“No court should ever be dragged into any political game,” stressed First President of the Supreme Court, Prof. Małgorzata Gersdorf during the 100th anniversary of the Supreme Court celebrations held on Thursday at the Royal Castle in Warsaw. President Duda’s letter was also read out during the ceremony.
Prof. Gersdorf reminded the attendees that 1917, when the royal and Polish courts headed by the Supreme Court were established, saw “a real milestone in Poland’s struggle to regain its independence.”
“Let’s be proud of this legacy”
“Each nation’s and state’s history started off with law, as where there is a community, there is law,” said Prof. Gersdorf referring to the ancient idea.
According to Prof. Gersdorf, “the fact that the Polish judges applied the law on behalf of the nation” and “that they did so in Polish, made the Polish people more aware. It showed them that freedom was not a distant concept anymore. This was the very first and palpable attribute of sovereignty,” she said.
“Let’s be proud of this legacy, which is not only a source of great personal satisfaction for all the judges and employees of the Supreme Court that have gathered here today, but which also, despite everything, gives us hope for a better future for us and our country,” Prof. Gersdorf stated.
“No court should ever be dragged into a political game”
“We should look after the value of the independent Polish courts, the Supreme Court in particular,” Gersdorf told the attendees. “Courts should not be dragged into political games, as a state has no greater power than the power of its laws,” she added.
Prof. Gersdorf stated that her dream is to see the Poles “respect the good tradition of our state’s institutions and the people that serve the country.” “Otherwise, we will never live in a country worthy of its honorable name of a republic,” she remarked.
Prof. Gersdorf pointed out that “no modification to the judiciary model will ever be successful in a long run unless accompanied by a serious and unemotional discussion.” She stressed that the Supreme Court has always been of material importance to the structure of the judiciary as “it has most of all focused on public interest, which consisted in the development of standards for law interpretation and provision of uniform jurisprudence.”
First President of the Supreme Court also stressed the enormous value of resolutions passed by the Supreme Court to clarify legal issues. “This enabled the Supreme Court to prevent mistakes that can be made by common courts,” she said. “Just like any other judge, I cannot imagine that this extremely important power that the Supreme Court has been enjoying since 1919 could ever be taken away from it,” she added.
“We should not speak ill and only ill of the Polish courts,” stressed Prof. Gersdorf. “We should be treating the Supreme Court as one of the pillars of the Polish sovereignty,” she added.
Prof. Adam Strzembosz, former First President of the Supreme Court and the current Chairman of the State Tribunal, received a particularly warm welcome. “It would be very impolite of me not to welcome my predecessors, as they were the ones who helped to make this court great, while I’m just the one to be taking the credit, recently mixed with some criticism, but still. I would like to welcome Prof. Adam Strzembosz,” said Prof. Gersdorf, and her words were met with a standing ovation for the guest. “Whether you like it or not, you have become an icon,” Prof. Gersdorf stated breaking the ovation.
President’s letter
At the ceremony, Ms. Halina Szymańska, the Head of the President’s Chancellery, read out President Duda’s letter. “The 100th anniversary of the establishment of the Supreme Court is the day that unites all Poles. This wonderful jubilee is part of the official celebrations marking the century of our independence,” President Duda wrote. “Efficient judiciary that enjoys public trust is the core of a democratic state.”
President reminded the attendees that 100 years ago, the Supreme Court was the “first of the principal bodies of the Polish sovereignty that was being reborn. The very fact that the Supreme Court’s structure and powers were specified as early as in the first years of independence underlines its importance,” the President wrote.
“Today’s jubilee celebrations are also symbolic. The official celebrations of the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the Supreme Court symbolize the pursuit of many Polish generations of an independent country that would always be a state of law,” President Duda added. He indicated that “freedom must always go hand in hand with justice.”
He stressed that “justice is one of the pillars on which a state understood to be a common good is based.” “Therefore, it is extremely important to constantly improve the justice system. Efficient judiciary that enjoys public trust is the core of a democratic state,” the President wrote. In his letter, President Duda thanked Supreme Court judges and judges of other courts who always remember the legal maxim reading that “any and all laws are established for the people, human good, dignity and subjectivity.”
Źródło: tvn24.pl/tłumaczenie Intertext.com.pl