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The low and constantly decreasing voter turnout in the European Parliamentary elections has recently become a significant concern for both the EU and national authorities. The reasons for this state of affairs, however, to a large extent should be sought in the 'statistical' effect of the EU enlargement by the new member states, where the turnout tends to be low in all types of elections. It should be observed that after the third elections, the turnout in the 'old' EU has stabilized at the level of 52–53%, and the claims that it has decreased dramatically are erroneous. The situation is quite different in the new member states, where the turnout has actually decreased by several percent since the 2004 elections. It can be claimed then that the low turnout is not a result of the member states' citizens' decreasing interest in EU matters, but rather of a general aversion towards politics and politicians. Comparing the turnout in the elections to the European Parliament, and national parliaments, one can observe that the difference is similar in all the countries, and amounts to approx. 30%. This difference follows from the fact that EU citizens treat the European Parliamentary elections as 'second-division elections' (of secondary significance) that in their opinion do not have a significant influence. Therefore, it appears that one should look for the reasons why general turnover has fallen, rather than exclusively at that in EP elections. What will be the remedy for this low turnout? Firstly, the voters need to be informed about the significance of the decisions taken by the EP to their everyday life. Advantageous outcomes could also be provided by the reforms of election law, such as the changed time of the polls or the introduction of preferential voting in all the states. It is also important to continue and develop the campaign which promotes voting, conducted by NGOs, as well as by the EU institutions.

The Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) is a descriptive formula used to reflect on asymmetries in economic development and consequential conflict of interests arising between various states of the world. These asymmetries and conflicts of interests have their reflection in these states' environmental policy mix - implemented domestically and pursued in the international context. The emerging map of mutual interests and dependences results from the consideration of external costs and benefits pertaining to respective national environmental policies. The EKC makes it evident that these costs and benefits cannot be evenly spread over all the states. This urges these states to adopt such interjurisdictional arrangements which are based on the identification of a possible multilateral exchange of economic policy favours and international financial transfers. Such an exchange, whenever occurs, has a generalized reciprocity formula. The function of such an arrangement is to make it possible for Nash equilibria to emerge, as such are most likely to produce the highest possible level of effectiveness in the long run. Such a behavior may not be cooperative in the short and medium term, yet the bottom-line cooperativeness is achieved because most states have similar if not the same long-term environmental goals.

The article discusses the electoral system in the time of the COVID-19 pandemic. Elections are the process of citizens electing their representatives for specific positions. In this context, the method and principles of conducting the election are important, so that its fundamental rule - universality - is preserved. Although more than a dozen electoral regulations were in force since 1989 and the traditional model of voting at a polling station was still in place, the Polish legislator also provided for postal and proxy voting. Due to the risk related to the COVID-19 pandemic, it would seem that changes to the Polish Electoral Code will be necessary. The adaptation of the new provisions to the Constitution of the Republic of Poland of 1997, however, turned out to be too ambitious a task for the domestic legislator. Therefore, the Act of April 6, 2020 on the special rules for holding general elections for the President of the Republic of Poland, ordered in 2020, did not enter into force finally, because the functioning of a democratic state ruled by law requires that fundamental rights and civil liberties, including electoral ones be guaranteed. This study is empirical in nature - it is a case study of a specific legislative action shown in a comparative approach on the example of Poland and the United States of America.

The goal of this article is to an answer to a fundamental dilemma that appears in the organisation and functioning of democratic countries. It arises from the necessity to provide national security while simultaneously ensuring a specific catalogue of values, including citizen laws and freedoms. The author attempts a teleological analysis of the conception of national security in the conditions of a constitutional democracy. After defining the general characteristics of the security conception, the author investigates them in terms of relations between the security of national structures and personal and group interests of the citizens. The author points out their axiological and legal aspects formalised in the fundamental law and underlines the synergic interdependence between the security of national organisational structures and the security of the society – the nation. ; Celem artykułu jest odpowiedź na zasadniczy dylemat pojawiający się w organizacji i funkcjonowaniu demokratycznych państw. Polega on na konieczności zapewnienia bezpieczeństwa przy jednoczesnej ochronie określonego katalogu wartości, w tym praw i wolności obywateli. Autor podejmuje próbę teleologicznej analizy pojęcia "bezpieczeństwo państwa" w warunkach funkcjonowania demokracji konstytucyjnej. Po określeniu ogólnych desygnatów tego pojęcia, rozpatruje je w kontekście relacji ochrony struktur państwa do zabezpieczenia interesów personalnych i grupowych ogółu obywateli. Wskazuje na ich aksjologiczno-prawne aspekty sformalizowane w ustawie zasadniczej oraz podkreśla synergiczną współzależność pomiędzy bezpieczeństwem struktur organizacji państwowej a bezpieczeństwem społeczeństwa – narodu.

The purpose of the article is to analyse the role of the public prosecutor's office as an institution that is specifically embedded in between certain elements of the political system, particularly between the executive and judiciary powers. For this reason, the public prosecutor's office can be regarded, together with courts, as an institution that aims to be actively involved in administering justice and an instrument of the executive power to guarantee internal security and to execute internal functions of the state. The public prosecutor's office, given its specific operation area, is expected to prosecute crimes effectively as well as safeguard the rule of law, which may be threatened by the infringing actions of not only individuals and criminal groups but also of officials and state institutions. Hence, with respect to the accountability of the public prosecutor's office, it should be more independent of the executive power which is subject to political rules. It appears, however, that separating it officially from the executive power does not have to lead automatically to the public prosecutor's office independence of political influence when other direct (the Prime Minister's and the Minister of Justice's authority over the Attorney General) and indirect mechanisms of prosecutors' political dependency (clientelism, politicisation and political bonds of prosecutors with politicians) exist.

The issue of territorial disputes is a problem of a large number of states. These problems exists in the EU and in countries candidate for accession to this organization. As to the former Yugoslav republics following the collapse of the common state, the problems are created in terms of determining the territory. The issue of borders after the dissolution of a federal state such as Yugoslavia, creating major problems that can be solved only by applying two basic principles - the principle of demarcation and the principle of self-determination of nation. In international law there is no general rule, according to which the retreating boundary between the states. The author deals with issues of particular territorial disputes in the EU and between the EU countries and countries of the Western Balkan. Practically, these disputes between EU countries have existed before, and have not been resolved to their joining the organization. Whether the EU can guarantee resolution of these disputes is one of the issues raised in the paper, given that many disputes are not settled in countries that are longer or shorter time-EU countries. The conclusion is that it can not, because there are no adequate tools for this so that all the leaves to the states in disputes.

The film is one of few examples of political documentaries produced in Poland after 1989. It is not limited to merely outlining the political argument over General Jaruzelski's decision to impose martial law. Although it concerns events in Polish history, it is not a historical documentary, as it brings forth present-day political conflicts that have arisen around historical events. Trying to reconstruct this current political argument, Zmarz-Koczanowicz reaches for a method developed in the 1970s by the so-called "Kraków School" led by Krzysztof Kieślowski. ^e "talking heads" method was meant to help documentary filmmakers in the Polish People's Republic reach what the person in the street actually thought and avoid the distortions of propaganda. For Kieślowski, however, the overriding aim was conciliation and an attempt to understand both sides of the political barricade - the authorities and the vox popu- li. His attitude, according to the terminology suggested by Chantal Mouffe, was a post-political one striving for an agreement through a rational dialogue. Zmarz-Koczanowicz's aim, however, is different: she is intent on showing a clash of different hegemonies that do not strive for consensus. Their agonistic argument, played out in the political register, rather than a moral one, is a guarantee, according to this Belgian philosopher of politics, that democracy will continue to exist.

Establishing legal forms of nature conservation entails a restriction on the right of ownership and other property rights. For this reason, the legislature introduced in the Act of 27 April 2001 on Environmental Protection Law solutions allowing for the purchase of real estate or payment of damages. The provisions of the Environmental Protection Law set out an administrative-judicial procedure of claiming for remedying a damage caused by the legal operation of the public administration related to the protection of environmental resources. This procedure is based on the fact that a claim, essentially of a civil nature (a claim for remedying a damage caused by restricting the use of property) is pursued in two stages – the first in an administrative proceeding in which the administrative authority issues a decision and in the second, where the case is decided by a general court. The first stage is obligatory, in the sense that in the event of a dispute for compensation, the aggrieved party must apply to the administrative body for compensation. The second is initiated as a result of the action of the party dissatisfied with the compensation awarded by the administrative body. ; Ustanowienie prawnych form ochrony przyrody wiąże się z ograniczeniem prawa własności i innych praw rzeczowych. Z tej przyczyny ustawodawca wprowadził w ustawie z dnia 27 kwietnia 2001 r. – Prawo ochrony środowiska rozwiązania umożliwiające domaganie się wykupu nieruchomości lub zapłaty odszkodowania. Przepisy ustawy Prawo ochrony środowiska przewidziały administracyjnosądowy tryb realizacji roszczenia o naprawienie szkody wywołanej legalnym działaniem administracji, związanym z ochroną zasobów środowiska. Tryb ten polega na tym, że roszczenie co do zasady o charakterze cywilnym (roszczenie o naprawienie szkody spowodowanej ograniczeniem sposobu korzystania z nieruchomości) jest dochodzone w dwóch etapach: 1) w postępowaniu administracyjnym, w którym organ administracji wydaje decyzję, oraz 2) w postępowaniu, w którym orzeka sąd powszechny. Pierwszy etap jest obowiązkowy w tym sensie, że w razie sporu o odszkodowanie poszkodowany musi wystąpić do organu administracji o ustalenie odszkodowania. Drugi natomiast jest inicjowany na skutek powództwa strony niezadowolonej z przyznanego przez organ administracji odszkodowania.

The institution of expropriation is an instrument for public authorities to actuate discharge of public tasks that are important for general needs of society. Substantive conditions of expropriation determine activities of public administrative authorities that reach for this instrument while specifying protection of ownership rights under the Polish legal system. In addition, they guarantee constitutional standards of expropriation that also include expropriation procedures regulated by statutes that protect owners' interests against excessive public legal interference with their rights. Securing rights of expropriated property owners is of paramount importance in the perspective of both standards of democratic rule of law and their compliance with axiology of the provisions of the Polish Constitution. The conclusions reached in this paper will help to assess how they fulfil the constitutional determinants of expropriation. ; Instytucja wywłaszczenia jest narzędziem w rękach władzy publicznej urzeczywistniającym realizację zadań publicznych ważnych z punktu widzenia potrzeb ogólnospołecznych. Materialnoprawne przesłanki wywłaszczeniowe determinują aktywność organów administracji publicznej w sięganiu po ten instrument, będąc jednocześnie dookreśleniem ochrony prawa własności w polskim porządku prawnym. Ponadto stanowią gwarancję dochowania konstytucyjnych standardów wywłaszczenia, przez które rozumie się także ustawowo uregulowane procedury wywłaszczeniowe, w ramach których chronione są interesy właścicieli przed nadmierną publicznoprawną ekspansją w ich prawa. Zabezpieczenie praw właścicieli nieruchomości wywłaszczanych ma ogromne znaczenie z punktu widzenia zarówno standardów demokratycznego państwa prawnego, jak i ich zgodności z aksjologią przepisów Konstytucji RP. Poczynione w niniejszym artykule ustalenia pozwolą na ich ocenę pod względem spełnienia konstytucyjnych determinantów wywłaszczenia.

Polish Problems with Genocide According to Rafał LemkinRafał (Raphael) Lemkin is currently the best–known Polish lawyer, whose name appears invariably as a point of departure for international discussions about genocide. He is the author of The German New Order in Poland and in 1944 published Axis Rule in Occupied Europe, containing the term: "genocide". At the time of the Nuremberg Trial Lemkin acted as adviser to United States Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson. Subsequently, he worked on devising an act of law that would define the principles of penalising the crime of genocide. On 9 December 1948 the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. In Poland the revival of interest in Lemkin has its positive and negative sides. The former undoubtedly include changing or rather initiating an alteration of a situation embarrassing or outright insulting for Poland, namely, when Polish–language versions of the above–mentioned books about the Axis occupation were not available and Lemkin was not mentioned in assorted studies. The latter aspect involves his sui generis sacralisation and elevation, hindering a critical discussion about his achievements, since such a debate could be interpreted as questioning them. This article endeavours to examine the conception of genocide from the viewpoint of an historian, and reflects on the extent to which it could become an instrument of historical analysis.

Polish Problems with Genocide According to Rafał LemkinRafał (Raphael) Lemkin is currently the best–known Polish lawyer, whose name appears invariably as a point of departure for international discussions about genocide. He is the author of The German New Order in Poland and in 1944 published Axis Rule in Occupied Europe, containing the term: "genocide". At the time of the Nuremberg Trial Lemkin acted as adviser to United States Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson. Subsequently, he worked on devising an act of law that would define the principles of penalising the crime of genocide. On 9 December 1948 the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. In Poland the revival of interest in Lemkin has its positive and negative sides. The former undoubtedly include changing or rather initiating an alteration of a situation embarrassing or outright insulting for Poland, namely, when Polish–language versions of the above–mentioned books about the Axis occupation were not available and Lemkin was not mentioned in assorted studies. The latter aspect involves his sui generis sacralisation and elevation, hindering a critical discussion about his achievements, since such a debate could be interpreted as questioning them. This article endeavours to examine the conception of genocide from the viewpoint of an historian, and reflects on the extent to which it could become an instrument of historical analysis.

The article tries to bring to the light the role of symbolism in the organized human life, in general, and the contemporary societies with the accelerating changes almost in all social structures, in particular. The rational of symbolism in changing socio-political and legal environment creates complexity of the issue, which has been studied in the article, taking into account the methodology of complex system theory. The interconnectivity and interdependency of law, morality and politics create the picture of synergy of different social norms with each other in changing environment. Their positive synergy is able to create a perception of the 'ethical state' – the focal point of equilibrium expressed in the attractor of future admired development. In the legal perspective, the symbol of that attractor appears to be the constitution as the society's and the nation's symbol of coexistence based on the values of mutual past, necessary present and admired future. It is substantiated that the Constitution is the phenomenon, representing a concrete constitutional idea and constitutional identity, and should be the one to be considered as such in a lot of people's minds if we intend to have a proper constitutional system and values. Hence, the Constitution is not just a document with a highest legal force, but also a symbol of a concrete constitutional system, and from this viewpoint the Basic Law has a symbolic significance. The authors substantiate that the mentioned significance of the Constitution makes it clear that constitutional policy in any state should be established and implemented in a manner, obviously demonstrating an attitude towards the Constitution, in the frames of which it is considered as a symbol of a concrete constitutional system. The most important circumstance in this context is to never transform the Constitution (directly or indirectly) from a symbol to an instrument in the hands of both the people and the state power and the whole constitutional policy of the state should be based on the discussed essential idea. Moreover, according to the authors the Constitution should not be subject to amendment parallel to every change of political situation of the state or formation of a new political majority merely conditioned by the mentioned changes. The Constitution has a fundamental role from the aspect of regulating social relations, has symbolic significance and can't be used just as a tool for solving ongoing political problems.

The right to strike action is one of the fundamental human rights and trade union freedoms. Strike, as a form of protest against broadly understood injustice is one of the most important measures of trade union protection of workers' interests. However, the right to strike is not absolute and its legal use must often take into account the interests of the employer and third parties. The aim of the article is to assess – basing on a review of the literature and the case-law – the doctors' right to strike from a legal, ethical and moral perspective. The issue of medical practitioners' right to participate in a strike is ambiguous in view of the legislation currently in force, and two opposing positions have developed in the collective labour law literature. The problem of the legality of this form of protest of medical practitioners is nowadays left to the assessment of the parties to a collective bargaining dispute, carried out based on the general clause of a possible "threat to human life and health or national security", with the lack of appropriate judicial review in this regard. It is, therefore, undoubtedly necessary for the legislature to take appropriate pro futuro legislative action. ; Prawo do strajku należy do podstawowych praw człowieka oraz wolności związkowych. Strajk, jako jedna z form protestu przeciwko szeroko rozumianej niesprawiedliwości, należy do najistotniejszych środków związkowej ochrony interesów pracowniczych. Prawo do strajku jednak nie ma charakteru bezwzględnego, a korzystanie z niego w sposób legalny musi niejednokrotnie uwzględniać interes pracodawcy i osób trzecich. Celem artykułu jest ocena legalności strajku lekarzy z punktu widzenia regulacji ustawowych oraz zasad etycznych i moralnych, przy uwzględnieniu poglądów literatury i orzecznictwa. Kwestia prawa lekarzy do udziału w strajku jest na gruncie aktualnego stanu prawnego niejednoznaczna, a w literaturze zbiorowego prawa pracy wykształciły się dwa przeciwstawne stanowiska w tym zakresie. Problem legalności tej formy protestu lekarzy pozostawiony jest obecnie w zasadzie jedynie ocenie stron sporu zbiorowego, dokonywanej przez pryzmat ogólnej klauzuli ewentualnego "zagrożenia życia i zdrowia ludzkiego lub bezpieczeństwa państwa", przy jednoczesnym braku odpowiedniej kontroli sądowej w tym zakresie. Niewątpliwie zatem wymagane jest podjęcie przez ustawodawcę odpowiednich działań legislacyjnych pro futuro.

Celem artykułu jest charakterystyka dwóch kultur prawnych, tj. kultury władzy oraz kultury uzasadniania, sformułowanych przez Davida Dyzenhausa. Powyższa dystynkcja kultur zaproponowana przez kanadyjskiego teoretyka prawa stanowi interesujący głos w dyskusji nad tym, w jaki sposób wybrnąć z problemu wyznaczenia granic sprawowania władzy publicznej, a w konsekwencji również problemu bezkonfliktowego realizowania zasady podziału władzy. Najogólniej rzecz ujmując, w kulturze władzy uzasadnianie dla działania władzy jest konieczne na etapie jej ustanawiania, w momencie zaś jej ustanowienia władza nie widzi potrzeby uzasadniania swoich decyzji. W kulturze uzasadniania w sytuacji, gdy władza już została ustanowiona, reguły kultury uzasadniania nakazują władzy uzasadniać swoje wszystkie decyzje. Rekonstrukcja powyższych idei kultur prawnych została zilustrowana ostatnimi propozycjami zmian w ustawie o Sądzie Najwyższym. W konkluzji artykułu wskazano, że zaproponowane zmiany funkcjonowania Sądu Najwyższego są oczywistymi przykładami działań władzy ustawodawczej opartych na dyrektywach kultury władzy, co prowadzić może do naruszeń zasad państwa prawa. ; The aim of this article is to describe two legal cultures, namely the culture of authority and the culture of justification, as formulated by David Dyzenhaus. This distinction between legal cultures proposed by the Canadian theorist of law makes an interesting contribution to the discussion on how to make headway with the problem of determining the limits of public authority and, consequently, the problem of implementing the principle of the separation of powers in such a way that conflicts do not arise. In general, with the culture of authority, justification of the actions of an authority is necessary only when it is being established, and once its authority has been established, the authority sees no further need to justify its decisions. Whereas in the cultureof justification, after an authority has already been established, the rules of the culture of justification require that the authority continue to justify all its decisions. The reconstruction of these conceptions of legal cultures are illustrated by the recently proposed Act on the Supreme Court in Poland. The conclusion of the paper indicates that the proposed changes to the functioning of the Supreme Court are clear examples of legislative action based on the directives of a culture of authority, which may lead to violations of the rule of law.

The overall progress of society, as well as socially damaging phenomena which society confronts in an institutional manner, is increasing and complicating the police apparatus. However, in the context of dealing with activities aimed at gathering information and evidence related to criminal offenses, including offenses in the sphere of organized crime and corruption, and research trends of property acquired with those works, takes special attention to the role of the Criminal Investigation Department, or its organizational units specialized in the fight against organized crime, or other specialized bodies. The interactions of various factors within the police service and outside, which find the origin of activity in the same mission, are a potential source of disagreement, and it emphasizes the characteristics of the police profession, and the associated subculture. This paper analyzes the general characteristics of the police profession that can have repercussions on the efficiency of financial investigations and the necessary conditions that favor their success, and processes in which police officers involved in financial investigations are exposed to, in order to improve efficiency. Also, the paper identifies other circumstances, at the strategic and operational level, which can significantly affect the results achieved in the investigation process. Good cooperation among the subjects of criminal and financial investigations, starting financial investigations immediately after getting information about the crime and the assets obtained, and specialization of investigative subjects are only basic elements needed for success in financial investigations. Besides these, it is possible to identify a number of objective or subjective factors, which may affect the success of the implementation of financial investigations, which are mentioned in the paper. Special attention, especially in the context of societies with underdeveloped institutions and the questionable rule of law, deserves the will factor. Aforementioned factor emerges as a key element that can significantly affect the success of the research team, and indeed the expected results. It is therefore desirable that the general interest, presented in the normative framework, is consistent with the prevailing beliefs of research subjects, i.e. it is essential that these entities have a high degree of belief in the purpose and validity of what they do. Otherwise, the results will be absent, and the regulatory framework will appear as an empty form, without meaning and content.