Topic: The judicial power in Poland

Author: Anna Rabiega

Addressee:

8th grade primary school student

Core curriculum:

XI. Democracy in the Republic of Poland.

The student:

6) explains the principle of the rule of law, including the principles of judicial independence and of independence of courts; explains the division into common and administrative courts and the two‑instance procedure principle; outlines the cases in which district court decide.

The general aim of education:

The student presents the principles of the political system of the Republic of Poland and basic public authority organs.

Learning outcomes:

The student:

• presents the judicial system in Poland and analyses the jurisdiction of different types of courts: common, military and administrative.

• presents and analyses the powers of the Supreme Court, the Constitutional Tribunal and the Tribunal of State.

Key competences:

• communicating in a foreign language,

• digital competence,

• learning to learn,

• social and civic competences.

Teaching methods:

• discussion,

• WebQuest,

• teaching conversation using infographics, interactive exercises.

Forms of work:

• self‑learning,

• group work,

• whole‑class activity.

Material & equipment needed:

• computers with loudspeakers/headphones and internet access,

• multimedia resources from the e‑textbook,

• interactive whiteboard/blackboard, felt‑tip pen/a piece of chalk.

Lesson plan overview (Process):

Introduction:

1. The teacher presents the goal of the lesson: You will analyse the way the judiciary functions in Poland.

2. The teacher asks the students whether they have already had contact with a court or whether they have heard about some court cases. Students give their examples of cases, while the teacher helps them to determine which courts the people in their story were dealing with. If students are unable to come up with their own examples or the examples are too few, the teacher may ask if they know how:

• a divorce is carried out,

• an adoption is performed,

• how a dispute between entrepreneurs is settled who claim that the other party does not fulfil its contractual obligations,

• cases are resolved where someone has not been seen alive for years and, for example, their spouse has fallen in love and wants to remarry,

• an estate of the deceased is divided if the heirs are unable to come to an agreement,

• a decision is made on the appropriate punishment for a thief or a murderer,

• a penalty is set for a soldier who has abandoned his post,

• it is possible to question an unfavourable decision of a public office, e.g. a refusal to issue a building permit, etc.

As a summary of the discussion, the teacher asks the students what role they think the courts play in the life of every citizen - large or small? The teacher requests that the students justify their answers.

Implementation:

1. The teacher informs the class that they will use the WebQuest method and explains what it is, if necessary. The teacher divides the class into six groups. The job of each group will be to find, jointly analyse and present to the rest of the class at least three different cases relating to the field of judicial authority assigned to the group. The students should first and foremost determine:

• What the subject of their case was; What the problem was;

• What the decision of the body assigned to the group was; How their case ended;

Students use the internet while working in groups. The teacher sets a time limit for this task and assigns the following judicial bodies to the groups:

• common courts (district courts, regional courts, courts of appeal),

• military courts (garrison courts, regional courts),

• administrative courts (voivodeship administrative courts, Supreme Administrative Court),

• Supreme Court,

• Constitutional Tribunal,

• Tribunal of State.

When the time is up, the representatives of each group present the results of their work. At the same time, the teacher displays the „Judicial Power” scheme on an interactive whiteboard and asks the students from each group to assign the cases to the appropriate body. The students can also use a widget in Exercise 1.

2. The teacher initiates a discussion about the issues that the courts and tribunals deal with. At the end of the discussion, the teacher asks the students to summarize the discussion.

3. The teacher draws the students' attention to the complicated structure of the common judiciary. To this end, the teacher displays on an interactive whiteboard the „Common courts – structure” scheme. The teacher asks the students to explain how they understand the implementation of two‑instance procedure principle when studying the diagram. If necessary, the teacher corrects and completes what the students are saying.

4. The teacher asks students to solve Exercise 2 – i.e. to answer the question of who and for what can answer before the Tribunal of State. Willing students provide their answers and the teacher verifies if they are correct.

Summary:

1. At the end of the exercise, the teacher evaluates the work of the group. The teacher asks for the students' self‑assessment of the teamwork and the task performed. The teacher evaluates the work of selected students.

2. Homework proposal:

a. Present the five most important differences between an appeal and a cassation. Pay attention to the issue of validity of the judgement, time limit for filing an appeal, the bodies whose decisions we appeal against and to which we appeal, who is entitled to appeal, as well as what each of these means of appeal may concern.

b. Listen to the abstract recording to review the material and new vocabulary. Then do the vocabulary exercise at the end of the chapter.

The following terms and recordings will be used during this lesson

Terms

Texts and recordings

The judicial power – courts and tribunals

The structure of the judiciary in Poland

Common courts settle, among others, criminal, civil, family and guardianship, and labour law cases, as well as all other matters that are not reserved for the jurisdiction of other courts.

Military courts deal first and foremost with matters related to offences committed by soldiers in active service.

Administrative courts primarily control the activities of public administration bodies, both governmental and self‑governmental (local governments). The control applies to, among others, administrative decisions, resolutions issued in administrative proceedings or complaints about inactivity of administrative bodies.

The Supreme Court supervises the judgements of common and military courts. There are two basic forms of such supervision: recognizing legal remedies against court rulings adopting resolutions that resolve legal problems that raise doubt and discrepancies in the jurisprudence The competence of the Supreme Court also includes confirming the validity of the elections in accordance with principles specified by statute, as well as giving opinions on draft bills and other legal acts.

The main competence of the Constitutional Tribunal is to adjudicate regarding the conformity of statutes and other legal acts with the Constitution. The idea of controlling the constitutionality of law is based on the assumption that it is a hierarchical system, i.e. that the legal acts that are inferior cannot contain provisions that are contrary to the Constitution of other superior legal acts. Judgements of the Constitutional Tribunal are final. An act incompatible with the Constitution ceases to apply either at the moment of pronouncing the ruling or on a date determined by the Tribunal.

According to the Constitution, everyone whose constitutional freedoms or rights have been violated may bring a complaint concerning these infringements.

Other competencies of the Constitutional Tribunal include:

• adjudicating regarding the conformity to the Constitution of the purposes or activities of political parties;

• settling disputes over authority between central constitutional organs of the state.

In modern democracies, constitutional accountability is, along with the political one, the most important form of executive power responsibility. It is the accountability for the violation of law. The procedure is initiated by the parliament, but the responsibility is incurred before the authority of the judiciary. In Poland it is the Tribunal of State.

The following persons are constitutionally accountable to the Tribunal of State:

The types of punishment imposed by the Tribunal of State:

• for crimes – punishments provided for in statutes;

• for infringement of the Constitution – loss of electoral rights (for a period from 2 to 10 years), prohibition to hold managerial positions or perform public functions (for a period from 2 to 10 years), loss of all or some of the orders and decorations.