This is the consequence of a bill just published, which will enter into force on 28 September. The amendment is intended to overcome the confusion in the courts which was prompted by the resolution of 7 ultimate Court Labour Chamber judges of 26 April. With the votes of 4 judges against three, she challenged immediately the single-person civilian courts at the appeal station, introduced for the time of the epidemic (instead of previously three-man) and acting erstwhile the epidemic had already expired.
Exception: the precedent character
However, the fresh law allows the anticipation that the president of the Court may manage the examination of the case in the composition of 3 Judges, if he considers it appropriate due to the peculiar complexity or precedent of the case.
What is more, the threefold compositions will consider cases erstwhile the value of the object of appeal exceeds PLN million in 1 of the appeals. This is where the questions arose in the course of the amendment, whether this bar should be lower.
At first, the dispute focused on how much more the three-way courts warrant the correct examination of the case, but now the discussion focuses on the transitional rules and on the concern about the confusion that a return to the smaller judicial formations can cause.
Return
The transitional provision of the amendment states that if 3 judges have already been appointed for the examination of the case (after the resolution of the ultimate Court, many courts have acted in specified a way as to avoid even questioning the judgement of a single-member court), then 1 justice appointed as rapporteur will proceed to take the lead. Activities already done stay in force.
– I see a problem with the transitional provision on collegiate warehouses appointed by the President's order, due to the fact that as a consequence of the amendment – de facto – of the decrees of the Presidents will be repealed, which conflicts with the rule of the invariability of the warehouses and may violate the guarantees of the right to a fair trial – Aneta Łazarska, justice of the SO review department in Warsaw, evaluates.
– Since the case has already been found to be precedent or complex, it is barely reasonable for the legislator to repeal specified judicial decisions. There are besides reasons for procedural economics, due to the fact that judges have already learned a lot about cases," added justice Lazarska.
If the president agrees
Arkadiusz Ziarko, Vice-President of the Court of Appeals in Warsaw, points out that each peculiarly complicated case or case of precedent will be able to be dealt with in the composition of 3 judges. In practice, if necessary, it is usually adequate to request a Judge-Rapporteur whose assessment cannot be underestimated. In turn, it is hard to find the request for designation in the composition of 3 simple, repetitive cases. In the opinion of the judge, the change of the multi-person composition to single-person composition is not amazing and will not origin any crucial organisational problems.
– And ancillary judges exempt from the work to participate in the resolution of another judges where unnecessary will be able to usage this time to settle cases from their papers," added justice Ziarko.
Wojciech Bochenek, a legal counsellor, hopes to return to single-member courts in turn for faster designation of franc cases, as most of them go to second instance.
Legal basis: Act of 7 July 2023 amending the Code of civilian Procedure and any another laws (Journal of Laws of 2023 item 1860)
Wojciech Łukowski, SO president in Wrocław
There is no uncertainty that returning to single-member courts will simplify the examination of second-instance cases and processes at all. The fresh introduces single-person compositions, so in order to be able to regulation a three-member court, the President's approval will be needed. I say the presidents will issue them at the request of the Judge-Rapporteur. The threefold composition must be re-designated, but in many smaller judicial departments where there are fewer judges, it will should be composed of the same judges. On the another hand, there will be no uncertainty about the application of the resolution of the 7 SN judges and the importance of the case will be taken into account erstwhile appointing a three-way composition. For example, it may turn out that a case of little than PLN million qualifies for a broader composition.
