Pandemia spowodowała zmiany w funkcjonowaniu społeczeństwa, nie omijając też wymiaru sprawiedliwości. Potrzeba zachowania dystansu społecznego przy-spieszyła zmiany w sądownictwie. Wprowadzono rozprawy zdalne. W artykule podjęto próbę odpowiedzi na pytanie, czy wobec występującego w społeczeństwie polskim zjawiska wykluczenia cyfrowego prowadzone obecnie e-rozprawy odbywają się w zgodzie z zasadą równości. Przeprowadzone przez studencką grupę badawczą badania empiryczne rozpraw zdalnych i własne doświadczenia autorki w tym zakresie składają się na materiał empiryczny wskazujący na występujące podczas rozpraw zdalnych problemy techniczne i te związane z wykluczeniem cyfrowym.

The purpose of this text is to answer the question of whether and to what extent traditional court symbols and rituals remain (and should remain) present at remote hearings. Some legal symbols have archetypal meaning. Others are born with their era, judged in a particular context. There are many of them in traditional courtrooms. Which remain on computer screen? The author investigates whether and to what extent visual symbols (e.g. elements of architecture, furnishings) are present at remote hearings. Considering courts and online courts (or ‘e-courts’) as heterotopias (in Michel Foucault’s sense), she looks deeper into and explores their properties.

Rule of law is one of the most fundamental values of the European Union and the issues related thereto have become one of the top priorities not only in the EU agenda but also in the EU policies of most of the Member States, including Sweden. This is due to the increasing integration, the growing dependence of the functioning of the entire European Union on the way how the system of justice works in different Member States, and the concern over the condition of the rule of law in these Member States. In recent years, the European Union has been making use of some older instruments, whose aim is to control and improve the observance of the rule of law (including Art. 7 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union), and has adopted some new solutions too – the European rule of law mechanism and the regulation regarding rule of law conditionality, related to the new EU budget. The need to work out effective procedures to determine the condition of the rule of law and to uphold the main standards of the system of justice in all EU Member States is becoming more and more urgent and remains one of the greatest challenges faced by the European Union to be dealt with by the Swedish government.