“Chilling Effect” in the Judicial Decisions of the Polish Constitutional Tribunal as an Example of a Legal Transplant

Piotr Chybalski

Wydział Prawa i Administracji, Uniwersytet Kardynała Stefana Wyszyńskiego w Warszwie , Poland
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7703-1767


Abstract

The paper is dedicated to describing the way of reception by the Polish Constitutional Tribunal of the “chilling effect”, i.e. an institution related to such activities of public authorities that form an indirect act of deterrence regarding the execution of constitutionally guaranteed rights and freedoms, esp. the freedom of expression. The discussed concept has originated in judicial decisions of the US Supreme Court and has spread into many contemporary legal systems, including jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights. Although it is evident that the Tribunal “took over” that concept from the ECHR, it in fact developed its own, unfortunately internally inconsistent, understanding of the chilling effect. Four different ways of application of chilling effect may be noticed in judicial decisions of the Polish CT, while only two of them reflect the perception of this institution by the US Supreme Court and the ECHR.

Keywords:

constitutional law, comparative law, legal transplant, Polish Constitutional Tribunal, European Court of Human Rights

Barendt, Eric. Freedom of Speech. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007. (Crossref)

Barendt, Eric. et al., Libel and the Media. The Chilling Effect. Oxford: Oxford University Press 1997.

Barkesinis, Basil, and Jörg Fedtke. Judical Recourse to Foreign Law. A New Source of Inspiration. Abingdon: Routledge, 2006.

Baumbach, Trine. “Chilling Effect as a European Court of Human Rights’ Concept in Media Law Cases.” Bergen Journal of Criminal Law and Criminal Justice 6, no. 1 (May 2018): 92-114. (Crossref)

Belavusau, Uladzislau. Importing European and US Constitutional Models in Transitional Democracies. Abingdon: Routledge, 2013.

Bobek, Michal. Comparative Reasoning in European Supreme Court. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013. (Crossref)

Brzozowski, Wojciech. Niezależność konstytucyjnego organu państwa i jej ochrona.

Warsaw: Wydawnictwo Sejmowe, 2016.

Chybalski, Piotr. “Reception of chilling effect by the Polish Constitutional Tribunal.” Academia Letters 654 (2021). (Crossref)

Dijkstra, Sietske. “The Freedom of the Judge to Express his Personal Opinions and Convictions under the ECHR.” Utrecht Law Review 13, no. 1 (January 2017): 1– 17. (Crossref)

Dolich, Michael N. “Alleging a First Amendment ‘Chilling Effect’ to Create a Plaintiff”s Standing: a Practical Approach.” Drake Law Review 43, no. 1 (1994): 175– 190.

Garlicki, Lech, Piotr Hofmański and Andrzej Wróbel. Konwencja o Ochronie Praw Człowieka i Podstawowych Wolności. Tom I. Komentarz do artykułów 1–18. Warsaw: C.H. Beck, 2010.

Garlicki, Lech, and Ireneusz Kondak, “Poland: Human Rights between International and Constitutional Law.” In The Impact of the ECHR on Democratic Change in Central and Eastern Europe. Judicial Perspectives, edited by Iulia Motoc and Ineta Ziemele. 326. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2016.

Garner, Bryan A. (ed.). A Dictionary of Modern Legal Usage. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995.

Garner, Bryan A. (ed.). Black’s Law Dictionary. Eagan: Thomson West, 2004.

Gierach, Ewelina, and Piotr Chybalski (ed.). Polish Constitutional Law. The Constitution and Selected Statutory Materials. Warsaw: Wydawnictwo Sejmowe, 2009.

Góral, Lesław, and Katarzyna Koperkiewicz-Mordel. Remarks concerning Article 227 of the Polish Constitution, In Konstytucja RP. Tom II, Komentarz do art. 87–243, edited by Marek Safjan, Leszek Bosek, 1602.Warsaw: CH Beck, 2016.

Groppi, Tania, and Marie-Claire Ponthoreau. “Conclusion. The Use of Foreign Precedents by Constitutional Judges: A Limited Practice, An Uncertain Future.” In The Use of Foreign Precedents by Constitutional Judges, edited by Tania Groppi and Marie-Claire Ponthoreau, 42 – 431. Oxford and Portland: Hart Publishing, 2014.

Grzegorczyk, Paweł, and Karol Weitz. Remarks concerning “Article 45 of the Polish Constitution.” In Konstytucja RP. Tom I, Komentarz do art. 1–86, edited by Marek Safjan and Leszek Bosek, 1097.Warsaw: CH Beck, 2016.

Jakab, András et al. (eds.). Comparative Constitutional Reasoning. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2017. (Crossref)

Kadner ,Graziano Thomas. “Is it Legitimate and Beneficial for Judges to Compare.” In Courts and Comparative Law, edited by Mads Andenas and Duncan Fairgrieve, 37. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, 2015. (Crossref)

Kendrick, Leslie. “Speech, Intent and the Chilling Effect.” William & Mary Law Review 54 (2013): 1633 –1691.

Kos, Katarzyna. “Evolution or Entropy of the Concept of Chilling Effect – Polish Perspective.” Teisė 110 (February 2019):168 –177. (Crossref)

Królikowski, Michał. “Glosa do wyroku Europejskiego Trybunału Praw Człowieka z 20 marca 2007 r. w sprawie Alicja Tysiąc przeciwko Polsce (nr skargi 5410/03).” Przegląd Sejmowy 80 (2007): 200 –211.

Legrand, Pierre. “The Impossibility of ‘Legal Transplants.’” Maastricht Journal of European and Comparative Law 4, vol. 2 (June 1997): 111 –124. (Crossref)

Note. “The Chilling Effect in Constitutional Law.” Columbia Law Review 69 (1969): 808-842. (Crossref)

Paprocka, Ada. “An Argument from Comparative Law in the Jurisprudence of the Polish Constitutional Tribunal.” Adam Mickiewicz University Law Review 8 (February 2018): 237 –250. (Crossref)

Roach, Kent, and David Schneiderman. “Freedom of Expression in Canada.” Supreme Court Law Review 61 (2013): 429 –525.

Schauer, Frederick. “Fear, Risk and the First Amendment: Unraveling the ‘Chilling Effect.’” Boston University Law Review 58 (1978): 685 –732.

Watson, Alan. Legal Transplants: An Approach to Comparative Law, Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1993.

Wróbel, Andrzej. “Krótki szkic o metaforze prawniczej.” Teka Komisji Prawniczej. Polska Akademia Nauk. Oddział w Lublinie (2014): 130 –141.

Zysset, Alain. The ECHR and Human Rights Theory. Reconciling the Moral and the Political Conceptions. Abingdon: Routledge, 2017. (Crossref)

Download

Published
2022-03-10


Chybalski, P. (2022). “Chilling Effect” in the Judicial Decisions of the Polish Constitutional Tribunal as an Example of a Legal Transplant. Review of European and Comparative Law, 48(1), 209–234. https://doi.org/10.31743/recl.12857

Piotr Chybalski  p.chybalski@uksw.edu.pl
Wydział Prawa i Administracji, Uniwersytet Kardynała Stefana Wyszyńskiego w Warszwie

Dr ,Associate Professor, Faculty of Law and Administration, Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski University in Warsaw. correspondence address: ul. Wóycickiego 1/3, 01-938 Warsaw, Poland; e-mail: p.chybalski@uksw.edu.pl

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7703-1767



License

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.