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Poland Judicial System
The constitution of 1952 reflected the communists'
disdain
for the concept of judicial independence. As in the Soviet
system, the Polish judiciary was viewed as an integral
part of
the coercive state apparatus. The courts were not allowed
to
adjudicate the constitutionality of statutes. Instead, the
function of constitutional review was within the purview
of the
legislative branch until 1976, when it passed to the
Council of
State. A key provision of the Round Table Agreement was
the
reemergence of an independent judiciary, a concept rooted
in the
Ustawa Rzadowa, the constitution of 1791. By 1992 most of
the
communist political appointees had left the Supreme Court,
and at
all levels new judges had been recruited from among
qualified
academic and courtroom barristers. On the other hand, in
1992
Poland's body of laws still contained a motley assortment
of
Soviet-style statutes full of vague language aimed at
protecting
the communist monopoly of power rather than the rule of
law
itself. A complete overhaul of the legal system was a
universally
recognized need.
Data as of October 1992
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