Treść książki
Przejdź do opcji czytnikaPrzejdź do nawigacjiPrzejdź do informacjiPrzejdź do stopki
legislatureismockingthevictimsofKatyń,and,inthesecond
place,theMoscowcourtisfollowingsuit.
Ignoringthefurtherfateofthiscaseinthecourseofproceedings,
onecansaythatthesourceofouroutrageisnotonlythelawand
itsapplication,butalso,perhapsmostimportantly,thecourt’sig-
noringthehistorical,moral,political,socialetc.contextthatde-
terminesthespecificnatureoftheissue,acontextthatthecourt
eitherdidnotwishtoconsiderforextra-legalreasons,orthatit
couldnottakeintoconsiderationforlegalreasons.If,however,
oneignoressubstantiveandjustified,althoughfundamentally
emotional,factors,thefollowingquestionarises:Howinasimilar
-Iemphasize,similarinalegalsense-casewouldtheaverage
Polishjudgebehave?Inotherwords,whatwouldthatjudgedoin
asituationinwhichtheregulationrelatingtolocusstandinumeri-
callylimitedthecircleofauthorizedagents?Wouldhe/shepay
heedtotheeńectsofhis/herdecisionfromthepointofviewof
elementaryjusticeorappropriateness?Orwouldhe/she,onthe
contrary,beguidedsolelybyaliteralinterpretationoftheprovi-
sionofprocedurallaw?Forthepurposesofthisessay,Iassume
thatthesolutionofthisdilemmarequiresmovingintothefield
ofphilosophy.ThematterofthedecisionoftheMoscowcourtis
hereonlyanexemplificationandpointofentryintoconsideration
oftheeńectsthatageneraldeficitofphilosophical-legalreec-
tionmayhaveintheprocessofcreating,applying,interpreting,
imposing,andobservingthelaw.
Tothequestionaskedinthetitletothisquasi-introduction,most
lawyerswouldprobablysay:Idon’tknow.Afterdeeperreec-
tion,alwaysassumingthattheywouldbewhollyforthright,they
wouldgiveamoreconcreteanswer:Inmyeverydaywork,philos-
ophyoflawisofnousetomeatall.Indeed,thischaracteristicre-
actionappliesnotonlytolawyersandthephilosophyoflaw,but
alsotothemajorityofaveragepersonsandphilosophyingen-
eral.Formostpeople,philosophyisassociatedwithsomething
sofaroń,vague,metaphysical,incomprehensible,andspecula-
tivethatithasbecomeasynonymforthecounter-factualand
impractical.Inthecaseofpeoplewithhighereducation,thisis
augmentedbyadistantmemory-forsomemore,forsomeless
pleasant-ofarequiredsubjectatuniversity,whichitwasnec-
10
INSTEADOFANINTRODUCTION:WHATUSEISTHEPHILOSOPHYOFLAWTOLAWYERS?
