Law-making activity of the Polish Constitutional Tribunal

The authors first describe the genesis of the Polish Constitutional Tribunal (CT), its position in the system of government, and its powers in the area of the review of the constitutionality (legality) of law. Further reflections concern the various forms of law-making activity of the CT at the levels of constitutional and statutory norms. As for the constitutional level, the authors focus on examples where the CT concretizes the understanding of constitutional principles, especially the principle of a democratic State ruled by law. As for the ‘statutory level,’ the authors express the view that the CT’s activity may be regarded as a special kind of law-making. The CT has developed the so-called complex forms of formulating the operative parts of judgements, mainly in the form of partial and interpretive judgements. In conclusion, references are made to the current situation after the constitutional justice crisis in Poland from 2015 to 2016.