The Republic of Poland – the common good of all citizens

Celem artykułu jest zaproponowanie metodologii badań nad konstytucyjną zasadą dobra wspólnego (art. 1 Konstytucji RP). Autor stoi na stanowisku, że podstawowym warunkiem uznania państwa za dobro wspólne jest takie ukształtowanie instytucji praw, wolności i obowiązków jednostki, które zapewni jednostce realizację przyznanych jej konstytucyjnie praw. Prawami stanowiącymi o istocie instytucji wolności i praw w ramach koncepcji dobra wspólnego są: godność ludzka, równość w prawie, zasada sprawiedliwości społecznej, zasada solidaryzmu społecznego, prawo do sądu. Minimalne postulaty realizacji dobra wspólnego przez organy władzy polegają na tym, że instytucje publiczne mają działać sprawnie i sprawiedliwie w interesie społeczeństwa. Dobro wspólne jest pochodną koncepcji państwa zarówno w płaszczyźnie koncepcji wolności i praw jednostki, jak i w płaszczyźnie organizacyjnej państwa. Na płaszczyźnie konstytucyjnej dobro wspólne nie redukuje się do zagadnienia ograniczenia wolności i praw jednostki w zestawieniu z interesem publicznym (państwa). Zagadnienie to należy widzieć także w płaszczyźnie ustrojowej, w płaszczyźnie ładu konstytucyjnego, akceptowanego lub nie przez obywateli. Z pojęciem dobra wspólnego łączą się nie tylko obowiązki obywatela wobec państwa, ale i obowiązki państwa wobec obywatela. Najbliższym kontekstem, w którym art. 1 Konstytucji powinien być czytany, jest art. 2 Konstytucji (zasada demokratycznego państwa prawnego), razem wzięte bowiem definiują Rzeczpospolitą Polską jako państwo.The aim of this article is to propose a methodology for research into the constitutional principle of the common good (Article 1 of the Polish Constitution). The author takes the view that the basic condition for the recognition of a state as a common good is to ensure that the rights, freedoms and duties of an individual are shaped in such a way as to ensure that the individual’s constitutional rights can be exercised. The laws that constitute the essence of the institutions of the freedom and rights within the concept of the common good include: human dignity, equality in law, the principle of social justice, the principle of social solidarity, the right to a trial. The minimum requirements for authorities to pursue the common good are that public institutions act efficiently and fairly in the interest of society. Common good is a derivative of the concept of state regarding both, the concept of freedom and individual rights, and the organisational side of thestate. On the constitutional level, the common good is not reduced to the issue of the limitation of individual freedoms and rights as compared to the public (State) interest. This issue should also be noted at the political level, the State’s constitutional order, whether accepted or not by the citizens.The concept of the common good is not only associated with the citizen’s duties towards the state, but also with the state’s duties towards the citizen. The closest context in which Article 1 of the Constitution should be read is Article 2 of the Constitution (the principle of a democratic state governed by law), since the two, taken together, define the Republic of Poland as a state

Jak uchwalić nową Konstytucję?

The subject of the article is the attempt to answer the question whether Art. 235 of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland may be the basis for the adoption of a new polish Constitution. In author’s opinion Article 235 of the Constitution may be applied only in the case of amending the Constitution.Niniejszy artykuł jest próbą odpowiedzi na pytanie, czy art. 235 Konstytucji Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej może być podstawą do przyjęcia nowej polskiej Konstytucji. W opinii autora art. 235 Konstytucji może być stosowany tylko w przypadku zmiany Konstytucji

\pi^0 \pi^0 Production in Proton-Proton Collisions at Tp=1.4 GeV

The reaction pp->pppi0pi0 has been investigated at a beam energy of 1.4 GeV using the WASA-at-COSY facility. The total cross section is found to be (324 +- 21_systematic +- 58_normalization) mub. In order to to study the production mechanism, differential kinematical distributions have been evaluated. The differential distributions indicate that both initial state protons are excited into intermediate Delta(1232) resonances, each decaying into a proton and a single pion, thereby producing the pion pair in the final state. No significant contribution of the Roper resonance N*(1440) via its decay into a proton and two pions is foundComment: Submitted to PL

In the Matter of the Conception of State Organ

Dans cet article l'auteur a entrepris une polémique avec des opinions de K. M. Pospieszalski sur le sujet de la notion de l'organe d'Etat. D'après K. M. Pospieszalski ce sont deux elements qui forment une notion de l'organe d'Etat, c'est-à-dire le substrat personnel (une personne, des gens) et les compétences concernant l'exercice du pouvoir. Il manque du point de départ dans les considérations de K. M. Pospieszalski. Ce point de départ doit être une détermination de l'Etat lui-même, car c'est lui qui projeté sur la théorie des organes, or surtout sur la notion de l'organe. Il a manqué de cet élément dans l'article de K. M. Pospieszalski, ce qui a amené à profiter par K. M. Pospieszalski des arguments de diverses théories des organes d'Etat. Une polémique suivante se rapporte aux traits de l'organe de l'Etat distingués par K. M. Pospieszalski. Cet ensemble de traits est d'abord trop limité, afin qu'on puisse, en s'appuyant sur lui, qualifier nettement quelconque unité d'organisation comme organe d'Etat, et ensuite cette distinction d'un ensemble de traits désignant un organe d'Etat selon K. M. Pospieszalski n'a pas été basée sur une analyse de l'étendue de la notion de l'organe de l'Etat dans la Constitution et dans les lois et aussi dans la doctrine. Et cependant c'est autant la notion de l'organe, dont se serve la doctrine que la notion de l'organe, dont se serve la Constitution et les lois doivent être une matière dont on peut en conséquence construire une notion de l'organe de l'Etat. Le maque de la considération des principes citées ci-dessus a amené K. M. Pospieszalski à formuler une notion très vaste de l'organe d'Etat. D'après K. M. Pospieszalski c'est p. ex. le Comité du Front de l'Unité de la Nation qui est un organe de l'Etat, quand il présente ses candidats aux députés aux électeurs élisant un député ou un conseiller. Si l'on prend la notion de l'organe de l'Etat formulée par K. M. Pospieszalski, dans certains cas il faudrait déclarer comme l'organe d'Etat aussi des organisations sociales. Cette question devient encore plus compliquée, par les assertions de K. M. Pospieszalski, que les compétences, exercées par un organe ne sont pas ses propres compétences et, que les personnes qui exercent ces compétences ne doivent pas être organisées d'une manière particulière. Cette dernière assertion mène non seulement à une „multiplication" superflue des organes mais aussi à l'identification d'un organe d'Etat avec celui qui exerce un organe et le refus à l'organe de ses propres compétences mène en conséquence à des affirmations injustifiées d'après lesquelles, là où l'organe agit „en dehors" au citoyen — là il agit au nom de l'Etat, c'est-à-dire qu'il ne possède pas de la personnalité morale juridique. A l'occasion d'une polémique avec des opinions de K. M. Pospieszalski, l'auteur suggère sa propre notion de l'organe de l'Etat et énumère ses traits essentiels, auxquels il compte: une distinction d'organisation, possession de propres compétences, personnalité morale juridique, possibilité à entreprendre de l'activité de pouvoir et fonctionnement selon des principes désignés par la Constitution de la République Populaire de Pologne.Digitalizacja i deponowanie archiwalnych zeszytów RPEiS sfinansowane przez MNiSW w ramach realizacji umowy nr 541/P-DUN/201

COURT CONTROL OF THE CONSTITUTIONALITY OF LAWS

Decisions of the Constitutional Court (Trybunał Konstytucyjny), the Supreme Court and the Supreme Administrative Court have demarcated the admissible limits of control that courts may exercise over the constitutionality of law. Those limits are also guarantees of the integrity of competences of the Constitutional Court and a good example of different forms in which the Constitution may be directly applied. The most extreme views i.e. that under no circumstances is a court authorised to control (or supervise) the unconstitutionality of a given regulation/provision, or that it may do so in respect of each individual case, have been practically eliminated. Moreover, adoption of the latter view would have resulted in a refusal to implement and enforce e.g. a statutory provision, thus enabling direct application o f the Constitution. Taking as an example the jurisdiction of the Supreme Administrative Court, those admissible limits in which the constitutionality of laws may be controlled (and therefore the Constitution directly applied), being a peculiar compromise between the two extreme positions described above would be as follows: 1) regarding the constitutionality of a statute, the rule is that in case of doubt, a court is obliged to refer the matter to the Constitutional Court, unless: a) it is a case o f so-called secondary unconstitutionality of the provision b) the provision is clearly and explicitly unconstitutional; 2) regarding the constitutionality o f fundamental acts (ordinances), the long established opinion has been that courts may review their compliance with the Constitution in the course o f the matter under revision, with effect only for that particular matter. It is obvious that an alternative for each court shall always be a referral of the matter to the Constitutional Court rather than formulating an independent opinion on the unconstitutionality of an ordinance. This decision, however, shall always be made by the court in question

High stature and body mass might affect the occurrence of Schmorl’s nodes

Schmorl’s nodes are vertical herniation of intervertebral discs into the body of neighbouring vertebral endplate. Notwithstanding extensive studies, no consensus has been reached in the subject of their possible etiology. It is hypothesized that physical stress, trauma and high axial loading are the key factors in the occurrence of this pathology. The main objective of the current work is to reevaluate the relationship between stature and body mass and Schmorl’s nodes. For this purpose, skeletal samples from Lithuania (44 males and 19 females) and Poland (97 males and 60 females) were used. The study confirmed that Schmorl’s nodes are age-independent, and more frequent in males (12.63% on the superior and 19.32% on the inferior surface of vertebrae) than in females (6.23% and 12.29% respectively). Obtained results also suggest that high stature (e.g. Spearmann correlation for superior: R=0.20 p=0.017, and inferior: R=0.31 p=0.000 surface of vertebrae) and body mass (R=0.25, p=0.002 and R=0.32, p<0.001, respectively) are factors that increase the risk of Schmorl’s nodes. Authors hypothesize that the afore-mentioned body size traits alter loadings acting on intervertebral discs, and rigidity of the spine

W poszukiwaniu Piastów

The origin of the Piast dynasty is a matter of lively discussions and disputes. At least a few controversial hypotheses exist, but their credibility is difficult to assess due to the scarcity of written as well as material sources, especially from the time of Polish state formation. Life sciences, however, can support history and archeology. Application of genetic tests, used earlier mainly in forensic laboratories, enabled identification of the remains of King Richard III, the Romanov dynasty members and Nicolaus Copernicus. Contemporary DNA studies, based on next generation DNA sequencing, outreach the narrow area of known markers such as mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and selected regions of Y chromosome. Although ancient DNA (aDNA), extracted from remains, is usually highly degraded and contaminated with genetic material of microorganisms, there are methods which allow for the analysis of such material and retrieval of information about origin, kinship and some phenotypic features of an individual. Genetic studies of the Piast dynasty, a subject of our research project, have to deal with numerous difficulties. In or der to gain access to bone samples, we need to meet a number of formal requirements. Moreover, despite the existence of available abundant documentation on the Piast burials, the actual situation is not always consistent with the written sources. Our first experiences show how difficult it is to localize the remains, identify them and extract DNA of sufficient quality.The origin of the Piast dynasty is a matter of lively discussions and disputes. At least a few controversial hypotheses exist, but their credibility is difficult to assess due to the scarcity of written as well as material sources, especially from the time of Polish state formation. Life sciences, however, can support history and archeology. Application of genetic tests, used earlier mainly in forensic laboratories, enabled identification of the remains of King Richard III, the Romanov dynasty members and Nicolaus Copernicus. Contemporary DNA studies, based on next generation DNA sequencing, outreach the narrow area of known markers such as mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and selected regions of Y chromosome. Although ancient DNA (aDNA), extracted from remains, is usually highly degraded and contaminated with genetic material of microorganisms, there are methods which allow for the analysis of such material and retrieval of information about origin, kinship and some phenotypic features of an individual. Genetic studies of the Piast dynasty, a subject of our research project, have to deal with numerous difficulties. In or der to gain access to bone samples, we need to meet a number of formal requirements. Moreover, despite the existence of available abundant documentation on the Piast burials, the actual situation is not always consistent with the written sources. Our first experiences show how difficult it is to localize the remains, identify them and extract DNA of sufficient quality