Istota ludzka – zagadnienia graniczne ochrony w prawie karnym
The Human Being - Issues of the Limitations of Protection in Penal Law

Summary/Abstract: The purpose of this study is to assess whether Polish law correctly determines the limits of penal and legal protection of a human being. The criteria of the assessment involve not only the model of currently binding penal code, but also constitutional and European standards. The latter are indicated in the European Convention on Human Rights from 1950 and European Union law interpreted in the light of the Treaty of Lisbon. In order to perform the assessment the following notions are described and defined: ‘a human being’, ‘the earliest beginnings of human life’, and ‘conceived human life’. The penal and legal protection of human life in its three stages, that is from conception to birth, from birth to natural death, and after death, is also analyzed. The issue of transplantation is also discussed, including the penal and legal consequences of brain transplants, which may become feasible in the future. On the basis of these analyses it is concluded that the penal and legal protection of human life and health in the Polish legal system is in principle appropriately constructed and does not require any fundamental changes. At the same time, it is observed that serious changes are necessary in other branches of law, primarily those related to in vitro fertilization as well as the treatment of human remains.

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