The Legal 500

Poland is a civil law country. The Polish legal system follows the Continental, code-based tradition. The hierarchy of universally binding law includes the Constitution, treaties, statutes, and executive regulations. Judicial authority is exercised by courts and tribunals. Courts include the Supreme Court, the common courts, administrative courts and military courts.

There are two tribunals: the Constitutional Tribunal, which rules on the constitutionality of laws and treaties, complaints alleging violation of constitutional rights, and disputes over authority between central constitutional organs of the State; and the Tribunal of State, which rules on the constitutional liability of high state officials. Common courts exercise general jurisdiction in all matters, except for matters reserved by statute for the jurisdiction of other courts. The courts are divided into departments depending on the kinds of cases they handle (e.g., civil, criminal, commercial, labour, registry, bankruptcy). Administrative courts review the actions of public bodies. Proceedings before the common courts and the administrative courts are at two instances.

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Reproduced with permission from Law Business Research Ltd. This article was first published in The Dispute Resolution Review, Third Edition (published in April 2011 - editor Richard Clark). 

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