O sposobie prawniczej interpretacji stanu wojennego z 13 grudnia 1981 r. i jego następstw. Nie Carl Schmitt a Jerzy Stembrowicz

In order to better understand the sense of proclamation of martial law in Poland (on 12/13 December 1981) and its consequences, Paweł Bała, a lawyer form Siedlce University of Natural Sciences and Humanities, proposes to draw on Carl Schmitt, a well-known German law theorist and constitutionalist. This concerns, in particular, the approach to this question from the perspective of Carl Schmitt and his decisionism. It must be said that neither Schmitt’s theory of decisionism, nor its relative concepts of dictatorship, can adequately help us to understand the sense of the decisions taken on that particular December night by the Council of State, and the events that took place thereafter in the People’s Republic of Poland. The author’s fi nal conclusion in his argument against Bała is as follows: it is Jerzy Stembrowicz, rather than Carl Schmitt, who should be a guide in our efforts to fi nd proper legal interpretation of the events relating to the proclamation of martial law in the People’s Republic of Poland. Nevertheless, the ideas of the German theorist also deserve attention, and may be inspiring.