Axiology of the Law of the European Legal Space and the Development of the Administrative Court System in Poland

Abstract

The primary objective of the study was to determine the unique characteristics of the axiology of the law of the European legal space and its impact on the development of the administrative courts system in Poland by indicating its rooting in legally expressed values, as well as in extra-legal values that are common axioms of the European legal space discussed herein. It was noted that international law – which is the background of the study – determines the basis for the operation of a democratic state, thus exerting a fundamental and significant influence on the formation of standards of democratic states in Europe, including the administrative court system in Poland. The achievement of the primary objective of the deliberations will be assisted by two intermediate objectives. The first one, seeking to lay the foundations for the introduction of the aforementioned “European legal space” category as a normative category that includes a common axiology of law, which underlies the democratic state, including the nature of human rights, through the analysis of the legal and non-legal norms that form that category. The achievement of the second intermediate objective, on the other hand, will make it possible in fine to treat that space as a normative and axiological concept to rot the unique structure of the administrative court system in Poland as one of the structural elements of the democratic system. In the literature on the subject, the issue of the axiology of the law of the European legal space from the standpoint of its impact on the administrative court system in Poland has not been analyzed in a comprehensive manner, and the available publications only partially address this topic, which prompted the study of the issue stated in the title of this paper. By setting the framework for the deliberations, they were narrowed down to the European legal space, which was considered to be the normative space of influence of European international organizations, namely the Council of Europe, the European Union, and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. The purpose of the specific scope of the conducted analyses have resulted in the use of specific research methods. The dogmatic-legal method was the leading method, and it is present virtually all parts of the deliberations. The position of the doctrine was analyzed Polish and foreign monographs and papers, as well as acts of universally applicable international law and those of a regional nature. The case law of international courts was also analyzed. The author made an extensive use of the legal-comparative method. It proved useful in the search for a way to define the concept of the European legal space, as well as other concepts, due to the need to confront the legal achievements of the international organizations that make up that space.