The Form and Competence of the Constitutional Tribunal

The subject of the article are the legal regulations contained in the Constitution of the Polish People's Republic and in the Constitutional Tribunal Act of 29 April, 1985, and concerned with the two subject ranges pointed out in the title and, at the same time, with four detailed topics taken from each of the two ranges. When characterising the Tribunal and presenting its form, the author puts forward the following theses: 1) the Tribunal is an organ provided for in the Constitution of the PPR, yet it might act solely on the basis of an ordinary act, 2) the installment of the resolutions concerning the Tribunal in the 4th chapter of the Constitution, together with the resolutions about the Tribunal of State and the Chief Board of Supervision, is not justified, 3) the Tribunal is an organ of the administration of justice, and is therefore a court, but a court of a specific kind, and hence its name should be considered as most appropriate, 4) the Tribunal is an independent organ, and not an inner organ of the Seym, although it is, at the same time, — in spite of the independence of its members — an organ subordinated to the Seym. The author justifies each of the theses mentioned in greater detail. Introducing next the subject-matter of the Tribunal's characteristics, the author 1) points out the several conclusions that can be drawn in this respect from the Polish Constitution, especially from art. 33a; 2) presents similar conclusions arising from the resolutions in the Constitutional Tribunal Act, regulating the adequacy of the Tribunal in the area of considering motions to investigate the consistence or rather inconsistence of Constitutional acts with the Constitution, as well as that of other normative acts issued by the supreme and central state organs — with the Constitution and other legislative acts, 3) discusses the competences of the Tribunal regarding the answering of legal queries, 4) and also presents certain general principles, the acceptance of which is, in his opinion, a precondition to the Tribunal adequately performing the tasks expected of it.Digitalizacja i deponowanie archiwalnych zeszytów RPEiS sfinansowane przez MNiSW w ramach realizacji umowy nr 541/P-DUN/201