Constitutional crisis confronts legal practice with philosophical problems that normally may seem abstract or even purely academic. Among those, there is a question of material (content-dependent) criteria of legal validity, namely whether legal norms may actually have any content and remain binding elements of the law. It becomes palpable due to the legislative initiatives to decriminalize some violations of law committed by governmental officials. Such regulation deserves discussion in the light of theoretical conceptions of the claim to correctness (justice, righteousness) as a necessary feature of each act of enacting or applying the law. Arguably, even weaker conception of such claim, relying on the correctness relative to the public morality reflected in the fundamental values and principles of the positive law, is sufficient to challenge the potential presumption of validity of such decriminalizing provisions entailed by their possible formally accurate enactment.

The necessity of providing healthcare to citizens is one of the basic principles of every state, regulated by provisions of national, EU or international law and comple-mented by soft law. Civilisational changes and technological advancement make it possible to develop new healthcare tools and services (i.a. telemonitoring, telecon-sulting, telerehabilitation and electronic medical documentation). The COVID-19 pandemic greatly emphasised the need to provide such services. The wide use of e-health, however, which may be a remedy for numerous problems that the health-care sector is wrestling with, requires securing the rights of those who are not digitally included, especially the elderly. The prevalence of various degrees of digital exclusion, not only among the elderly, makes these issues socially significant and they should be solved by law. The purpose of the article is an initial analysis of the validity of developing e-health services in the ageing society in Poland and a presentation of proposals for adjusting legal solutions as regards the use of digital tools in healthcare to the changing reality.

Recently, interest in the method of administrative law regulations to tackle the problems of labour law has remained high in the Polish doctrine of labour law. New studies on this subject emerge every now and then. Leaving aside the perceived validity of the method to arrange labour law relations based on public law, I would like to point to the undoubted “appeal” of the axiological foundations of administrative law for the labour law system and, at the same time, to reflect on the consequences of the aforesaid axiology when looking at the potential choice between the method based on private law or public law in the realm of labour law relations. I assume that such a choice should be ultimately made for the sake of the science of labour law. However if labour is treated as a commodity, there can be no question of an extensive axiology that highlights the good of humans and the morality of the employer.

One of the main provisions in shaping legal obligations between the parties is the freedom of contract. Although the parties are free to choose the provisions of their agreement, the content and the aim of the contract cannot contradict the essence and nature of the contract of employment, the act and the principles of the community life. Thereby, in order to engage an employee based on a long term contract of employment for a specified period, along with a short, two weeks notice termination period, justified and rational presumptions should be in place. In other words, taking into consideration current provisions of law, long term contract of employment is acceptable; however its validity is depended on the circumstances of each individual case.

The article attempts to confront the concepts relating to the force of res judicata and its subjective limits present in the doctrine and jurisdiction with the current wording of the provisions regulating this institution and the provisions concerning enforcement-warrant proceedings which ensure a possibility to pursue a claim indicated in a judgment having the force of res judicata through enforcement proceedings. In the following article, the author presents the existing assumptions of the doctrine regarding mutual relations between the validity of judgment and the authority of res judicata. The author also analyses the possibility of granting the enforcement order against as well as in favour of a third party intervener, but also a uniform participant not indicated in the operative part of the judgment from the standpoint of the doctrine and jurisdiction. Taking into account the above mentioned considerations, the author concludes that in the light of the existing regulations, the concept of the force of res judicata whose subjective scope is limited to the parties to the proceedings indicated in the operative part of the judgement seems to be the most adequate.

This article concerns the problem associated with the nature of the institution of a petition for reconsideration of the case in view of regulation No 16 of the Administrative Procedur Code in the version before the amendment dated 3 December 2010, which entered into force on 11 April 2011. Despite the amendment, to this day the provision is the source of many disputes, which is reflected in a very non-uniform judicial practice. On the basis of this regulation can be observed, how defective constructed legal provisions affect the administration of justice and the application of the law by creating situations in which the courts take over the functions of law making. On the selected example is shown, how one decision of the Supreme Court, being the basis of decisions of courts of appeal, causes that victims defective administrative decision are charged with the responsibility for legislative errors. Knowledge of the matter, which is the subject of this publication, is extremely important for all practitioners as well as theorists of the law because of the importance of the issues, which accompany the main theme. The work is based on an analysis of the concept of finality and validity of administration decision and depth on theoretical consideration and extensive discussion of the judicial practice of administrative courts, civil courts and Constitutional Tribunal.

The paper analyses challenging the validity of an employment contract by the Social Insurance Institution, in the course of a control of correctness of the determination of the social insurance obligation that results from the employee status. In the first part, the author analyses the problem of a fictitious contract and acting against the law or with the intention to circumvent the law, or contrary to the principles of community life. He indicates documents and information that are most often requested by ZUS, and describes the situations which are most thoroughly examined. In the next part, following issues are examined: the existence of an employment relation, salary, employing relatives, concluding the employment contract in order to register for insurance purposes and the situation of pregnant employees or employees shortly before retirement. The paper is concluded with the most frequent arguments for, or against the existence of employment and the most advantageous practices to litigate with the ZUS are described.

The aim of the article is to outline the relationship between the rule of law and civic engagement in the public sphere and to attempt to answer the question whether the rule of law can be an effective tool in preventing the transformation of democracy in a tyranny of the majority; whether it can also create optimal conditions for democracy to develop. In other words, does the rule of law serve democracy and political engagement or does it rather limit the spontaneity of civic activity because stability cannot be reconciled with the freedom of citizens? The current “juridification” of the public domain (the expansion of law into various areas of social existence) marginalises the validity and scope of civic presence in the decision-making process in the name of law-abidingness and the neutrality of instruments of control and of choices made by the ruling power. Can the effective solution to this situation be the opening of the concept of the rule of law to the idea of political nature and the expansion of the domain of grassroots participation?