Can the justification of the bill create law? Comments on the article 165a § 4 of the Polish Penal Code

Abstract

This article undertakes a discussion around the controversial formulation of the penalty of the article 165a § 4 of the polish Penal Code. The dispute oscillates around the fragment “is liable to the same punishment”, which leads to two contradictory interpretations of the punishment. This problem has not yet been noticed by the literature. The text is divided into seven main parts. The first two of them are a brief introduction to this subject. The third is a short literature review. The fourth and fifth parts present opposite arguments on this penalty. The sixth contains the results of surveys that confirm these controversies. The last one is a short summary.