Cuestiones sobre jurisdicción agraria en Polonia

Abstract

The purpose of this paper was to answer the question whether specialized courts should be established in Poland to rule on agricultural law cases. Also, the study intended to determine certain particularities of cases related to agricultural relations, and to indicate the authorities competent to deal with these matters.

As shown by the findings, agricultural jurisdiction does not exist in the Polish legal system, and there are no uniform rules for identifying the competent courts to resolve agricultural cases. Hence, individual cases and disputes under agricultural law have been assigned to general courts and public administration authorities. As a consequence, the case-law is heterogeneous in terms of both the deciding authorities and procedures employed. Hence, the study found blurred boundaries of jurisdiction and no common subject of actions brought before these authorities. In practice, as regards both substance and procedure, agricultural cases are classified as civil or administrative matters. Furthermore, the judges do not specialize in agricultural law. As noted earlier, the above provides grounds for adopting specific normative solutions in codifying the agricultural law, or for developing a dedicated act laying down general provisions thereon. The scope of that regulation would correspond to the field of application of agricultural legislation as a separate area of law. Thus, a case arising out of agricultural relations or, in broader terms, an agricultural case would be based on a normative framework. In exploring that topic, the authors found the need for establishing a separate jurisdictional system, or even for appointing dedicated, highly specialized authorities vested with jurisdictional independence and autonomy, which could be organized as agricultural tribunals.