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Court-appointed legal representation in civil proceedings determined by a competent court official SK 97/19

Ref. No. SK 97/19

JUDGMENT
IN THE NAME OF THE REPUBLIC OF POLAND

Warsaw, 15 April 2021

The Constitutional Tribunal, composed of:

Zbigniew Jędrzejewski – Presiding Judge
Krystyna Pawłowicz
Stanisław Piotrowicz
Piotr Pszczółkowski – Judge Rapporteur
Michał Warciński,

having considered, at a sitting in camera on 15 April 2021 – in accordance with Article 92(1)(1) of the Act of 30 November 2016 on the Organisation of the Constitutional Tribunal and the Mode of Proceedings Before the Constitutional Tribunal (Journal of Laws – Dz. U. of 2019, item 2393) – Mr J. C.’s joined constitutional complaints:

1) his constitutional complaint of 7 June 2019, lodged with the Tribunal for it to consider the conformity of:

Article 117(5) of the Civil Procedure Code of 17 November 1964 (Journal of Laws – Dz. U. of 2018 item 1360, as amended) to Article 32(1) and (2) as well as Article 45(1) of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland,

2) his constitutional complaint of 20 August 2019, lodged with the Tribunal for it to consider the conformity of:

a) Article 117(5) of the Civil Procedure Code of 17 November 1964 (Journal of Laws – Dz. U. of 2019 item 1460, as amended) – insofar as it correlates the granting of court-appointed legal representation with a determination issued by a competent court that there is a need to grant such representation – to Article 2, Article 32 as well as Article 45(1) of the Constitution;

b) Article 123(2) in conjunction with Article 117(5) of the Code referred to in point 2(a) – insofar as it allows competent court officials (Pol. referendarz) to assess whether it is justified to grant court-appointed legal representation, and therefore insofar as it permits the said competent court officials to consider the nature of cases and/or the parties’ awareness of the workings of court procedures – to Article 2 and Article 45(1) of the Constitution;

c) Article 39823(2), second sentence, of the Code referred to in point 2(a) – insofar as determinations issued by competent court officials as to the exemption of a party from court costs and/or the granting of court-appointed legal representation to the party are regarded as court decisions issued by a competent court of first instance, and insofar as the challenged provision makes it impossible for a court to consider such matters in compliance with the principle that court proceedings shall have at least two stages – Article 2, Article 45(1), Article 78 as well as Article 176(1) of the Constitution,

adjudicates as follows:

Article 117(5), first sentence, of the Civil Procedure Code of 17 November 1964 (Journal of Laws – Dz. U. of 2020 item 1575, as amended) – insofar as it correlates the granting of a party’s request for court-appointed legal representation with a competent court’s determination whether the court-appointed legal representation is needed in a particular case – is consistent with Article 45(1) in conjunction with Article 31(3) of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland.

Moreover, the Tribunal decides:

to discontinue the proceedings as to the remainder.

The ruling was adopted by a majority vote.

 

Zbigniew Jędrzejewski
Krystyna Pawłowicz
(dissenting opinion)
Stanisław Piotrowicz
Piotr Pszczółkowski
Michał Warciński
(dissenting opinion)