Rola studiów prawniczych w przygotowaniu do pełnienia służby sędziowskiej. Uwagi o dyskursie i praktyce II RP

Author(s): Grzegorz Ławnikowicz / Language(s): Polish Issue: 3/2016

The idea of the article is to describe Polish interwar ideas of a desired religious system of relationships between the organisation of the studies of law and an appropriate level of training for persons who prepare for and those who already perform the judicial service. Determining convictions concerning competences, which constitute the concept of the appropriate preparation, as well as stating which of the competences and to what extent should, according to the participants of the debate, be obtained as a part of university education were considered essential. In the paper the specifics of a widely understood social context of discussion (an increasing supply of lawyers, a “shallow labour market”, an instrumental employment relationship of the country with the law youth) and the state of regulation are outlined. In further considerations, representative concepts of the reform of the studies of law are listed and compared. Basic axis of controversy (the role of the historical items and general education, the need and range of the specialisation of the studies, combining studies and practice, the desirability of preserving a unified character of the studies) is also indicated. At the same time, it shows that it was at least partially based on a misconception (especially the debate concerning the role of general education and the specialisation of the studies).

Зміна механізму справляння збору за першу реєстрацію транспортного засобу: екологічний підхід

Author(s): Vitaliy Pysmennyi / Language(s): Ukrainian Issue: 24/2013

The purpose of article is the development of theoretical and practical approaches to improve the mechanism of levying of first vehicle registration fee.Foreign experience of the mechanism of levying of car registration taxes (fees), based on carbon dioxide emissions and fuel consumption, is studied. Established that environmental car registration taxes (fees) are an important source of budget revenues, spread of production and sales of low carbon and environmental vehicles. In basis of „new” first vehicle registration fee laid a provision whereby persons, who are responsible for pollution, should bear the cost for it, is offered. It will reduce the number of vehicles that do not meet international standards of environmental safety.The proposed measures will enable to increase tax revenues, ensure economical use of energy resources, and improve the ecological situation in the country and regions.

Is freedom worth the risk? – Liberalism and the challenge of Dostoyevsky

Author(s): Eno Trimçev / Language(s): English Issue: 16/2017

Most contemporary liberal thought is concerned with the institutional framework within which we may live our lives. It is, therefore, a mundane or earthly thought, i.e. it renounces what it derisively calls metaphysical speculation on the good life. I want to argue here that the mundanity of liberal thought hinders its understanding of the liberal order. The kernel of truth of that order I take to be (still): the transcendent dignity of human beings. Since the old philosophical vocabularies that established this dignity are now regarded as obsolete, I indicate with this term merely that an individual person is more than what she presents herself to be; that the person is more than the sum of experiences, achievements, comportments, and choices she has taken so far. Contemporary liberal thought must do more than merely acknowledge this –which it often does. It must think it. That is, liberal thought must become metaphysical.

Establishing the rule of law after communism: a comparative approach

Author(s): Elezi Gentian / Language(s): English Issue: 16/2017

Rule of law is one of the main pillars of democratic systems. The post-communist countries of Central and Eastern Europe inherited deleterious legacies regarding rule of law, which made their path to democratisation fraught with difficulties. However, it remains unclear as to how communist judicial legacies and post-communist reforms interact to affect the establishment of the rule of law. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to examine the factors determining the establishment of rule of law in postcommunist countries with a particular focus on Albania. The theoretical framework used is the ‘four-factor explanatory model’ of post-communist trajectories, focusing on (i) pre-communist experience and cultural patterns, (ii) communist regime legacies, (iii) elite strategic choices in early transition, and (iv) external influence. By analysing the impact of these factors in the Albanian case, the article aims to clarify the mechanisms that affect the establishment of the rule of law in countries similar to Albania.

Evropska dostignuća u regulisanju porodičnog statusa deteta začetog artificijelnim reproduktivnim tehnologijama

Author(s): Gordana Kovaček-Stanić / Language(s): Serbian Issue: 2/2015

In this paper, the author analyzes family status of the child conceived by artificial reproduction technologies using the following treatments: homologues artificial insemination, heterologus artificial insemination (artificial insemination by donor), ovum donation, embryo donation and surrogate motherhood. One specific situation of homologues artificial insemination is posthumous insemination, insemination after the death of the husband/partner. This procedure is allowed in, for instance, United Kingdom, but not allowed in France, Switzerland, and Italy. Considering genetics elements in this situation there is no doubt on fatherhood – father is a man whose sperm is used for insemination, regardless of the fact if frozen sperm or frozen embryo is used in the procedure. Nevertheless, until 2008 in United Kingdom, the husband/partner was not considered as legal father, because of the fact that the child was born after his death. Heterologous artificial insemination could be used in three different situations. First, when subjects are spouses or unmarried partners of different sexes. Second, when subjects are spouses or unmarried partners of the same sex and the third if a single woman is an only subject. Most recent procedure is the one in which subjects are spouses or unmarried partners of the same sex, specifically two women. This procedure is allowed in the United Kingdom and Sweden. In these legislatures, there is a rule that the woman who delivers the child is legal mother, and her spouse/partner is a second parent of the child. The most recent procedure of egg donation is a donation of only a part of an egg, mitochondrial DNA. In this case, there are in fact three genetic parents of the child: two genetic mothers and a father. Legally, the child has one mother (the woman who delivers a child) and a father. One of potential outcomes of the recent research is the ability to create human embryo without any male genetic contribution – by transferring the nucleus of a somatic cell from one woman into an enucleated egg of another. In that case, the child would not have genetic father at all. Bearing in mind the new artificial reproduction technologies and their influence to legal rules of establishment of the family status of the child, it could be said that the legal principle of the autonomy of the parties is widened in comparison to material truth. People who wish to be parents become legal parents although they are not generic parents. Sometimes they cannot be genetic parents due to their infertility and sometimes because they are of the same sex. As a result of artificial reproduction technologies, a child could have a genetic link with one of the parents, only with a mother – in the heterologous insemination, only a father – as in egg donation and genetic surrogacy. The child could have genetic link with both of the parents – as in the gestational surrogacy, or it could have no genetic links with his/her legal parents – as in embryo donation. According to some European legislatures, it is possible for the child to have a mother and the other female parent, or a father and the other male parent. Surrogate mother, as well as donors of the genetic material, are not considered as parents. Radical change in social and individual perception of parenthood could accept the fact the child could have more than two parents with different roles (biological - genetic parents, gestational mother, social – legal parents).

Measures and Regulations of prices in selected noble counties of the 17th and 18th centuries

Author(s): Tomáš Tandlich / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2017

The income of self-governing regions in former Hungarian Kingdom from crafts and trade represented a very important part of their budget. Nobility issued the regulations for prizes of various goods and local measures. Those legal rules were considered the most significant jurisdiction in those autonomous regions. The study wants to present regional noble counties of Bratislava, Nitra, Tekov and Spiš and their economic activities during the 17th and 18th centuries.

Miért sikeresebbek a svédek, mint a számik?

Author(s): Attila Dabis / Language(s): Hungarian Issue: 1/2016

The article analyzes the reasons why the Swedish community in Finland proved to be more successful, relative to the Samis, in implementing their political, social and economic aspirations. Parallel to the relevant scientific literature, the study is partly based on a fourmonth long research visit to Finland, conducted in 2015, April to July. The analysis found that the success of Swedish-speaking Finns is, to a large extent, the result of the peculiar historical development of the Finnish nation and the role of the Swedish speaking community in that process. Other relevant factors that contributed to Swedish success included better lobbying, a larger number of Swedes compared to Samis, as well as better representation in domestic and international institutions.

A külhoni magyarok nyelvi diszkriminációja az Unióban

Author(s): Petra Lea Láncos / Language(s): Hungarian Issue: 1/2016

The present article gives a critical account of the European General Court's judgment in the B.A. vs. Commission case. B.A., a Hungarian and Romanian dual citizen sought the annulment of the decision of European Personnel Selection Office (EPSO) which denied her the right to sit for the competition in her native language, Hungarian and refused to admit her to the oral test after she failed the test in Romanian. B.A. claimed that she had been afforded unequal treatment, since the fact that she was precluded from writing the test in Hungarian “placed her, on an objective view, at a disadvantage compared with her fellow citizens who had received their school and university education in Romanian.” The case and the arguments put forward by the parties provide a clear insight into the ambiguities surrounding the EU language regime as well as the difficulties faced by minorities whose mother tongue is both an official language of the EU and a minority language with no official recognition in the Member State in which it is spoken.

Választások Szlovákiában

Author(s): Krisztián Rákóczi / Language(s): Hungarian Issue: 2/2016

Helyhatósági választások Ukrajnában

Author(s): Karolina Darcsi / Language(s): Hungarian Issue: 2/2016

SINGLE STATE IN PALESTINE: CONSTITUTIONAL PATRIOTISM AS A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

Author(s): Tuğçe Ersoy / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2017

:Palestine issue has been confined today to the limited understanding of nationalism. All the solution proposals made within the insight of nationalism have proved to be unsuccessful. Additionally, those solution proposals were unlikely to offer a just and fair solution to the Palestine issue. Today the struggle for the Palestinian state has begun to transform into a struggle for equal rights between Jordan and the Mediterranean. Within this context, based on Kant‟s “perpetual peace” concept, and engaging with cosmopolitan vision, this study seeks to pose whether a just and fair solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict passes through the creation of a single state in Palestine. The case for one–state solution is a normative one and it is a question of morality. The author acknowledges the dark spots of this option; however intends to lay bare new and open discussions concerning the resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

USTAVNOPRAVNO PITANJE KRUNIDBE U HRVATSKO-UGARSKOM PRAVU

Author(s): László Heka / Language(s): Croatian Issue: 3-4/2017

This year marks the 150th anniversary of the Coronation of Franz Joseph l as the King of Hungary and Croatia which was marked by the Hungarian side as the condition of reconciliation with Vienna and the conclusion of the Austro-Hungarian settlement. This compromise between Austria and Hungary has served as a template for a yearlong Croatian-Hungarian settlement in many segments. With these two settlements, the Hungarians settled their relations with the court and with the Triune Kingdom of Croatia, Slavonia and Dalmatia, with whom Hungary had been in the state community since 1102. This event marked the end of a long-standing conflict with Austria, and the Croatian issue was removed from the agenda in Budapest and Vienna. In the course of eight centuries of the common statehood, the Coronation was one of the pivotal constitutional questions. The act of the Coronation, which gave the King legitimacy, consisted of the church ritual (anointing) and the secular part manifested in taking the oath, and it had a public character and meaning. The latter was reflected in the fact that the crown oath and crown vow (the diplomas of inauguration) were considered the contract between the people and the King, and therefore the Crown Defender had a constitutional character. The King got his legitimacy only if he was crowned with the crown of St. Stephen (the Holy Crown), so Franz Joseph l became the Hungarian and Croatian King only after the crowning in Buda. Since the palatine function was incomplete at the time, Hungary had to be represented by Count Gyula Andrassy, who was then the president of the government. After the King’s death in 1916, during the last royal Coronation, a political-legal debate was raised about whether Hungary should be represented by the Prime Minister or other person on behalf of the people.

Първа среща за опазване на нематериалното културно наследство на експерти от Китай и от страните в Централна и Югоизточна Европа, Краков, 11–14 октомври 2016 г.

Author(s): Albena Georgieva / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 3/2017

Events

Indigenous Mechanisms of Transitional Justice as Complementary Instruments to State Justice Systems

Author(s): Agnieszka Szpak / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2017

Transitional justice is resorted to within the framework of transition from armed conflict to peace and from authoritarian regimes to the democratic ones. To reach the aims of transitional justice and to better integrate the needs and perspectives of the indigenous peoples that very often are victims of serious human rights violations in the transitional context, as well as the colonisation context, indigenous instruments of justice may be utilised. As such they may be treated as complementary to other transitional justice mechanisms. The article aims to find a new perspective on the complementary role of the indigenous justice and the State justice systems within the framework of transitional justice as well as to take into account the indigenous peoples’ needs and customs. The overall aim of the paper is to answer the question whether it is desirable for such indigenous justice instruments to complement the State justice systems through a better integration of the needs and customs of indigenous peoples. In the concluding remarks, a model of complementarity model of transitional justice that includes indigenous instruments will be proposed.

Technological Innovations and International Humanitarian Law

Author(s): Eric Pomès / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2017

In recent years, armed conflicts have changed in nature (civil war, ‘terrorism’) and the means used are increasingly technological (robotisation, cyberwar). Faced with these developments, some would claim International Humanitarian Law (IHL) is outdated. While these technological innovations present new challenges in the application of IHL, it still constitutes a relevant legal framework for armed conflicts and the conduct of hostilities. Indeed, the flexibility of IHL allows it to adapt to contemporary conflicts. Therefore, this shows that the statements about its obsolescence are primarily political in nature.

CANNIBALISM AS HIGHLIGHTED BY A CASE FROM THE OTTOMAN LAW COURT OF SOFIA, 1027/1618

Author(s): Recep Çiğdem / Language(s): English Issue: 3/2011

This is a study of cannibalism in the light of a case from the Ottoman law court of Sofia. To give the reader a historical background, first a short history of cannibalism will be given, then the approach of the Muslim jurists to the relation between the sanctity of human flesh and its consumption during the condition of dire necessity will be investigated. This article will hopefully contribute to a better understanding of the rare case of cannibalism in Islamic environment.

Paradoxes and gaps of Polish regulations on the use of assisted reproductive techniques

Author(s): Błażej Kmieciak / Language(s): English,Polish Issue: 7/2017

At the end of June 2015 the Treatment of Infertility Act was adopted in Poland. This legislation mostly refers to the problem of the use of assisted reproduction techniques (in vitro). Adoption of the law was considered by some experts to be a special moment. Finally, in Poland, the functioning of IVF clinics was regulated.The adoption of the Treatment of Infertility Act also met with criticism. Although the introduction of regulations concerning the functioning of clinics was considered as a positive action, however, it was also emphasized that legalization of these procedures would lead to the emergence of numerous problems.In Poland, in vitro – in recent years – has been implemented not only through the Act but also through the health scheme adopted by the minister of health and health schemes adopted by the councils of different cities (Częstochowa and Łódź).This paper attempts to analyse these documents. This analysis will refer to two key phenomena: a gap and a paradox. The aim of the presented reflections is primarily to show how the adoption of these rules can complicate the biological reality. The presented discussion and analysis will refer mostly to the Polish legislative reality.

Transgender issue in contemporary Iran: A theological reflection

Author(s): Jaroslav Franc / Language(s): English,Polish Issue: 7/2017

The Islamic Republic of Iran is recognised as a theocratic political system with a touch of democratic elements. Since the last decade of the 20th century it is the only Islamic republic with sophisticated system for sex-change operations and procedures related to this issues. This unique situation was developed on the ruling of Ayatollah Khomeini concerning the Fereydoon Molkara’s case. He was born as a man and later identified himself as a woman. Current legal regulation in Iran not just allows sex-change procedure, it is recommended and even expected by the religious authorities that anyone who identifies himself with the other sex than he was born with would undertake the sex-change procedure. The paper deals with the historical and theological context of the issue.

Die Politik zum Schutz von Kindern in der Gesetzgebung Bulgariens in der Zeit 1879–1912

Author(s): Shtelian Shterionov,Mario Alexandrov / Language(s): German Issue: 3-4/2016

The aim of the present study is to clarify the main concepts on the essence and implementation of the policy on children in the legislation of post-Liberation Bulgaria. The debates accompanying the preparation, discussion and adoption of the laws in Bulgaria after 1878 concerning the recognition of illegitimate children, their legalization and adoption, their guardianship and inheritance law are examined. Their analysis makes it possible to establish the clear striving of legislators to form a policy concept aimed at protecting children, covering a larger circle of children in the country. This circumstance is an eloquent testimony of the then lawmakers’ vision of the significance of this type of policy and of its role in the realization of the future development of Bulgaria.

Znamiona państwa wyznaniowego – uwagi na kanwie dorobku współczesnego konstytucjonalizmu

Author(s): Paweł Borecki / Language(s): Polish Issue: 20/2017

The analysis of contemporary constitutions indicates that the number of religious states is slowly decreasing. However, we are confronted with the opposite tendencies. The model of the religious state is characteristic primarily of Muslim countries of the Near and Middle East and of a number of Southeast Asian countries. In the last decades, the number of Christian states and secular ideological states has declined significantly. There is a stable group of states with Buddhism as a privileged religion. The religious constitutional norms of confessional states are generally characterized by a high degree of generality. Detailed provisions are rare. Denominational clauses are included primarily among the supreme principles of the constitution. Underlying the religious character of the state is the rejection of the neutrality of the worldview. It is not possible, on the basis of the constitution alone, to reconstruct a detailed, universal model of the religious state. In the light of fundamental laws, the most common characteristics of religious states are: the negation of the neutrality of the state in worldviews, the acceptance of a particular religion as the official religion, the rejection of the equality of religious associations, the requirement of a state religion or belief towards the head of the state, the state support for a given confession. The constitutions of the majority of religious states formally provide for religious freedom. In the fundamental laws of some Muslim states, the formal guarantees for this freedom are, however, absent. The organizational unity of the state and religious apparatus is not characteristic of the sphere of Western political culture. The socio-political reality of contemporary religious states indicates that this model of statehood can not be a priori regarded as contrary to the principles of democracy and human rights.