Progress in the Constitutional Theory. Evolution of Doctrine on (un)Constitutional Change of Constitution Cover Image

Postęp w nauce prawa konstytucyjnego. Ewolucja poglądów dotyczących (nie)konstytucyjności zmian konstytucji
Progress in the Constitutional Theory. Evolution of Doctrine on (un)Constitutional Change of Constitution

Author(s): Mateusz Klinowski, Rafał Smoleń
Subject(s): Law, Constitution, Jurisprudence, Constitutional Law
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego
Keywords: scientific progress; constitutionalism; formal and material limits of amending constitution; constitutional unamendable provisions; unconstitutional constitutional amendments; constitutional identity

Summary/Abstract: This paper is an attempt to characterize the phenomenon of a scientific progress in jurisprudence on the example of the evolution of the ideas on the conditions and scope of the allowable constitutional amendments of the 1997 Constitution of Poland. Explaining the notions of formal and material limits of amending a constitution, we show that those limits are constituted not only by the explicit constitutional regulations but also by the practical context of constitution’s functioning and doctrinal assumptions being the fundaments of a political or social system that it realizes. In the final part of the paper the identified elements of the progress in constitutional law are seen in the light of the theories of scientific progress formulated in the literature, with the conclusion that the described change of the ideas on material amendments of the Polish Constitution bears the marks of a scientific progress.

  • Issue Year: 24/2022
  • Issue No: 4
  • Page Range: 29-72
  • Page Count: 44
  • Language: Polish