Kompetencyjny charakter art. 126 Konstytucji RP
The Competences of the President of the Republic of Poland as Specified in Article 126 of the Constitution

Summary/Abstract: Article 126 of the Polish Constitution depicts the position of the President of the Republic. It isclaimed that this provision does not provide for any competences of the Head of State. It only showshis or her functions and political role. The President exercises his or her powers by the competencesspecifi ed in other constitutional provisions and statutes. The authors of the article do not share thatview. They contend that, in some circumstances, Article 126 of the Constitution can be a mere basisfor President’s competences for which there are no other legal grounds. According to this, the Headof State is entitled to act authoritatively, especially to compel other authorities to do something or torefrain from doing something. The President has the right to take actions based on Article 126 of theConstitution in two situations: when this is legitimated by constitutional tradition; when thisis legitimated by political necessity. Some duties and functions of the President have been formedoutside the legal system. In a political system some actions of authorities are legitimated by practice,customs, habits, conventions and precedents. The state of political necessity is a situation of a veryserious political or structural crisis of the State when there is no possibility to dissolve the problemby ordinary constitutional instruments. Constitutional provisions do not include any regulations whichallow to obviate the threat. In such situation, the President as a guardian of sovereignty and securityof the State is legitimated by Article 126 of the Constitution to take actions to defuse the crisis.

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