Suchergebnisse

The study addresses the status of a local government body member and a local government employee as a person holding a public function in the meaning of Polish criminal law. In the Polish legal system, a person who holds a public function may be held criminally liable for passive bribery (bribe accepting) defined in Article 229 of the Polish Penal Code. Pursuant to Article 115 § 19 PC, a public officer and persons belonging to several other categories are persons holding a public function, while Article 115 § 13 PC defines the public officer by detailed enumeration of specific persons. The study provides an analysis of these concepts in view of the provisions governing the status of local government officers and persons employed with local government organisational units.

This paper provides a commentary on the evolution and position of petty offence law in the Polish legal system. For the sake of order, it should be noted that the nature of petty offences is ambiguous and not one-dimensional. Their status and role depend on the assumptions of the legislator, who may emphasise their various aspects. A petty offence may be an element of criminal law in the broad sense, as a "small crime" or an administrative tort. More-over, the development of Polish petty offence law and the arguments supporting the choice of specific legal solutions are presented. The probable future of Polish petty offence law was also indicated, aiming at the conclusion that the most serious petty offences would become crimes, and the rest would become administrative torts.