ABSTRACT
A national judge should base his/her judgment rather upon the Convention in the first place and not on a judgment of the Strasbourg Court. This leads to the problem of the readiness of a national judge to follow a Strasbourg interpretation. Polish courts avoid stating explicitly that the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) interpretation of the provisions of the Convention is absolutely binding. Polish jurisprudence rather stresses the need to consider the ECtHR’s judgments in applying the ECHR and relevant domestic legislation. Interpretation of national law in the light of Strasbourg jurisprudence allows the avoidance of a conflict of norm between ECHR and a national norm. Such an interpretation also makes changing legislation redundant. Usually national procedure has been already completed when the Strasbourg Court delivers its verdict because of the admissibility criteria of the complaint to the ECtHR. The Strasbourg Court deals with the matter after all domestic remedies have been exhausted.
