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The study analyses the 'developed concept of sources of law' created by Zygmunt Ziembiński in the second half of the 1960s, which was extremely important in Polish legal theory. Its main feature is a departure from the exclusivity of treating legal regulations as a source of law. While legislative competence plays a primary role in the conception, the inclusion of a norm in the system of law is also determined by other factors. The most characteristic in this context is the presence, in addition to the rules of exegesis (interpretative, inferential and conflict-solving), of three other factors discussed in this paper: political justification (legitimizing the legal system as a whole), customs (social norms introduced into the legal system by judicial decisions) and precedent (confirming an extra-legal norm or creating a legal norm after the acceptance of such an act by legal doctrine). This is why the concept not only breaks the positivist theoretical-legal paradigm, but also creates a realistic picture of the sources used in the decision-making processes of applying the law.

The aim of the study is the analysis of the role of legislating the extra-legal references in the form of general clauses in the statutory legal orders. The main features of legislative policy determine that it is in principle rational activity despite the fact that the objectives of the reference are not fully transparent. Although the clauses refer in a controlled and point-based manner to extra-legal values, in fact they extend the scope of judicial discretion, which allows for a departure in the processes of judicial application of the law from legislative intentions and expectations. Legislators of both in Polish and other European legal orders try to determine the functions of general clauses by giving appropriate names to the criteria of general clauses, by locating clauses in appropriate segments of the legal system and normative act as well as by defining the conditions for the application of clauses in a particular decisional process. The shape of all these activities depends on various factors. The most essential role among them is played however by the type of political system in which the clauses are created and of which properties determine the way of use of the clauses by the courts in processes of application of law.

The subject of the article is to determine the extent to which the judicial interpretation of the law is affected by the use of an open axiology argument in the course of adjudication. Assuming that the use of open criteria is based primarily on the application of the legislative construction of general reference clauses, it is important to link these references to a legislative policy in which they constitute a means of deliberately extending the scope of discretionary power, derived from natural (independent of the legislator) sources. The essential function of the references is the axiological opening of findings made in all essential phases of judicial interpretation – validation, reconstruction and construction, resulting, among other things, in a change in the relationship between the roles of particular interpretation rules. This may lead to various manifestations of abuse of the interpretative discretion of judges, which in turn necessitates the search for certain remedies, among which the formation of permanent lines of jurisdiction and precedential practice, as well as the transparency of the reasoning of judgements, seems to be of the utmost importance. ; Przedmiotem artykułu jest określenie zakresu wpływu, jaki na procesy sądowej wykładni prawa ma wykorzystanie w toku orzekania argumentu z otwartej aksjologii. Zakładając, iż sięganie po kryteria otwarte opiera się przede wszystkim na zastosowaniu legislacyjnej konstrukcji generalnych klauzul odsyłających, istotną kwestią jest powiązanie tych odesłań z polityką prawodawczą, w ramach której stanowią środek celowego rozszerzania zakresu swobody decyzyjnej, pochodzącej z naturalnych (niezależnych od prawodawcy) źródeł. Zasadniczą funkcją odesłań jest aksjologiczne otwieranie ustaleń dokonywanych we wszystkich zasadniczych fazach wykładni sądowej – walidacyjnej, rekonstrukcyjnej i konstrukcyjnej, mające skutek m.in. w zmianie relacji pomiędzy rolami poszczególnych reguł wykładni. Może to prowadzić do różnych przejawów nadużywania interpretacyjnej dyskrecjonalności sędziowskiej, co z kolei wymusza poszukiwanie pewnych środków zaradczych, spośród których kształtowanie się trwałych linii orzeczniczych i praktyki precedensowej oraz przejrzystość argumentacyjna uzasadnień orzeczeń wydają się mieć największe znaczenie.

PRECEDENTIAL PRACTICE IN THE STATUTORY LEGAL ORDER.BASIC DETERMINING FACTORSThe purpose of the paper deals with the consideration of the several basic factors determining the development of the precedential practice in the statutory legal order. Such practice might be defined at the using the previous judicial decisions in the actual decisional process in the validation or derivative aspects of the operational interpretation of law, with potential adaptation of some so­lutions from the common law order. Among the favorable factors for the shaping of this practice one might find the maturity and the positive attitude of the judiciary, features of the specific decision-making process, the attitude of the legal doctrine, social acceptance of the active role of the judiciary bringing potentially ethical correction to the legislative regulations, the technical and informational skill in identification of the needed decisions, the reliable evaluation of the candidate for the position of judge, as well as the functioning of the principles of division of powers, rule of law and independence of judiciary, being elements of the democratic political system. On the contrary, the autocratic political system keeps the position of the strongest counter­-favorable factor to the precedential practice. One of the reasons deals with lack of the control of such practice from the center of political power, what brings the instruments that through the de­gradation of the above mentioned principles of democratic system, restrict the precedential judicial practice.

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