Published: 2023-10-05

The inevitability of the law: an element of legal security

Emilia Gulińska

Abstract

Legal security is an essential element of the democratic state under the rule of law. Objectivity and the implementation of the principle of objective truth, which is one of the purposes of administrative proceedings, are goods which may not be controlled by management decisions. If the facts pertaining to a given situation subject to a country’s legal system are determined on the grounds of evidence, not assumptions, that means that the rule of law is being observed in that country. The inevitability of the law also means that it is always applied in the same manner and measure, since in a democratic state under the rule of law there may be no departures from the established practice of deciding cases in which identical facts and legal provisions hold unless there are lawful grounds for such a departure. A person or legal entity subject to administrative regulations may not be put in a situation where they are surprised to find that the way the law is understood and applied has suddenly changed. Irregularities in the way a public authority conducted its business would diminish the level of confidence it enjoyed with persons and corporate entities subject to its decisions. The aim of the article is to show that the inevitable and consistent way the law is applied and the principle of objective truth are the axiological and legal foundations of legal security. The article begins with an examination of the inevitability of the law and proceeds to a discussion of the principles of uniformity and objectivity in the application of law. The analysis is based on Polish statutory law, verdicts and decisions handed down by the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Poland and the country’s administrative courts, and the legal doctrine on the subject.

Keywords:

the inevitability of the law, legal certainty, the principle of uniformity, the principle of objectivity

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Citation rules

Gulińska, E. (2023). The inevitability of the law: an element of legal security. Zeszyty Prawnicze, 23(3), 109–122. Retrieved from https://czasopisma.uksw.edu.pl/index.php/zp/article/view/13246

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