Restrictions to Civil Case Open Trials in Times of the Pandemic – Temporary Requirement or Permanent Solution?
The coronavirus pandemic and introduction of so-called lockdowns and far-reaching social distancing rules prompted statutory action, resulting in the facilitation and promoting of online hearings on the one hand, while undermining the role and importance of the open court in the name of delivering under the principle of swiftness and efficiency of legal proceedings on the other. Formally guaranteed pursuant to Article 45 of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland and affirmed under system-related provisions, the rule of openness of legal proceedings has become ostensible as a result of the increasingly multiple exceptions implemented into procedural laws. Yet contesting any of the implemented solutions has become problematic because these mechanisms have been intended as temporary, while the legislator is driven by the need to safeguard constitutional values – such as public safety, order and health. Striving for efficiency in the course of judicial proceedings and securing the operability of procedural institutions has been repetitively tying in with the need and requirement to balance values and principles.
 Zembrzuski.pdf | 345 kB |
