„MUSI BYĆ OPŁACALNIE, MA BYĆ LEGALNIE, NIE MOŻE BYĆ NIEMORALNIE...”
„IT HAS TO BE PROFITABLE, IT NEEDS TO BE LEGAL, IT CAN’T BE IMMORAL...”

Summary/Abstract: The title quote is the „three sacred principles of the new pragmatism” formulated by Grzegorz W. Kolodko. The economy, according to the recommendations of this direction, requires the reduction of human, material and financial inputs, in order to maintain a long-term dynamic economic equilibrium. As a research method, the new pragmatism requires multidisciplinarity: it wants to draw on the achievements of other social sciences, including knowledge of the law („it is supposed to be legal”).The essay deals with the question of what it means for something to be legal. The main thesis is a warning to – first, not to conclude „what the law is” only as a result of reading the texts of laws, and second, to be aware that the texts of laws can themselves be tools of political or market oppression/manipulation. Modern Polish law is multicentric. The multicentric system of law includes domestic national law as well as EU law and the acquis communautaire. Thus, the content of the Journal of Laws alone – is not enough to know what is „legal”.The texts of laws alone also tell us little about the market situation. Here, the law itself is sometimes an instrument of legal harassment, directed against weaker participants in market games, while of course maintaining the appearance of legality. Business is reluctant to let anyone know „how it really is” and claims counterfactually – that its behavior falls within the categories of legalism. This camouflage is applied to the naive researcher of empirical market behavior.Thus, the contemporary notion of „what is legal” is shaped in Europe by the requirement for effective and real protection, rather than merely potential and abstract protection, which can be inferred from the existence of the text itself. And failure to reach the required standard is considered a sufficient indication (for the CJEU, ECtHR) that a state of illegality exists. Polish courts are less demanding in this regard.

• Details
• Contents