Right to Appeal in Civil Procedure

Abstract

The Constitution of the Republic of Poland guarantees the parties that court proceedings shall be at least two-instance (art. 176 section 1). This not only imposes an obligation on the legislator to create a hierarchical system of justice but also guarantees the parties the right to appeal to a court of second instance against an unfavourable decision of the court of first instance. Since art. 176 section 1 of the Constitution does not allow any exceptions to the principle of two-instance proceedings, it was unconstitutional for the ordinary legislator to introduce any legal solutions leading to the exclusion of a party’s right to appeal a first-instance court decision falling within the scope of art. 167 section 1 of the Constitution. There is no doubt that in the current legal state, there is no direct exclusion of a party’s right to appeal. Thus, any ruling of the court of first instance is subject to an appeal to the court of second instance (art. 367 § 1 of the Code of Civil Procedure, art. 518 sentence 2 of the Code of Civil Procedure). The analysis focused on a number of other legal solutions which, at least theoretically, may have a deterrent effect on a party to lodge an appeal (indirect filters), such as: limitation of charges for lodging an appeal, financial sanctions for abuse of the right to lodge an appeal, determination of requirements as to the form and deadline for lodging an appeal, or the fee for an appeal. The analysis shows that the two-instance requirement in this respect is fulfilled in principle in its entirety. There might be only some reservations raised about the rigid establishment of a time limit for filing an appeal in complex cases.