Marcus Tullius Cicero, who was an active politician, diplomat, philosopher, and statesman during the declining period of the Roman Republic, became an ideal inspiration for leading figures of the American Revolution because of his attitudes and scholarly activities. The influence of his views can be seen in the political system and the Federal Constitution of the United States. In addition, the natural law he advocated and the concept of private property became the foundation on which the American legal system is based.

The regulations introduced by the Act of November 4, 2022 amending the Act on the National Court Register, the Act on the Code of Civil Procedure and the Act on the Code of Commercial Companies constitute the first stage of implementation of Directive 2019/1151 of the European Parliament and of the Council (EU) of June 20, 2019. These regulations are primarily intended to facilitate the functioning of entrepreneurs in the sphere of economic turnover. Despite the broad scope of the regulations of the so-called „company law package” in Directive 2019/1151, it should be recognized that the implementation law itself is not revolutionary. This is due to the fact that most of the regulations contained therein are already successfully applicable in Poland, while the changes introduced are primarily aimed at organizing the Polish legal system and facilitating access to information about entrepreneurs. The purpose of this article is to present the statutory changes consisting in the implementation into the Polish legal order of the regulations included in the so-called „package of company law” and the scope of implementation, as well as an attempt to assess the rationale for their introduction

Primary elections are a new element in the ‘periodical table’ of Hungarian politics and were already used for the selection candidates in some instances in 2019. In preparation for the upcoming parliamentary elections in 2022, a cooperation scheme is taking shape among opposition parties, involving all currently decisive players on that political side. Entailing a scope broader than ever before, this cooperation also involves the organisation of primary elections for selecting the candidate for the Prime Minister and the candidates in single-member constituencies. The primaries are organised by the six opposition parties running together in the 2022 Hungarian parliamentary election. If held, it would be the first countrywide primary election in Hungary. This study looks beyond the specific solutions that may be applied in relation to the upcoming primaries. It provides a working definition of the term itself, briefly reviews the international and Hungarian antecedents of primaries, also outlining the reasons why this solution came to the fore in Hungary. Then the study sets out to predict the ‘evolutionary trajectory’ along which primary elections will become institutionalised here, spelling out the potential phases of development. In the latter context, this paper touches on the private law and public law implications of primaries and raises a scenario in which government parties also begin to apply this new political tool.

This article provides only a small contribution to the inevitable scholarly discussion on whether excluding the primacy of the literal rule in favour of the priority of a pro-EU teleological interpretation in the judicial and administrative applications of Polish tax law is really reasonable. Firstly, this article sets out to discuss the stages of the transposition of the concept of a household from EU legislation into the provisions of the Excise Duty Act. Secondly, it presents the evolution in the lines of the interpretation of this term as used by tax authorities and national courts. Thirdly, it demonstrates the negative legal and fiscal consequences that are caused in practice by the definition of this term as framed by the Polish legislator.

Many of the principles of taxation that were developed in the first half of the 20th century, such as the arm’s length principle and the definition of the term “permanent establishment” (PE) in determining the tax position of international business operations, when applied to the business models of the 21st century, often result in the under-taxation of businesses that are otherwise fully compliant with the laws as presently written and implemented. Compounding the problem is the fact that these rules and principles of taxation are broadly recognized and are enshrined in a wide network of tax treaties. This makes the task of modifying or updating these rules and principals extremely difficult. Using legal-dogmatic and legal-theoretical methods, the author will show that present attempts to tax e-commerce transactions unilaterally are not effective and that, under present conditions, even organizations such as the EU are unable to address the problem at hand. The OECD project, commissioned by the G-20, which seeks to create a set of international e-commerce taxation rules, faces some very serious difficulties – largely because a well-established “set in stone” complement of internationally accepted laws, rules, and regulations is serving to block the development of new, more appropriate rules. This phenomenon has become known as the lock-in effect or legal impossibilism. In order to effectively address this phenomenon, lawmakers on a global basis must understand the mechanisms that are blocking the effective evolution of business taxation.

Since 7th November 2019 most provisions of The Act of 4th July 2019 on Amendments to the Code of Civil Procedure and on Amendments to the Other Acts have been applied. Among many revolutionary changes to the rules on conducting trial proceedings, worth noticing is the content of the Code of Civil Procedure Art. 2711. It concerns the admissibility of evidence that differs from traditional oral form. This paper discusses the practical problems in admissibility and examination of evidence from witness testimony in written form. The issues summoning of the witness, forms, cautions and list of questions that are demanded to be answered in a witness statement are also addressed here. Furthermore, there are proposals of practical arrangements, so this new provision would be applied by court, therefore it would contribute to the efficiency of judicial procedures. This article published in January 2020 is considered to be the preliminary proposal to academic and practical discussion about legitimacy of implementation of described solution and its effective use.

The paper analyses a referendum on Scotland’s independence held on 18 September 2014, in particular within the legislative and political framework of the devolution settlement, implemented across the United Kingdom since 1997. Development of Scottish political separatism under the Scottish National Party and its long-time leader Alex Salmond has led to radical changes in the pattern of politics in Scotland. The pro independence SNP has ruled in Edinburgh since 2007, first through a minority government and then securing an absolute majority at Holyrood. It had consistently pushed for a referendum on independence and, after several months of negotiations, managed to sign on 15 October 2012 the Edinburgh Agreement with the British government. The Agreement paved the way for legislation regarding the referendum, in the form of the Scottish Independence Referendum (Franchise) Act and the Scottish Independence Referendum Act. “Yes” vote on 18 September would undoubtedly have enormous constitutional, political, economic, and social consequences for everyone involved, including the complex issues of Scotland’s EU and NATO membership, the exploitation of massive North Sea oil and gas reserves and retaining the British pound as future Scottish currency. But “No” vote would also mean significant adjustment of the British territorial constitution and considerable changes of Scotland’s relationship with the rest of the UK.

Among the institutions adopted from Roman law whose historical evolution within ius commune is particularly interesting, it is worth pointing out the issues connected with the distribution of damage incurred as a result of throwing a part of the cargo overboard from a ship due to the risk of its sinking because of overload. Deliberations of Roman lawyers, gathered under the title De lege Rhodia de iactu, were object of medieval jurists’ creative interpretation. The role of the glossators’ school representatives seems to be particularly significant here as an important contribution to the development of the European legal doctrine in subsequent centuries. In the modern era, the innovations introduced by representatives of this school were considered communis opinio doctorum and it was applied in legal practice of the Imperial Chamber Court of the Reich. Its purpose was compensation for any damage incurred in joint interest or in other people’s interest, which was reflected in the content of ABGB, the Polish Civil Code and Roman-Dutch Law.

The objective of this study is to discuss the principles of the lump-sum personal income tax applied in Poland in the years 1950–1997. The analysis of the aforesaid historical legal constructs could, to a certain extent, constitute a benchmark for legislators and reformists of the current Polish personal income tax and, in practice, appear (at least for certain groups of taxpayers) to be an attractive and alternative form of income burden.

The article aims to cover the issue of foreign entities having a “fixed establishment” in a given country. A phenomenon discussed at length in recent months, but one that entities conducting digital business seem to have not really explored in great detail in the context of determination of the principles of taxation of VAT transactions. In this article, we will attempt to analyse the definition of FE on the basis of both binding legal regulations and the existing Polish and EU judicial decisions. At the same time, we will try to answer the question about the impact of the practice of tax authorities pursued in the area of interpretation of the conditions for a FE to be established on the stability of tax settlements of taxpayers operating in the digital industry. In addition to that, the authors will also try to arrive at a balance among the current views on FE, which depict Poland from the tax administration perspective as a country with highly unstable tax practices, detached from logical arguments and unaware of the nature of business.

This paper concerns a broader technological revolution which is currently happening all around the world, including Poland, in terms of tax return completion. The paper is divided into parts. The individual parts indicate and describe the current state, change-causing factors as well as the changes progressing currently both in Poland and the world. The purpose of this paper is to analyse and describe the possibilities resulting from the automation of the tax returns completion process and to determine the directions of potential changes in the future.

100 years of constitutionalism of two neighbouring European states – Czechoslovakia, later becoming the Czech Republic, and Poland – encourage a reflection on the paths of development of their respective constitutions, on the historical stages and successive
olitical transformations, not just in the context of individual constitutionalisms of each of those states but with an emphasis on the similarities and differences in this domain. And this is what this study focuses on. Starting from the common fate of rebirth of both states after WWI through the inter-war efforts to establish democratic constitutional systems and the obstacles found on the way, followed by the post-WWII period of real socialism ending with the era of transformations and stabilisation as democratic states of law. The text explores all the similarities found in both general aspects – like the references to the European tradition of parliamentary governance – and in certain specific solutions – like the differences in the concept of the two-chamber parliament. But there are also situations occurring in only one of the states, e.g. the federalisation of Czechoslovakia, the emergence of two separate states of the Czechs and Slovaks, or the differences in the course and sequence of events of democratic transformations in each of the states in the 1980s, which brings us to the conclusion that despite all the possible differences, the two constitutional systems have actually been very similar to each other.

The study is an attempt to present the situation of Poland and Lithuania after their accession to the European Union, and of the evolution of social assessment of the membership in the Union by Poles. A particularly important moment is the transition from looking at the EU from the point of view of the material benefits associated with the accession to looking at the European Community as a community of values, one that guarantees European solidarity and equal opportunities, also in the material sphere. The authors consider whether the national (and nationalist) sentiments, along with demanding attitudes in Poland towards the states of “the old union” constitute a threat to the adoption of common values and the role of Poland in the European community.

Environmental impact assessment (EIA) is a tool that allow predicting the environmental
effects of a project. Undoubtedly, the basic element of the EIA is the EIA report: and if so, the question arises who is qualified to prepare the report. The purpose of the study is to present the evolution of the rights of EIA report experts from the 1970s to modern times, presented from the perspective of legal sciences. The implementation of the amended Directive 2011/92 took place from 1 January 2017 by introducing formal education criteria and / or experience for EIA experts, which were softened by the amendment of 19 July 2019. In the study, I put forward the thesis that there is a tendency in Polish legislation
to lower the requirements for EIA experts, which makes national regulation contrary to the spirit of Directive 2011/92. Research methods used in the study include primarily the dogmatic approach, the method of consistent interpretation, and – to a lesser extent – the comparative and historical method.

Environmental impact assessment (EIA) is a tool that allow predicting the environmental effects of a project. Undoubtedly, the basic element of the EIA is the EIA report: and if so, the question arises who is qualified to prepare the report. The purpose of the study is to present the evolution of the rights of EIA report experts from the 1970s to modern times, presented from the perspective of legal sciences. The implementation of the amended Directive 2011/92 took place from 1 January 2017 by introducing formal education criteria and/or experience for EIA experts, which were softened by the amendment of 19 July 2019. In the study, I put forward the thesis that there is a tendency in Polish legislation
to lower the requirements for EIA experts, which makes national regulation contrary
to the spirit of Directive 2011/92. Research methods used in the study include primarily the dogmatic approach, the method of consistent interpretation, and – to a lesser extent – the comparative and historical method.

It is a widespread opinion that modern jurisprudence was shaped first of all by the tradition of Roman law. In this article author tries to explain why ancient Greek legal thought should be equally important. As an example he considers the evolution and the different meanings of the concept of nomos. Four issues are presented in this paper. First, nomos in the political philosophy of Carl Schmitt and Giorgio Agamben. Secondly, nomos in one of Pindar’s poems. Thirdly, the distinction between physis and nomos made by the sophists. Fourthly, thesmos, nomos and psephisma in the legislative practice of Athenian ekklesia.

In the article, I contrast the contemporary legal dogma with the challenges underlying the political nature of law and judicial practice. Both the Continental jurisprudence and the judicial decisions issued by European courts are dominated by the dogmatic current – and treated as politically neutral acts. My intention is to carefully verify this quite common belief in this paper. Making use of H. Berman’s views, I assume that the present shape of jurisprudence and the judicial practice based thereon have been established as a result of political conflicts and that the legal dogma is capable of neutralising and solving modern-day political conflicts precisely because of the qualities of the said shape. It is therefore both a political and an apolitical activity. But this paradox is only apparent. In its strive to keep its paradigm alive, the dogma should be flexible in reacting to the challenges occurring in its political environment. It can – and should – modify the “buffer” of the theory upon which it is set in order to retain its core. In the article, I try to answer the question about the boundaries of the possible adaptation of jurisprudence and juridical practice with respect to claims raised by the domain of politics – claims currently articulated as the strongest by the so-called critical theories of adjudication. The final part of the paper is an attempt – based on the example of theses formulated in monograph
by R. Mańko, W stronę krytycznej filozofii orzekania – to outline the said boundaries.

This article provides an outline as to the functioning of “Amparo,” a Mexican mechanism of constitutional control. From the time of its introduction to Mexican constitutionalism in 1847, it has established itself as a robust constitutional control mechanism and has profoundly influenced Latin American constitutionalism and other countries in establishing similar mechanisms. This paper provides a summary of its evolution, functioning, and main procedural aspects.