Russian Journal of Legal Studies

9-15

Authors: Krzysztof Bokwa, Iwo Jarosz

The constant development of public international law witnesses a steadily growing tendency of various non-state entities performing increasingly important roles in global relations and governance. Majority of these entities are what private law labels as corporations. This phenomenon is assessed in various ways on the basis of social sciences. Oftentimes commentators and scholars alike indicate grave risks related to the processes of corporatization of power and the privatisation of channels of governance and public services alike. Frequently there subsists a belief that these tendencies are novel. The science of the history of law, however, provides numerous evidence of previous occurrences of such phenomena. Deep analysis of past experiences, coupled with a careful comparison of differences and similarities between modern and bygone corporatization processes, will prove to be a fruitful venture helping lawyers and other social sciences’ scholars to hone their expectations and construct better. An interesting example regarding the modern era of international law's maturity is the history of the creation of the Congo Free State as a political entity organized and maintained by a private-law body corporate, and its subsequent recognition by what undoubtedly had been and would still be recognized by international law as traditional states. The article presents its history, also showing the historical context of corporate persons' participation in social and economic history as well as in international relations. The application of legal sciences research methods will include: the historical method (also in its systematic version), comparative legal research, critical and systematic analysis, critical-legal dogmatics.

28-40

Authors: Iwo Jarosz

The steady growth of the body of legal provisions and law’s significance in our modern, highly juridified and often over-regulated societies, renders the issues of free legal aid and legal awareness vital and always up-to-date. These issues then capture the attention of political factors and result in legislative action. An example of a regulation of free legal aid is the polish act on free legal aid, free civic counselling and legal education. The system of free legal aid created by this act is currently in its sixth year of operation, this itself a success worthy of appraisal. However, the system is burdened with certain flaws as to its operation and the status of persons active within it. The gravest inadequacy of the system, however, is that it failed to, even partly, include within it the pre-existing system of existing law school clinics in Poland, which have for years succeeded in coupling legal education (both of the participating students as well as of the public) with free legal aid offered to those who cannot bear the costs of professional legal services. This missed opportunity for synergistic operation of both systems has no good justification. The text employs the following legal research methods to critically analyse the shape of the free legal aid regulation currently in force in Poland, as well as how the regulation completely omitted the existing system of clinical legal education programs at Polish law schools: formal-dogmatic method, comparative method, historical method, sociological methods.