Substantive justice and procedural justice ‒ some comments on tensions between various kinds of justice within the civil law Cover Image

Sprawiedliwość prawnomaterialna a proceduralna – kilka uwag na temat napięć między różnymi postaciami sprawiedliwości w prawie cywilnym
Substantive justice and procedural justice ‒ some comments on tensions between various kinds of justice within the civil law

Author(s): Krzysztof Kurosz
Subject(s): Civil Law, Philosophy of Law, Sociology of Law
Published by: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
Keywords: procedural justice; equity; adversarial principles

Summary/Abstract: The article analyzes the concept of justice in both procedural and substantive aspects of civil law, with regards to John Rawls’ notion of “procedural justice”. The basic problem of the article is the question if each outcome of a fair procedure is just by the token of the fairness of the procedure. The author argues that such a standpoint, claiming that the procedure itself creates a just decision, will be incompatible with Article 45 paragraph 1 of the Polish Constitution. This paragraph grants the right to just adjudicature, which takes into account the whole substantive law. There are areas in law where conflicts between the procedural and the substantive justice are possible. Such an area is the adversary trial proceedings and evidentiary proceedings. The Court of Justice of the European Union emphasizes that there are such groups of legal entities (eg. consumers), for which it is necessary to regard ex officio all of facts pointing to the unjust treatment of consumer. The similar point of view was expressed by the Supreme Court of Poland. The Supreme Court of Poland allowed an evaluation of a claim which includes principles of justice, even if the defendant doesn’t take any position. This belief agrees with the standpoint of E. Waśkowski, who emphasized that the sentence should be “rightful”.

  • Issue Year: 2017
  • Issue No: 70
  • Page Range: 111-136
  • Page Count: 26
  • Language: Polish