Complaints, Requests and Petitions as Instruments of Social Control for Civil Society in a Democratic State of Law

Abstract

Abstract The article deals with non-procedural means of social influence, such as complaints, requests and petitions, on the performance of public tasks by public authorities. Complaints, requests and petitions belong in Polish law to extra-procedural legal means which discipline bodies and institutions of public authority to perform public tasks in the best possible way. On the other hand, these extra-procedural legal remedies are a tool for civil society capable of becoming active in the social space. In this way, complaints, requests and petitions constitute an important manifestation of social control in a democratic state of law, based on the principles of cooperation between the citizen and the agent of authority. On the one hand, they constitute a kind of cooperation of civil society with the authorities, and on the other hand, they subordinate the directions of the authorities’ actions. The performance of public tasks should, after all, coincide to the highest degree with public expectations. Complainants and petitioners can, through these means, stimulate the activities of public bodies and institutions, and thus influence the spending of public funds. By activating actions of public authorities complaints, requests and petitions become human rights related to freedom, as no one should limit the activity of civil society. On the example of Polish legislation the author explicates these extra-procedural means of supporting civil society initiatives, indicating their importance not only in Polish constitutional and administrative law, but, above all, their general social significance.