Prawno-kanoniczny zakaz podejmowania przez duchownych niektórych rodzajów działalności i jego znaczenie na gruncie prawa polskiego
Canon-law prohibition of conducting certain kinds of activities by the clergy and its significance under Polish law

Summary/Abstract: The article deals with the prohibited activity of the clergy specified in can. 285 § 4 and can. 286 of the Code of Canon Law. It follows from the canons that it is against canon law for clerics to manage goods belonging to lay persons, to hold a secular office which entails an obligation of making financial statements (rendering accounts), or to conduct trade and transactions solely for profit. This prohibition, however, cannot be considered effective under Polish law, and legal acts carried out by a cleric who holds such an office or performs a function will be valid. The regulations of canon law in question are neither the sources of universally binding law of the Republic of Poland nor internally binding law (art. 87 and art. 93 of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland. In other words, although the Catholic Church, in the name of the principle of autonomy, has the right to self-organization and self-government, its own law (canon law) is foreign to Polish law. As a consequence, a cleric who, against canon law, is member of the board of a joint stock or limited company or for example a state-owned enterprise, should be considered to act rightfully. A different interpretation of Polish law would call into question the principle of certainty and security in business transactions.

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