News

The District Court for Wrocław-Krzyków found that the decision of the District Court in Wrocław, despite its formal issuance, did not exist in the legal system. The ruling was based on the finding that the Court of second instance, which remanded the case for re-examination, was not a court referred to in the European Convention on Human Rights and the Constitution. In the jurisprudence of the ECtHR, it is recognized that the participation of a new judge in the composition of the court means that one cannot speak of a court, and consequently, the rulings issued do not exist in the legal sense.

Issuing such a ruling means that the case will return to the District Court, which will make the final decision. It may refer the case back to the drawing of lots, which will result in it being heard by a different composition of the court, or it may decide that the district court (lower court) does not have the power to rule on the existence of decisions of higher courts. Certainly, the ruling of the District Court for Wrocław-Krzyków is a precedent and an attempt to systemically solve the problem of rulings issued by courts whose composition there are legal doubts. It should be borne in mind that such rulings, even if final, may be challenged in the future before the European Court of Human Rights and, consequently, revoked by way of national emergency measures aimed at reopening the proceedings.