Analiza prawna przypadku bpa Edwarda Janiaka w kontekście filmu „Zabawa w chowanego” Marka i Tomasza Sekielskich

Author(s): Michał Skwarzyński / Language(s): Polish Issue: 23/2020

The present paper focuses on several key issues relating to the case of Bishop Edward Janiak in the context of the movie by Marek and Tomasz Sekielski titled “Hide and seek”. The point of departure is to define the duties of the bishop under Polish law and canon law after he was informed of cases of pedophilia involving his subordinate clergy. Then, the analysis proceeds to assess the factual reliability of the movie, to what extent it violates the current law, the question of the legal protection of Bishop Janiak as well as the extra-legal aspects of his active defense. The paper concludes that the movie under discussion misrepresents not only the chronology of the events, but also the legal situation. As far as depicting Bishop Janiak as the negative character of “Hide and seek” is concerned, it was not motivated by the objective reasons, but was caused by the simple fact that the authors had the bishop’s recordings at their disposal and therefore used them in the movie.

Access to health among women with disabilities – legal aspects and practical problems in Bulgaria

Author(s): Iliyana Miteva / Language(s): English Issue: 28 (4)/2019

This scientific study is dedicated to the legal aspects and practical problems in the Bulgarian legislation of access to healthcare for women with disabilities. Its relevance comes from the growing need to understand the legal construction linked to the right to health of one of the vulnerable groups in society. Attention herein is directed to the existing legal framework in the People with Disabilities Act, the Health Act, the Health Insurance Act and the Medical-Treatment Facilities Act, as well as separate provisions in other legal acts. The analysis is accompanied by conclusions and suggestions for optimising practice and legislation.

Korupcja w ujęciu historycznym i współczesnym. Pojęcie zachowania korupcyjnego na tle art. 229 k.k.

Author(s): Ryszard Eugeniusz Dominiuk / Language(s): Polish Issue: 2/2020

The problematic aspects of corruptive behaviors has proven to be quite a challenge for modern times. Society is mostly aware that the fight against corruption is difficult, and elimination of this phenomenon seems impossible. Corruption spreads its influence due to incorrect perception of surrounding reality. Limiting corruption is complicated process reaching for psychological incentives and motives of people participating in this operation. It is said that just raising awareness about corruption is half of the success, but to achieve full “victory” it is necessary to change the attitude of people, especially youth, on the subject of this pathological phenomenon. As studies show, the essential element on limiting the corruption is to partake the educative actions. Prevention is also connected to psychology of human behavior, all the more, that this type of criminal activity can be commited directly and indirectly. Human always tries to achieve success, and corruption is this element, which on the surface seems beneficial. It starts from receiving small souvenirs. By taking part in such activity people become less neutral and objective. In the light of art. 229 k.k. corruptive behavior affects the subject, which actively takes the role of active party. In this manner such person is perceived as entrepreneurial. Considering the difficulties in determination of victim in such agreement, subject willing to take the active corruptive initiative, does not foresee the consequences of its behavior. It is considered as correct. Rationally speaking realizing the connection between legal and psychological aspect is considered a milestone in the fight against corruption. The perfection in legal regulation should be constantly supplemented with psychological analysis of corruptive behaviors.

Przestępstwa dezercji i samowolnego oddalenia się żołnierza w Związku Socjalistycznych Republik Sowieckich i Polskiej Rzeczypospolitej Ludowej

Author(s): Radosław Pietrzak / Language(s): Polish Issue: 2/2020

Crimes of desertion and self moving away has been a problem since armed forces have been existing. In the past, crime of desertion mostly had been punishable by the death penalty and in combat situations, combat officers could even kill a deserter without any criminal trial or disciplinary proceedings. When progressive humanitarianization was in progress, penalties for discussed crimes were gradually liberalized in the entire world. Those acts have negative influence not only on the morale of the army and its strength as a consequence, but it can also be bad for society. On the other hand, the very important thing is the severity of the sanction for those prohibited acts in time of peace, in warpath and in combat situations. The next important thing is changes of criminal sanction in legislations of those two socialist countries for previously mentioned acts. In this article it was indicated, that both crimes of desertion and self moving away were similar, the difference between them was indicated and there is notice that act of desertion is more harmful and punished more severely than self moving away. The goal of this article is to show material and legal basis of penal responsibility for crimes of desertion and self moving away in USSR and Polish Peoples Republic.

Początki wymiaru sprawiedliwości na Białostocczyźnie w 1919 r. w świetle wileńskich archiwaliów

Author(s): Diana Maksimiuk / Language(s): Polish Issue: 2/2020

The creation of the justice system in Poland after it regained its independence in 1918 is an issue which does not attract too much interest from researchers. The main problem lies in the lack of historical sources on the subject. This is particularly evident with regard to the Eastern Lands of the Second Polish Republic as the archival materials concerting those lands were either destroyed during World War II, or if they were not, they are not easily accessible today. The judicial history of the Białystok region in the interwar period is not well known precisely because of the lack of sources. To date, the attempts to describe it have been based solely on press releases – mainly from the local newspaper 'Dziennik Białostocki' - and on normative acts published in government gazettes issued by the state authorities. Memoirs have also been consulted, but there are not many of them either. As it turns out, the Lithuanian Central State Archives in Vilnius has valuable materials on the beginnings of Polish judiciary in Białystok from the period of March 1919 to June 1919. Thanks to these few documents, we can learn not only about the difficult process of creating the local judiciary, but also about the first months of its operation and the names of the people who participated in it. Due to the fact that these archives are not easily accessible and no one has reached them before, some of them (showing case-law figures) have been published as material for future research.

Един поглед върху нова книга

Author(s): Plamen Pantev / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 2/2010

Suicide as an insurance accident

Author(s): Aneta Paleczna / Language(s): English Issue: 31 (3)/2020

This paper constitutes an attempt at the analysis of provisions of the Civil Code regarding suicide in an insurance contract. The aim of the paper is to analyse the economic aspect of a suicidal death. Regardless of this analysis, a few aspects related to death by suicide in the insurance industry have been indicated. In this paper, the author also analysed the German legal system conception. Therefore, the method of examining applicable laws and the legal-comparative methods have been used herein. The main conclusion drawn up on the grounds of the conducted research is that strict legal regulations are not compatible with suicide as a complex psychological and social process.

Scope of application of the general rule in the Rome II regulation

Author(s): Magdalena Wasylkowska-Michór / Language(s): English Issue: 30 (2)/2020

The purpose of the paper is to determine the scope of application of Article 4(1), which constitutes the general rule of the Rome II Regulation concerning the law applicable to noncontractual obligations. Article 4(1) says that: unless otherwise provided for in this Regulation, the law applicable to a non-contractual obligation arising out of a tort/delict shall be the law of the country in which the damage occurs. However, this rule is subject to numerous exceptions, which the author divided into three groups: 1) exceptions resulting from the structure of Article 4 (Article 4(2) – common habitual residence in the same country, and Article 4(3) – escape clause), 2) exceptions resulting from the whole Regulation (Articles 5 to 9 – separate regulations for different types of tort, Articles 10 to 12 – separate regulations for non-contractual obligations, Article 14 – freedom of choice, Article 16 – overriding mandatory provisions, Article 17 – rules of safety and conduct), 3) restrictions resulting from other acts of EU and international law (the Hague Convention of 4 May 1971 on the Law Applicable to Traffic Accidents). The analysis resulted is the thesis that Article 4(1) of the Regulation applies to a few types of cases (mainly traffic accidents), which, however, happen quite frequently. The author of the paper refers to the provisions of law (analysis of existing legal regulations), as well as to literature based on these provisions, and therefore uses the dogmatic and legal methods of scientific research.

The issue of taxation with value added tax concerning medical care services provided by speech therapists in light of the interdisciplinary nature of the profession of a speech therapist

Author(s): Konrad Drezno / Language(s): English Issue: 29 (1)/2020

Due to the lack of a statutory definition and due to the interdisciplinary nature of the profession of a speech therapist, there have been doubts regarding its classification as a medical or paramedical profession. The above is, in fact, of crucial significance from the point of view of tax provisions, since medical care services provided by medical or paramedical facilities, on the condition of fulfilling specific requirements, can enjoy VAT exemption. Unfortunately, there is no definition of medical care in the EU and domestic law, and the requirements necessary to exempt a given service from the discussed tax have not been sufficiently specified. This publication, using a dogmatic method, by hitherto not conducted in literature analysis, was aimed at answering the question of whether medical care services provided by speech therapists are exempt from value added tax. Having achieved the aforementioned objective, the paper explicitly indicates that a speech therapist is a medical profession pursuant to the tax law provisions. The paper also leads to the conclusion that, in principle, medical care services provided by speech therapists are subject to exemption from VAT.

Convicted Nazi lawyer. The case of Gerhard Pchalek in the Gera District Court in 1960

Author(s): Konrad Graczyk / Language(s): English Issue: 29 (1)/2020

This study is devoted to a criminal case brought before a court in the German Democratic Republic against Gerhard Pchalek in connection with his service as a prosecutor in the Third Reich. Pchalek served in the Polish territories incorporated into the Reich, in Bielsko and Katowice. He was a prosecutor in proceedings before special courts in Bielsko and Katowice, as well as before the Higher National Court in Katowice, in which he filed motions to sentence defendants to the death penalty. In 20 cases – as was determined by the District Court in Gera – Pchalek demanded the death penalty, which was then imposed and enforced. His act was classified as aiding in murder under the provisions of the German Criminal Code, and Pchalek was sentenced to 4 years in strict regime prison. The paper discusses the biography of Pchalek, the issue of post-war criminal liability of Nazi lawyers and the criminal trial before the District Court in Gera. The study uses a historical, formal and dogmatic method. The criminal trial in question is one of the few cases in which a Nazi lawyer was convicted.

Evolution of the suicides’ right to funeral and burial in Canon Law and Polish Law

Author(s): Paweł Kaźmierski / Language(s): English Issue: 29 (1)/2020

For centuries, funeral law was not too favourable to suicides. Admittedly, at the dawn of Christianity this group of the deceased was not refused religious funeral celebrations or a burial, yet, the situation changed along with the Catholic religion gaining significance. At the beginning of the Middle Ages, suicides were deprived of the right to a religious funeral. Furthermore, in the 11th century the ecclesiastical legislator forbade burial for suicides in “holy places.” Until modern times, therefore, suicides were buried at a distance from graveyards. This in practice often indicated a burial insulting human dignity. The monopoly on religious funeral regulations only ended in Europe at the end of the 18th century, when state authorities took an interest in funeral law. On Polish soil, the more enlightened regulations of the Partitioners were enforced in the 19th century. In addition, the Act on burying the deceased passed in 1932 led to the necessary standardization of provisions of national funeral law, while the binding provisions of the Act on cemeteries of 1959 provided equality of rights for the deceased in the access to a place of burial at a cemetery. Finally, in the second half of the 20th century, the ecclesiastical legislator introduced amendments to the Canon Law allowing (in certain instances) a Catholic funeral for a suicide. The liberalization of the Canon Law provisions, therefore, exemplifies wider transformations in the spirit of the conciliar aggiornamento.

Constructivism as a chance to break deadlock in interdisciplinary research combining international law and international relations

Author(s): Tadeusz Kolodziej / Language(s): English Issue: 29 (1)/2020

The purpose of this work is to prove that the theory of constructivism can be an escape from the trap of the constant struggle for influence, which now includes interdisciplinary research combining international law and international relations. For this purpose, the work is divided into three sections. In the first one, the author briefly presents the genesis of interdisciplinary research on international law and international relations. In the second part, the sceptical approach of international law researchers towards combined interdisciplinary research is presented. Also in this section, the theory of constructivism is characterised as a potential area for mutual cooperation between international law and international relations. In the final part, based on the relationship between international humanitarian law and the features of modern weapons, the author tries to prove that the theory of constructivism is perfectly suited to the analysis of contemporary relations between international law and the policies of nations on the international stage.

Corporate social responsibility instruments and their impact on labour rights

Author(s): Aneta Tyc / Language(s): English Issue: 29 (1)/2020

The aim of this article was to assess to what extent self-regulation within the CSR framework contributes to improving workers’ rights worldwide. Transnational company agreements, corporate codes of conduct, NGOs’ social accountability standards, ISO standards, the Dow Jones Sustainability Index and the Global Reporting Initiative were critically analysed using logical-linguistic, historical and comparative legal methods. The research showed some evidence of a limited impact of CSR instruments on labour rights and proved that CSR tools can be perceived only as additional value to law.

НЯКОИ МОМЕНТИ ОТНОСНО ПРИЛАГАНЕТО НА ЧЛ. 15, АЛ. 3 МСИДДО

Author(s): Stoycho Dulevski / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 1/2021

The current study examines a specific case in the taxation of income from employment – Art. 15, para 3 of the OECD Model Tax Convention on Income and on Capital (OECD-MC). For this purpose, both the legal nature and the scope of the provision will be analyzed outlining its main features.

THE TEMPORAL STABILITY OF ROMANIA’S FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT – A NEOINSTITUTIONALIST APPROACH

Author(s): Liviu-Valentin Mihalache / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2021

The paper discusses the temporal stability of Romania’s Freedom of Information Act (Law no. 544/2001), using a neoinstitutionalist paradigm. I argue that none of the five amending laws of Law no. 544/2001 did not change the fundamentals and mechanisms of granting access to public information that existed when this law entered into force, all of them being limited and even beneficial. I will demonstrate that the most important difficulties that appear in the enforcement of Law no. 544/2001 do not come from the perspective this law was written, but from the interpretation of the legal norms according to some subjective practices existing at the level of public authorities/institutions depositing the information.

O analiză succintă a prescripției din dreptul fiscal. Importanța deciziei ICCJ nr. 21/2020 pronunțate în recurs în interesul legii

Author(s): Gabriela Dănilă / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 2/2020

This paper aims to present a brief analysis on the subject of statute of limitation in the field of tax law in order to provide a legal context for the reader regarding the importance of the Supreme Court`s Decision no. 21/2020 rendered in referral in the interests of the law. Then, the reasons which led to the use of the procedure consisting in the referral in the interests of the law regarding the running of the statute of limitation on the matter of tax liabilities established by the tax authority regarding the corporate tax will be analysed and also the consequences of the court decision in this matter.

Cauza C-61/19, Orange România c. ANSPDCP. O judecare injustă sau o expunere greșită a situației?

Author(s): Mirela-Niculina Morar / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 2/2020

The case of Orange Romania S.A. c. The ANSPDCP (Case C-61/2019) brought back intoquestion the manner in which the consent of the data subjects is expressed, thus it is either one valid under the regime of personal details processing. In this article, we will try to prove that the consent, like the legal basis, was not the basis for the processing of copies of identity documents.

Lietuvių kalba tarpukario teisėje

Author(s): Ieva Deviatnikovaitė / Language(s): Lithuanian Issue: 106/2021

It has been noticed in several treatises that the current legal traditions in the territory of Lithuania did not exist until 1918. However, even in the interwar period, the use of the legal Lithuanian language in public, state and official life was problematic. This was due to several aspects. First, in interwar Lithuania, four civil law systems were in force – the civil laws of Tsarist Russia, the German Empire, Suwalki (Napoleon‘s Code) and Palanga Parish (Local Governments Code), and two criminal law systems – Russia and Germany. During the whole period of independence, no national criminal and civil codes were adopted, and unofficial translations of the codes of Tsarist Russia into Lithuanian were used. Secondly, there were only a few dozen lawyers who wrote and spoke in Lithuanian. Also, most of them studied law in non-Lithuanian higher education institutions in Tsarist Russia and Germany. Thus, after the proclamation of the independence of the Lithuanian state, lawyers had to prepare legal acts, form Lithuanian legal terminology, examine disputes, and educate a new generation of lawyers.

Практика на съда на ЕС във връзка с марката на ЕС

Author(s): Gergana Liubenova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 2/2020

This article discusses the framework of Regulation (EU) 2017/1001 in conjunction with the latest case law of the Court of Justice and the General Court of the European Union. The purpose is to examine the definition of the European Union Trademark, requirements for signs, capable to be registered as European Union Trademark as well as the absolute and relative grounds for refusal of registration by making an analysis of the case law during the recent years.

Проектът на обща референтна рамка (DCFR): образец на Закона за бъдещото общо регулиране на споразуменията за франчайз?

Author(s): Kristina Stefanova / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2020

Business-format franchise has well pervaded every part of Europe for the last few decades. Nevertheless, it is still unknown to be better part of the European legislature. Even where it is a nominate contract, its true nature and features are yet to be understood legal professionals. The different approach taken by each state results in unequal treatment of the parties and significant differences when deciding upon similar cases. These impediments for the spread of the franchise agreement in Europe have inspired the current article, in the search for an adequate solution, to consider the proposed regulation of franchising in the DCFR. The article aims to evaluate the suitability for its provisions regarding franchising and to recommend further consideration when necessary.