Redefining the Principle of Legalism (Article 7 of the Constitution) Towards ‘The Bogus Rule of Law’ in Poland After 13 December 2023

Abstract

The principle of legalism is the base of every democratic state system. There is no modern state without this vital rule. ‘Breaking the law by public authorities undermines a whole idea of the law as a system of binding standards of conduct’, as the Constitutional Tribunal said. That is why the principle of legalism is relevant for a society that claims to create a state of law.

The principle of legalism predicates that ‘the organs of public authority shall function on the basis of, and within the limits of, the law’, as the Polish Constitution predicts.

How does this principle look like in practice? Are the Polish authorities indeed complying with it?

The shift of political power should be a typical phenomenon in a democratic state of law but in Poland, after the 2023 elections, it seems like an undermining of the constitutional order with a hurried ‘takeover’ of individual institutions and revanchism. Illegal acquisitions of public media and the National Prosecutor’s Office, undermining of the National Council of Judiciary, the Constitutional Tribunal, the Supreme Court and the judges appointed since 2018, the dismissal of court authorities in violation of laws, harassment of judges with criminal proceedings, problems with correct law making and wide-ranging plans to dismiss judges could mean are observing an illegal attempt to change the political system of the state.

Although it takes place under the banner of the fight for restoring the rule of law, it is in fact a break with classically understood legalism. As such, this study explains the ideological foundations of such actions and whether they have been planned.