa Langdella, oraz wpływ, jaki jego metoda nauczania wywarła na nurty amerykańskiej filozofii prawa – klasyczną jurysprudencję oraz realizm prawniczy.