Abstract
In Poland, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the legislator did not introduce any extraordinary measures provided for in the 1997 Constitution of Poland, including the state of natural disaster, even though there existed grounds for its introduction. It seems that the legislator’s decision was motivated by the preparations for the presidential elections. During the pandemic, a specific legal regime, referred to as “the state of epidemic”, was introduced by means of ordinary statutes and secondary legislation. In a situation where executive bodies regulate the legal position of citizens by means of lower-order legal acts, civil rights are inevitably infringed upon. This situation caused a great deal of social tension. Interference with civil liberties was to some extent limited by judgements of common courts and administrative courts. If the period of the epidemic had any positive side, it was to demonstrate the great value of independent courts and judges for the protection of civil rights.
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Notes
- 1.
Cf. Chapter XI of the 1997 Constitution of Poland.
- 2.
Cf. the judgement of the Constitutional Tribunal of March 16, 2011, K 35/08, OTK ZU no. 2 A, item 11.
- 3.
Cf. Komarnicki (2008), pp. 576–577 (reprint of the 1922 edition).
- 4.
Cf. Działocha (2020).
- 5.
These include the following acts: (a) the act on the state of natural disaster (of April 18, 2002), (b) the act on the state of emergency (of June 21, 2002), (c) the act on martial law and on the powers of the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces and the rules of his subordination to the constitutional organs of the Republic of Poland (of August 29, 2002). These laws were amended by the act of August 30, 2011, which introduced the occurrence of “terrorist actions” and “actions in cyberspace” as conditions for the introduction of each of the extraordinary measures. (Journal of Laws of 2018, item 452 as amended).
- 6.
Cf. Regulation of the President of the Republic of Poland of September 2, 2021, on the introduction of a state of emergency in parts of the Podlaskie Voivodeship and in parts of the Lublin Voivodeship (Journal of Laws of 2021, item 1612).
- 7.
Journal of Laws of 2021, item 1613.
- 8.
Journal of Laws of 2021, item 2069 as amended.
- 9.
Journal of Laws, item 374 as amended.
- 10.
Cf. Regulation of the Minister of Health of May 12, 2022 on lifting the state of epidemic in the territory of the Republic of Poland, Journal of Laws 2022, item 1027.
- 11.
Cf. Rybski (2022), p. 139 onwards.
- 12.
Cf. the judgement of September 15, 2020, VII SA/Wa 992/20.
- 13.
Cf. Granat (2021), p. 175.
- 14.
Journal of Laws of 2020, item 1758.
- 15.
Cf. the judgement SN IV KK 238/21, Lex no. 3194268.
- 16.
Journal of Laws of 2020, item 2316.
- 17.
Judgement of the District Court of Warsaw Wola of May 19, 2021, file no. III, W 296/21.
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Granat, M. (2023). Limitations of Civil Rights During a Period of Introduction of Extraordinary Measures in Poland Vis-à-Vis the Pandemic Caused by the SARS-CoV-2 Virus. In: Arnold, R., Cremades, J. (eds) Rule of Law and the Challenges Posed by the Pandemic. WLC 2021. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-39804-9_13
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