Some Remarks on the Changes in the Polish Penal Code During the Pandemic

The study indicates the solutions introduced by the amendment to the Penal Code during the pandemic. These are the so-called anti-crisis shields - shield 1.0, shield 3.0 and shield 4.0. The primary role of these laws was to respond to the crises related to the COVID-19 epidemic. Amendments to the Penal Code were introduced in a manner inconsistent with the Constitution of the Republic of Poland and the Regulations of the Sejm of the Republic of Poland. The mere legislative change and increasing punitiveness of the criminal law system and penal policy will not significantly reduce crime. The work is of a presentative and systematising character. The assumed hypothesis boils down to the assertion that the changes to the penal code made pursuant to the so-called anti-Covid laws are irrational and introduced without the required legislative procedure. The study mainly used the formal-dogmatic method.

Special legislative procedure in EU law: areas of regulation and specifics of interinstitutional cooperation

The article is devoted to the issue of cooperation between the institutions of the European Union in the process of adopting legal acts within the framework of a special legislative procedure. Authors analyzed the scope of application of special legislative procedure and ordinary legislative procedure in the EU. It was revealed that the adoption of acts in accordance with one or another type of legislative procedure reflects the dual nature of the European Union, which contains both supranational and interstate principles of legal regulation of various spheres of public relations. The main types of special legislative procedure (consultation, approval) are considered, within the framework of which, in practice, there is intense inter-institutional interaction in the process of developing the final text of the draft act, including through informal consultations and other procedures not directly enshrined in the EU primary law. Although the Council continues to dominate in most cases of the use of special legislative procedure, Parliament nevertheless has relatively wide opportunities to influence the position of the Council. De facto, the expansion of the Parliaments powers within the framework of a special legislative procedure is facilitated by both the position of the EU Court, expressed in a number of decisions on specific cases, and the increased degree of Parliaments influence on the activities of the Commission (which, as a general rule, has the right to initiate legislation), enshrined in the provisions of the constituent agreements.

Time is of the essence: Explaining the duration of European Union lawmaking under the co-decision procedure

The article explores factors affecting the duration of the co-decision procedure (currently the ordinary legislative procedure), the main procedure for adopting legislation in the European Union. Drawing from rational choice institutionalism, it expects the speed of co-decision to be determined by three attributes: the impatience of legislators, issue linkage and the characteristics of Council and European Parliament negotiators ( relais actors). The hypotheses are tested using survival analysis on a dataset of 599 controversial legislative acts submitted and enacted under co-decision between 1999 and 2009. The results show that co-decision proposals are decided faster when they are urgent, negotiated prior to the European Parliament elections and concluded through single proposal logrolls. By contrast, multi-proposal packages and the ideological distance between relais actors prolong decision-making. Overall, the article contributes to the literature by showing that the impatience of legislators, package deals and the properties of negotiators are relevant drivers of co-decision duration.

A consensus solution for the taxation of the digital economy

The taxation of the digital economy is not a new subject but its fast development demands a solid solution for this new way of doing business and generating profit and growth. The solution for this problem should be achieved at a global level, which has turned out to be a complex task. Therefore, the work we aim to do here is to identify and expose the path that has been followed by the international community (in general), and by the European Union, in particular, for the taxation of profits of companies with a significant digital presence and to what extent the lack of an unambiguous solution, within the Union, may condition its own objectives. But achieving a consensual solution comes with a bigger problem: is the unanimity rule established for tax policies, where decisions are taken by a special legislative procedure, suited for the European Union’s goal for a strong and dynamic single market, capable of competing with the world’s leading economies?

A New Research Agenda: How European Institutions Influence Law-Making in Justice and Home Affairs

The article presents a dataset on the legislative procedure in European Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) and a new method of data processeing. The dataset contains information on 529 procedures proposed between January 1998 and December 2017. For each of the legislative proposals, the dataset identifies the main elements of the legislative procedure (e.g., dates, types of procedure, directory codes and subcodes, actors, voting results, amendments, legal basis, etc.) and the changes introduced at each step of the legislative process from the text proposed by the European Commission to the final version published in the <em>Official Journal of the European Union</em>. This information has been gathered using text mining techniques. The dataset is relevant for a broad range of research questions regarding the EU decision-making process in JHA related to the balance of powers between European institutional actors and their capacity to influence the legislative outputs.

Amalgamated territorial hromadas as new local communities in Ukraine: mechanisms of social cohesion formation

The article is dedicated to the systematic analysis of the peculiarities of the formation and functioning of amalgamated territorial communities in Ukraine as new local social communities. Analyzing the legislative procedure of amalgamation, the author distinguishes the essential features of amalgamated territorial communities that are different from other settlement communities. Within the framework of this investigation, the newly amalgamated hromadas appear as a “second-order” phenomenon, which is a socio-legal construct that is formed in a consensual manner and on a voluntary reciprocal basis. Basing on the analysis of qualitative sociological research data the author demonstrates the importance of the functioning of reciprocity mechanisms at the level of orientations and practices of all social actors involved in the procedure of territorial communities amalgamation. It is illustrated that the "failure" of reciprocity mechanisms contributes to the change of merger scenarios, causes the postponement of this process and the emergence of conflict situations. The paper substantiates that the legislative procedure of territorial communities amalgamation intensifies the formation of social capital and the establishment of a new civic social order. The special, different social status of amalgamated territorial communities in comparison with other settlement communities is explained by the emergence of the phenomenon of social cohesion, the mechanisms of activation of which are contained in the legislative order of territorial communities amalgamation. It is concluded that an important theoretical basis for the sociological conceptualization of ATC is the concept of reciprocity, which explains the mechanism of successful amalgamation, which is facilitated by the attitudes and practices of reciprocity of all involved social actors. According to the author’s point of view, the sociological synthesis of spatial and activity approaches to the analysis of social communities within the framework of sociological conceptualization of united territorial communities is considered heuristic. The synthesis of these approaches emphasizes both the importance of the spatial context of interactions emergence and reproduction, and their essential functionality in the formation and reproduction of hromada social order.

3. Sources of law: Authority and process

This chapter considers how law is made in the UK, who makes it, and the constitutional principles which give them the authority for making it and imposing it on society. There is a detailed account of the legislative procedure of the UK Parliament, and the different types of legislation enacted by Parliament. The legislative functions of the devolved administrations are mentioned. The law-making functions of judges, particularly through case law and the interpretation of statutes, are also considered, as is the impact of the Council of Europe on human rights. Finally, an outline of the law-making processes of the European Union is given.