Limitations to interpretation of the law and the principle of tripartition of powers in Poland (in the context of the reference clause of Article 300 of the Labour Code)

Abstract

The problem regarding the limits of interpretation of the law is one of the strategic issues of the broadly understood process of law application. A disputable issue in this respect is the understanding of the clause referring to Article 300 of the Labour Code, which assumes that in matters not regulated by the provisions of the Labour Law, the provisions of the Civil Code apply accordingly to labour relations, if they are not contrary to the principles of the Labour Law. In case law and judicature, the dominant view is that the clause of appropriate application of law contained in this provision allows for the possibility of modification of the disposition of the Civil Code norm, since in concord with the legislator’s assumption, the provisions of this Act are applicable to employment relations accordingly, and not directly. Such a view, based solely on the analysis of Article 300 of the Labour Code seems unconvincing. In fact, it stands in a clear opposition to the superior authority resulting resulting directly from the Constitution of the Republic of Poland, i.e. the principle of tripartition of powers, with particular emphasis on the independence of the legislative authority from the judiciary. The contradiction of a properly understood interpretation of the law is a clear change in the text of the norm (literal change) for the purpose of a given case. Such a change is in fact a normative statement and not an act of interpretation of the law.