JURISDICTION OF ADMINISTRATIVE COURTS

The article presents how the jurisdiction of administrative courts has been shaped by legislative acts that introduced a system of two-instance administrative courts. Administrative courts exercise judicial power just like the Supreme Court, courts of general jurisdiction and courts martial (article 175 of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland). The range of administrative courts’ jurisdiction and the nature of their judicial power are clearly formulated in article 184 of the Constitution. According to the article, administrative courts exercise control over civil service within a scope limited by statutes. The control involves passing judgments on the compliance of local government’s resolutions with statutes. Setting clear limits of administrative courts’ material jurisdiction by the Constitution had a decisive impact on the way and scope of regulating this jurisdiction by statutes that introduced reform of administrative courts: the Administrative Courts Structure Act, 25th July 2002, the Proceedings Before Administrative Courts Act, 30th August 2002, and Introductory Provisions to: Administrative Courts Structure Act and the Proceedings Before Administrative Courts Act