The restoration of public service in Poland has been a major factor contributing to a more intense research into the legal nature of employment relationships in public administration. The framework for the debate, in legal terms, is determined by the concept of the civil service law, whose objective scope and place in the legal system are not universally accepted. Therefore, the civil service law is treated as part of the labour or administrative laws, with views in this respect demarcated primarily by a researcher’s field of specialisation.
This paper is a voice in the debate about the attribution of the civil servic law to a branch of law. The basis of entering into a legal relationship is assumed to decide its classification to the labour or civil service law. Hence, the contract of employment, designation, appointment, and selection are analysed as acts creating the legal relationships of employment. The research implies the civil service law is part of the labour law, while the relationships of employment it governs are special, given the type of work provided by those subject to the civil service law.

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.

In our presentation, we review the procedure and method of meeting the electoral bodies of different (mainly European) countries – in particular the issue of ensuring the publicity and extent to which they can operate online. In addition, we examine in more detail the practice and procedural method of the Hungarian electoral bodies, in particular the National Election Commission. Based on the above, we also outline the possibilities for the further development of Hungarian practice. Our main findings: it is clear that although online meetings of election commissions are still used only in several countries, but the COVID-19 epidemic has highlighted the need to open up to the online space not only in the election process but also in the practice of individual election bodies. The regulations of the Hungarian National Election Commission define the rules of online meetings in great detail. This makes Hungary one of the few EU countries where it is possible to meet by videoconference. In our opinion, this direction will become decisive in the EU countries in the coming years. Moreover, we do not consider it inconceivable that the entire electoral process (including remote voting) should be digitised, as is the case in Estonia. However, this still requires many steps to be taken by individual countries to increase voter confidence in digitisation. For now, however, we have to be satisfied with one of the positive benefits of the COVID-19 epidemic: the ability to online meetings of election commissions.

The paper presents the changes of the constitutional design of the Hungarian political community, in particular complex reconstruction of the Hungarian electoral system between 2011 and 2013, following the adoption of the new Hungarian Constitution.

The main aim of this article is to classify and characterise the major factors that have influence on the choice of method of the determination of the tax base by means of assessment. The author lists four factors and assesses how each of these affects the result of the determination of the tax base by means of assessment. Their application should lead to the obtaining result of value of tax base similar to its actual size. Not all of these factors properly realises this objective, which is also a subject of analysis and evaluation.

The 2018 amendment of the Polish Electoral Code established the institution of electoral officials, who replaced the institution of electoral plenipotentiaries, existing since 1998. One of the main differences between the two institutions is that electoral officials may not work at commune offices in charge of preparing and holding election in the area of their jurisdiction. The aim of the adopted solution was to isolate local government administration from the election process. The article offers a critical analysis of the institution of electoral officials. The subject matter of the discussion is both the legal regulation and the conclusions drawn from the examination of the institution in question, conducted by the Stefan Batory Foundation after the end of the 2018 local government elections, when the electoral officials fulfilled their statutory duty for the first time. The discussion leads to the conclusion that the establishment of the institution of electoral officials was not well thought out, and actually took place without appropriate consultation. The provisions of the Electoral Code are often vague. They have not been clarified to a sufficient extent in the resolutions adopted by the National Electoral Commission either. It is reasonable to have electoral officials appointed for a six-year term of office by the Head of the National Electoral Office. What is surprising, however, is that electoral officials may run for an office during elections taking place in a constituency outside of their area of activity as well as engage in election cam paigns – except for their own campaigns – while they should remain completely impartial during the election. The vague status of electoral officials and of the principles of their remuneration made it very difficult to attract individuals willing to perform this function. The headcount originally assumed had to be reduced by half; now it is 2,600. It is also necessary to reconsider the number of electoral officials assigned to individual communes. A major flaw of the adopted regulation is the lack of a clear division of duties and responsibilities between electoral official and communes. All this casts a bad light on the institution of electoral officials. It is argued that they were poorly prepared to perform the duties they were entrusted with. They also lacked the necessary theoretical knowledge and were not familiar with local conditions and constraints. Therefore, instead of helping, they made the work of commune officials only harder. But the call for dissolving the institution altogether is not legitimate. It is necessary to return to the previous solution, where the electoral officials in a commune were the officials working at commune offices, regular employees of these basic local government units. In communes with larger populations, there may be even more such officials. It is essential to reinforce the status of electoral officials, which is why it is important to clearly definthe nature of their relationships with the commune heads (town/city mayors) as well as to strengthen their position and grant them authority in the field of duties carried out as part of elections and referenda over other commune officials. It is also requisite to appoint them for terms of office of a particular number of years, and remunerate them in fixed monthly amounts – with the amounts increased in periods of preparing and holding elections or referenda. Only this way will it be possible to have a proper Electoral Official Service composed of professional commune officials specialising in organising and holding elections and referenda.

The article portrays the ballot paper as a constitutional instrument of electoral democracy. The authors argue that the result of an election often depends on the form, the content, and the method of filling out the ballot. It is shown that a ballot is an election instrument of standard form, by means of which a voter votes for candidates and/or lists of candidates, and which later allows to establish the election results. It is concluded that the definition and classification of ballot types has not only theoretical but also practical value. In particular, this issue is of great practical significance in four cases: 1) simultaneous elections of differing types (sometimes including a simultaneous vote at a referendum); election of candidates for elective offices under different types of electoral systems or different types of territorial constituencies; 3) the vote count and establishing the outcome of the election; 4) prosecuting criminals for the illegal use of ballots.

The recent pandemic has forced us in 2020 to rethink the priority of access to medical care. The purpose of this article is to offer a brief account of how two countries – Sweden and the US – have reacted to the pandemic. The authors wish to show how the functions of the regulations and guidelines applied by hospitals and institutions during the COVID-19 pandemic differ from the objectives of health policies based on the principles of the distributive justice theory. The article will thus risk a preliminary assessment of the role of law in a crisis. A short summary of the main points of the distributive justice theory will be followed by an analysis of two cases: the guidelines issued by local authorities in Sweden and the American models applied during the COVID-19 pandemic. The conducted analysis results in a thesis that the objective of the justice theory differs from the regulations actually applied. In the case of Sweden, the recommendations seem to clearly prioritise the life of young people over the life of the elderly, even if there is no shortage of resources. In the case of the United States, we can see more objectives of distributive justice implemented in the analysed triages, but they are still not free from discrimination. The authors therefore call for an improvement of mobility of medical care resources in order to mitigate crises. The cognitive value has an international quality, and is aimed at Polish audiences dealing with the problems in question, be it at the level of a hospital or legislation.

The paper presents a comparative analysis of the institutions responsible for the election, promotions and nominations of judges in France, Germany and Poland. At the very eginning – in the introduction – the genesis of institutions which are equivalents of the National Council of the Judiciary was presented, starting from the philosophical basis for the idea of the independence of courts and judges, through international regulations to the constitutions of individual states. The main part was divided into 3 sections: a brief description of the judiciary, the composition of the institution responsible for the election of judges and the manner of appointing its members, and the competence of the council and the manner of appointing judges. Each of these issues was divided by the selected countries, thanks to which it will be possible to get a clear picture of how these institutions work in individual countries. As a summary, conclusions about how the principle of judiciary independence is met in selected countries, and whether meeting this principle depends exclusively on legal framework.

Przedmiotem opracowania są formy finansowania inwestycji lub pokrycia długu stosowane przez jednostki samorządu terytorialnego. Katalog instrumentów, które pozwalają na pokrycie deficytu bądź sfinansowanie określonego rodzaju inwestycji, jest stosunkowo szeroki. Samodzielność finansowa jest jednak limitowana przede wszystkim przepisami ustawy z dnia 27 sierpnia 2009 r. o finansach publicznych, która określa wysokość nominalną zadłużenia, cel i formę zaciąganych zobowiązań. W opracowaniu wskazano, że w każdym przypadku przed podjęciem decyzji w zakresie zaciągania zobowiązań finansowych konkretna j.s.t. musi dokonać analizy, w jaki sposób przełoży się to na indywidualny wskaźnik zadłużenia, tj. zdolność do spłaty zobowiązań, ale także wpływu na budżet operacyjny. Autorka podkreśla, iż wybór instrumentu finansowania zwrotnego każdorazowo musi być odpowiednio zaplanowany zarówno w budżecie, jak i w wieloletniej prognozie finansowej. Niezbędne jest także przeprowadzenie rzetelnej analizy w przedmiocie zasadności wyboru tego instrumentu. Przeprowadzone badania wskazują, że polskie j.s.t. najchętniej sięgają w tym zakresie po kredyty i pożyczki (zaciągane głównie w bankach), a niektóre z nich także po obligacje komunalne.