Wyznaniowa forma zawarcia małżeństwa cywilnego a zasada równouprawnienia związków wyznaniowych
The religious form of civil marriage contraction and the principle of equality of religious denominations

Summary/Abstract: According to the current law religious denominations in Poland may exercise their rights in accordance with the principle of equality regardless of the form in which their legal status is regulated. The catalogue of rights that religious denominations are entitled to include the right to proceeding with concluding the marriage in accordance with the internal law of religious denominations which after the fulfilment of additional criteria will have civil effects. Using this law should be consistent with the constitutional principle of equality of religious denominations. In the current law only those religious denominations are entitled to this right, whose legal status is regulated on the basis of an international agreement or a separate law . This eliminates the possibility of applying for the right religious denominations whose legal existence is based on the entry into the Register of Churches and other religious denominations. Differentiation of these entities based on the only criterion, which is the form of their legal status regulation raises doubts as to its compatibility with the indicated constitutional principle of equality. Regardless of the form of legal status regulation any religious denomination, in accordance with the principle of equality, should be able to exercise right which another religious denomination is entitled to. In case if there are justifiable reasons the legal position of religious communities may be made differentiated. It should be emphasized that the form itself of regulation of religious denomination is not a sufficient criterion for introduction differentiation of the of the legal status of religious denominations. Therefore, it is necessary to change the law in order to ensure the implementation of the constitutional principle of equality of religious denominations also within the right to use the religious form of civil marriage contraction.

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