Instytucja prawa łaski – de lege lata i de lege ferenda

Abstract

The article is devoted to the subject of the right of pardon in the Polish legal system. The study depicts the essence of the right of pardon and answers the question whether this right, as expressed in Article 139 of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland, can be realised only within the scope defined in Chapter 59 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, entitled “Clemency,” or if the term “right of pardon” has a wider meaning than “clemency,” e.g., so as to permit application by the President of the Republic of Poland, at every stage of the proceedings, of so called individual right of pardon. Moreover, the article discusses the latest case-law of the Supreme Court and the Constitutional Tribunal on the right of pardon and formulates a number of postulates de lege ferenda regarding the analysed question.