Prawo odmowy zeznań przez duchownego w polskiej i niemieckiej procedurze cywilnej – analiza prawno-porównawcza
The right to refuse testimony by a clergyman in the Polish and German civil procedure – a legal comparative study

Summary/Abstract: Section 261 para. 2 of the Polish Code of Civil Procedure provides for the possibility to refuse testimony by a clergyman regarding facts revealed to him during confession. This regulation differs from other Polish legal procedures, which usually treat such facts as inadmissible evidence. There is an ongoing debate in the doctrine about changing the rules of the civil procedure, which, as many authors argue, does not properly protect the clergy and people who reveal information to them. Given that, a point of reference can be sought in foreign regulations, which may provide ready solutions or indicate the right direction of normative changes as well as shed some light on some potential problems with the interpretation and application of regulations already introduced in other countries. This article aims to present the regulations of the German Zivilprozessordnung concerning the clergyman’s right to refuse testimony and to compare them with the current provisions of the Polish Code of Civil Procedure. The legal-comparative analysis concerns the model of legal regulation of the right to refuse testimony by clergymen, the subjective and objective scope of this right, the duty of the judge to advise the clergyman of his rights, the admissibility of the clergyman’s testimony and the issue of protecting information revealed to clergymen outside his pastoral service.

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