Published: 2025-06-30

Some remarks on lay judge’s courts, and on cooperation between professional judges and lay judges in drafting the grounds for judgments and their duties

Jacek Widło
Zeszyty Prawnicze
Section: Artykuły
https://doi.org/10.21697/zp.2025.25.2.04

Abstract

This paper describes the role of lay judges (jurors) and their place in the judiciary. Lay judges are representatives of society in court and the “ambassador”’ of the courts to society. This article also describes how professional and lay judges may collaborate in mixed courts, i.e. those made up of both professional and lay judges. Secondly, this paper explains the purpose of the grounds for a court decision, i.e. the second most important part of the decision (verdict) after the sentence (sovereign judgement). There is a special relationship between the sentence and its grounds: the grounds give the reasons (motives) for the judgement presented in the sentence, hence the grounds determine the scope of the sentence. In the grounds it issues, the court presents the arguments for its decision to the parties and public opinion. In practice, the grounds are addressed to the legal representatives acting on behalf of the parties and (potentially) to a higher court, should the case go to appeal. Thirdly, the paper discusses the content and functions of the grounds for a judgement, the methodology used to draf grounds once a verdict has been reached, and how a verdict is established. Finally, it formulates postulates for the future, such as drawing up grounds to make them comprehensible to all interested: the litigants, the public at large, lawyers and members of the media.

Keywords:

court, jury, grounds for the court’s decision, lay judges, juror

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Citation rules

Widło, J. (2025). Some remarks on lay judge’s courts, and on cooperation between professional judges and lay judges in drafting the grounds for judgments and their duties. Zeszyty Prawnicze, 25(2), 75–101. https://doi.org/10.21697/zp.2025.25.2.04

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