References to Philosophers in the Polish Case Law
References to Philosophers in the Polish Case Law

Summary/Abstract: The article deals with the practice of invoking philosophers in the reasons forjudgments of the Polish courts. A quantitative and qualitative analysis of thecase law of the common courts, administrative courts, the Supreme Court andthe Constitutional Tribunal allowed for the formulation of several main conclusions.First, although judgments containing references to philosophers constituteonly a small fraction of all the case law, at the same time, when measured in absolutenumbers, cases of quoting philosophers are not marginal. Second, in thetwo last decades there has been a clear intensification in the use of philosophicalreferences in judgments. Third, references to philosophers exercise a number ofdifferent functions falling within the clarification and persuasive purposes ofgrounds of judgments. Fourth, there is no one attitude among courts and theparties towards the presence of philosophical arguments in the judicial process.The titular issue is not the further stage of the legal scholarship’s discourse on“judges as philosophers” in the likeness of Dworkin’s “Judge Hercules”. The practiceof referring to philosophers by the courts is primarily an issue of the styleof reasons for judgment and the role of non-legal sources in the rationalisationof judicial decisions – and not so much in the making of them. In the author’sview, the case law study reveals the utilitarian potential of philosophy for judicialargumentation.

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