ARE WE A ‘SOCIETY OF HONOUR’? RECONSTRUCTION OF THE TERM ‘HONOUR’ IN SELECTED JUDICIAL DECISIONS OF POLISH COURTS
ARE WE A ‘SOCIETY OF HONOUR’? RECONSTRUCTION OF THE TERM ‘HONOUR’ IN SELECTED JUDICIAL DECISIONS OF POLISH COURTS

Summary/Abstract: The existence of honour as a particular value is not unique, restricted to the boundaries of certain states, nationalities or ethnicities only. Yet, a distinction can be found in the literature between so-called ‘societies of honour’ and ‘modernised societies’. It is believed that in ‘societies of honour’ honour plays a central role in regulating social relations, and in ‘modernised societies’ based on the rule of law its importance is marginalised. This article is a contribution to the discussion on the adequacy of the discussed division based on the example of Polish society. Due to the fact that an important feature of this distinction is the juxtaposition of law and honour as tools for regulating social relations, the starting point of the analysis of this issue is to answer the question whether the concept of ‘honour’ exists in Polish law, and if so, how it is defined and in what contexts it appears. Due to the complexity of this issue, the subject of the article was limited to a specific problem – the analysis of selected judgments of Polish courts and the reasons underlying these judgments. The research allowed to identify the provisions of Polish law which refer (or could refer) to honour. Based on the analysis made, it may be stated that both, judges as well as parties to court proceedings, consider honour as a protected, legally accepted value.

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