CONSTITUTIONALITY OF LEGISLATIVE ACTS IN THE JURISPRUDENCE OF COURTS UNDER THE SECOND REPUBLIC OF POLAND (Konstytucyjnosc aktów ustawodawczych w judykaturze II Rzeczypospolitej)

The article deals with Poland's constitutional practice in the period of the Second Republic and, particularly, the constitutionality of legislative acts, including statutes, decrees and regulations of the President of the Republic having the force of statute. Firstly, the then existing three systems of examination of conformity of statutes with the constitution are discussed, including: 1) the US system (judicial review); 2) the system based on establishing a special court, in accordance with Kelsen's concepts of authority; 3) the system of Parliament's dominance which excludes the judicial review. The latter, which prevailed at the time in Europe, was based on the model of government of the Third French Republic. The Polish constitutional practice also applied it, particularly in the Constitution of 17 March 1921 and the Constitutional Act of 23 April 1935. Therefore, Polish constitutional law prohibited judicial examination of conformity of legislative acts with the basic law. The jurisprudence of courts, including that of the Supreme Court and the Supreme Administrative Court, was not consistent, mostly in respect of the examination of constitutionality of the regulations issued by the President of the Republic. In this context, it should be pointed out the regulations concerning the currency reform and those which followed the 1926 Amendment of the Constitution of 1921. As concerns the latter, the courts conclusively supported the prohibition of judicial review of constitutionality of those regulations..