In Poland, arbitration is considered the best known and most widely used method of out-of-court dispute settlement. The Constitution of Poland of 1997 sets out a comprehensive list of courts, as well as the principle of the exclusivity of the courts in the administration of justice, although it fails to mention arbitration courts. According to the judicature of the Polish Constitutional Tribunal, the justice system should be treated as objective, i.e. as a pursuit devised as a legal means of conflict resolution, and not as subjective, i.e. as the sole jurisdiction of the courts. This means that, from the start, not all cases and disputes concerning the legal situation of an individual necessarily need to be resolved in courts. The primary source of law regulating arbitration courts in Poland is the Civil Code of 17 November 1964, while the date of 28 July 2005 when an amendment to the Code became effective is considered a breakthrough which significantly changed arbitration in Poland. Sources of law other than the Code include a number of acts defining the activities of permanent arbitration courts for resolving disputes of certain kind, including numerous regulations concerning professional corporations. Sources of law regulating arbitration judicature, which are not generally binding, include the rules and regulations of the permanent arbitration courts. The Court of Arbitration at the Polish Chamber of Commerce in Warsaw is the most active permanent arbitration court in Poland.
constitutional right to court proceedings
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Prof. dr hab. dr h.c. Bogusław Banaszak: Professor of Legal Sciences, Professor honoris causa of three Universities, expert in constitutional law; is Head of the Constitutional Law Chair at the University of Wrocław. Prof. B. Banaszak used to be the President of the Polish Legislative Council by the Prime Minister (2006-2010). He is also a member of European Academy of Science, Art and Literature (Paris). Prof. Banaszak has written over 300 publications, including 20 in English and 50 in German, including two highly regarded books on Polish Constitutional Law and International Encyclopedias of Law (Kluwers 2005). He is on the editorial board of several scholarly journals and has given over 60 lectures throughout Europe, Latin- and North America.
e-mail: kaprakon@prawo.uni.wroc.pl
Dr. Łukasz Żukowski was born in Wrocław in 1975. He completed his MA studies at the Faculty of Law, Administration and Economics of the University of Wrocław in 1999. He is currently employed as Assistant Professor at the Chair of Constitutional Law at the University of Wrocław. Dr. Żukowski is the author of articles concerning Polish constitutional law and human rights. His main area of interest is the constitutional regulation of public funds. His dissertation was devoted to the issue of the Polish central bank’s position under constitutional law in the context of Poland’s accession to the eurozone.
e-mail: lzukowski1@wp.pl
