Glosa do postanowienia Sądu Najwyższego z dnia 20 sierpnia 2019 r., I DO 28/19

Abstract

The paper discusses the principle of legal information in the Polish criminal procedure. The decision of the Supreme Court refers to the existing case-law on instructing professional entities. This has been the line of case-law that raised doubts in some scholars in the field. The whole wording of the justification of the decision commented herein heads, however, to the conclusion that the position adopted differs significantly from the preaviously expressed one and therefore has significant consequences for professional participants (defence counsels, representatives, social interest advocates). The conclusion states that further restrictive interpretation of Article 16 par. 1 of the Code of Criminal Procedure will significantly affect the guarantees for the parties to the proceedings, including the right to defence and the standard of fair trail. Each party should therefore be instructed in accordance to the Article. The author suggests modifications in its wording to make it similar to relevant provisions of the Code of Civil Procedure.