POLISH AND ENGISH JUDGMENTS

This paper is devoted to judgments rendered by Polish and by English courts, their

structure, syntax, grammar, content on the merits, vocabulary. I will also try to determine,

which of those features are similar and which are language-specific. This analysis also covers

the content of judgments and their global internal structure. For the purpose of this section I

gathered a typical corpus of both Polish and English judgments. In this context corpus shall

denote ‘a large structure and set of texts, often on a single subject’

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Text_corpus). The corpus I have chosen covers multilingual

corpus i.e. Polish and English judgments used for presenting general macrostructure of both

types of judgments. In this case methodology applied is based on the article (Tepis no.15)

written by Aleksandra Matulewska relating to Polish and English Judgments. At the end of

this chapter I will include a small choice of terms concerning the Polish and English

judgments with their respective equivalents and information on their usage. I will also try to

present basic differences between English and Polish judicial system and shortly explain

numerous differences resulting out of the legal system applied in particular types of courts.

In conclusions I will try to summarize basic differences and similarities between Polish and

English judgments.

POLISH COURT SYSTEM

Polish court system is four-tiered i.e. there are regional, provincial and appellate

divisions plus the Supreme Court, which is the highest judicial organ and functions primarily

as a court of appeal. The Supreme Court together with the lower instance courts are divided

into criminal, civil, military, labour and family chambers. Judges are nominated by the

National Judicial Council or by the president of the Republic of Poland for life. There is also

the authority called the Constitutional Tribunal (Trybunał Konstytucyjny), which opinions

legislation and in conflict cases or different decisions it exercises the authority of judicial

review. In case of appeal or challenging the validity of a judgment we may take the following

steps within the court-system in Poland (diagram representing the Polish court system is

attached in the Appendix 1) (http://www.prawo.diplomacy.pl/sp/courts.htm).

- Supreme Court - Sąd Najwyższy (power of cessation)

- Court of appeal (C.A.) - Sąd Apelacyjny (it may be appealed against)

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- Regional Courts (R.C.) - Sąd Okręgowy (it may be appealed against)

- District Courts (D.C.) - Sąd Rejonowy

INTERNAL STRUCTURE OF A POLISH JUDGMENT

The structure of judgments may vary according to the type and character of the

proceedings. Some elements (headings) may be expressed differently, replaced with other

components, the sequence of elements may be different and some elements e.g. grounds or

justification of the court’s decision may be simply deleted. When it comes to translators they

usually deal with the conclusion of judgment including the crucial aspect of a rendered

decision. Polish judgments tend to be issued in an abbreviated form. Despite the fact that

most judgments are shortened, still there is a typical, model structure of a Polish judgment

that looks in the following way (Matulewska 2006: 26-28):

SYGN. AKT DOCKET NUMBER

If it is accompanied by names of the parties then in a way it corresponds to English

citation. The function of this component simply serves as a reference to other cases decided

by different types of courts on similar cases. It is required in order to find a particular case in

the future e.g. Sygn. akt I C 1101/05 (Matulewska 2005:29).

TYTUŁ TITLE

The title may inform on the type of proceedings, indicate the fact that it was

rendered in the Republic of Poland or simply give the date of issuing the said judgment. The

judgment described in this section is a judgment for payment issued by the Polish court in

relation to labour conflict between the employer and the employee concerning the

employer’s failure to pay due remuneration for work. In this case the title of judgments,

which is the constant element of each judgment issued by the Polish court looks as follows:

‘Wyrok w imieniu Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej’, translated as ‘Judgment in the name of the

Republic of Poland’ (Matulewska 2005:28).

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DATA DATE

According to a typical formulaic judgment we will observe a month written in words

and the year followed by the abbreviation ‘r’ which stands for English year e.g.

Dnia 29 czerwca 2007 r. ‘ Dated 29 of June 2007’

IDENTIFICATION OF THE COURT AND DETAILS CONCERNING THE AUTHORIZED

BODY

The next paragraph usually informs about the Division, which issued a given

judgment, it indicates the names of judges, lay judges and a recording clerk. In case of

judgment I chose there are only two elements i.e. (Matulewska 2005: 28-29):

Przewodniczący: S.S.O. Presiding Judge of the Regional Court

Protokolant

Recording clerks

PARTIES TO PROCEEDINGS

STRONY W POSTĘPOWANIU

Similar to English judgment s, judgments expressed in Polish also include the names

and surnames of the parties to the proceedings. It also usually indicates the type of

proceedings, the type of judgment, which is to be rendered. It is usually expressed by means

of the following words (Matulewska 2005: 29):

POLISH JUDGMENT

po rozpoznaniu w dniu 20 czerwca 2007

roku w Krakowie

sprawy z powództwa Sushma Semlani

przeciwko Wojciechowi Żewskiemu

o zapłatę

ENGLISH JUDGMENT

having heard, on the 20 day of June 2007

in Kraków

the case brought by the Petitioner, Sushma

Semlani

against the Respondent, Wojciech Żelewski

for payment

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MAIN BODY OF THE JUDGMENT

The main body of a typical Polish judgment contains the following elements:

a) the grounds for the judgment

b) findings of fact

c) final decision of the court

Final decision may be given together with its justification and findings of fact may in

fact be incorporated in the final decision. Obligatory elements are the judgment itself

together with the findings of facts (Matulewska 2005:30).

UZASADNIENIE WYROKU TRANSLATED AS GROUNDS FOR THE JUDGMENT

Some formulaic expressions, which are likely to be found in this section are among

others:

4.2.7.1. Sue Semlani w pozwie skierowanym przeciwko W. Zelewskiemu domagala

się….

Sue Semlami in her claim against W. Żelewski demanded….

4.2.7.2. Na uzasadnienie swojego pozwu powódka wskazała, iż…

As the grounds for her claim the Petitioner indicated, that ……..

4.2.7.3. W pozwie powódka sprecyzowała również, że……..

In her claim the Petitioner also indicated that ……..

4.2.7.4. W odpowiedzi na pozew pozwany wniósł o..

In reply to the statement of claim, the Respondent petitioned the court

4.2.7.5. W uzasadnieniu pozwu pozwany….

In support of the claim the Respondent …………

4.2.7.6. W piśmie procesowym z dnia…. Pozwany podniosl...

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Additionally, in the pleading dated …the Respondent claimed ….

4.2.7.7. Między stronami bezspornym było, iż……….

It was undisputable between the parties, that………..

4.2.7.8. Na podstawie wymienionej umowy pozwany zobowiązał się wypłacać

powódce kwoty w wysokości... w terminie do 14 każdego miesiąca

kalendarzowego tytułem wynagrodzenia za świadczone usługi oraz wydatki i

koszty związane z reprezentacją i promowaniem firmy.

On the basis of the contract mentioned hereinabove the Respondent pledged

to pay the Petitioner the amount of ….as a remuneration for performed

services within 14th of each calendar month as well as for the expenses and

costs connected with the representation and promotion of the company.

4.2.7.9. Bezsporne było także, że pozwany zapłacił powódce wynagrodzenie za okres

pięciu miesięcy jak również fakt, iż Sua Semlani nie podpisała żadnego

kontraktu i nie nawiązała współpracy skutkiem której byłoby pozyskanie

klientów dla firmy ELEKTRA...

The fact that the Respondent paid the Petitioner the remuneration for five

months was also undisputable as well as the fact that Sue Semlani did not

sign any contract and failed to establish cooperation which would have

resulted in winning new customers for the company ELEKTRA…

USTALENIE STANU FAKTYCZNEGO

FINDINGS OF FACT

In this section a typical expression used in Polish judgments is: Sąd ustalił następujacy

stan faktczny, which is translated as: The court ascertained the following findings of fact.

Here the court usually determines the facts of the case, basing his decision mainly on the

testimonies of the witnesses cross-examined in particular case (in Polish zeznania

świadków).

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DECYZJA KOŃCOWA (Z UZASADNIENIEM) FINAL DECISION (WITH JUSTIFICATION)

it is expressed by means of a typical formula i.e. Sąd zważył, co następuje translated

as: ‘the court considered as follows…’ or by means of a single word i.e. Sąd… (English

equivalent expression is usually a version of the expression: the court adjudges and decrees

as follows…)

I. zasądza od pozwanego na rzecz powódki kwotę….

‘the Petitioner be awarded from the Respondent the amount of....’

II. w pozostałym zakresie powództwo oddala

in further scope the action be dismissed

III. zasądza od pozwanego na rzecz powódki kwotę...tytułem zwrotu kosztów

sądowych

the Petitioner be awarded from the Respondent the court fees in the amount

of….

IV. w pozostałym zakresie koszty postępowania wzajemnie znosi miedzy stronami

in further scope the court fees be distributed between the parties

V. oddala wniosek o nadanie wyrokowi rygoru natychmiastowej wykonalności

the claim for making an appealable judgment immediately effective be hereby

dismissed

Typical formulas used in order to express the court’s decision together with

justification thereof (which is optional and lacking in some judgments) are e.g.

W ocenie sądu wyniki postępowania przeprowadzonego w toku niniejszej sprawy

pozwalają uznać za uzasadnione….

In the opinion of this court the results of the proceedings which took place during this

case allow the court to acknowledge as justified....

Oceniając zasadność zadania pozwu należy odnieść się do….

Upon determination whether the claim is justified one has to refer to...

Analiza przeprowadzonych w sprawie dowodów (w szczególności zeznania…)

Examination of the evidence gathered in these proceedings (particularly testimonies..

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Sąd nie uwzględnił zarzutów strony pozwanej/powódki w zakresie...

The court did consider the charges brought by the Respondent/Petitioner within the scope

of…

Na zakwestionowanie prawdziwości czy istnienia.....nie pozwoliły także wyniki

postępowania .... w sprawie.......

The results of the proceedings...in the case… did not allow for questioning the

truthfulness or the existence of….

Odnosząc się z kolei do samego zadania zapłaty dochłodzonej na

podstawie....należy w pierwszym rzędzie rozważyć zakres....

Referring to the payment itself demanded on the basis of…first of all one needs to

consider the scope…

Jak wynika z zapisu punktu 3,,,,,,,,

As result from the stipulation of article 3...

Z powyższego wynika.....

It results from the hereinabove...

Należy przyjąć (założenie), iż.........

It needs to be assumed (assumption), that...

Sąd oddalił wniosek o nadanie wyrokowi rygoru natychmiastowej wykonalności,

ponieważ w sprawie nie zachodziły okoliczności uzasadniające jego zastosowania...

The court dismissed the claim for making an appealable judgment immediately

effective because in this case there were no circumstances justifying its application

O kosztach sad orzeka na zasadzie art...k.p.c. zasądzając na rzecz

powódki/pozwanego kwotę ... oraz znosząc koszty postępowania w pozostałym

zakresie miedzy stronami.

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The court decides on costs based on the art….of the Polish Code of Civil Procedure

awarding the petitioner/respondent the amount of… and in further scope distributes

the court fees between the parties

PODPIS

SIGNATURE

Finally, the signature of the person authorized to certify that the issues judgment is

original. Such person usually used the following formula:

Na oryginale własciwe podpisy The original bears the actual signatures

Zgodność z oryginałem stwierdzam* For the conformity with the original**The phrase above is usually signed by the Referring clerk (in Polish called Referent).

DODATKOWE INFORMACJE O KOPII WYROKU

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THE COPY OF JUDGMENT

Here one may find all additional information concerning the copy of the judgment

(Matulewska 2005:31) expressed among others, in the following words:

Niniejszy odpis wyroku wydano z akt Sądu Rejonowego dla m.st…., ... Wydział ....,

sygn. akt .... powódce... z zaznaczeniem, iż wyrok jest nieprawomocny/prawomocny.

This is a certified copy of the decree issued from the Records of the Regional Court

of the... … Division, docket no…. to the Petitioner with a provisory that it is not a final

and absolute/ that it is final and absolute.

Pobrano opłatę kancelaryjna w kwocie,,,,,

The Court Office fee in the amount off....was collected.

SYNTACTIC FEATURES OF POLISH JUDGMENTS

Polish judgments are usually expressed in the third person singular, in present tense

that additionally underlines the performative character of judgment e.g. ‘Ogłaszam wyrok w

imieniu Rzeczpospolitej Polskiej’ translated as ‘I hereby open the trial of the court in the

name of the Republic of Poland’ or ‘ For these reasons the court held as follows…’ – ‘Wobec

powyższego Trybunał orzeka co następuje…’ Polish performative expressions are among e.g:

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a) Sąd orzekł, co następuje... The court held/ruled/found as follows...

b) Wobec powyższego Sąd orzeka… For these reasons the Court holds…

c) Sąd oddala roszczenie w pozostałej części The Court dismiss the remainder of the

applicant’s claim…

When it comes to addresative expressions, they tend to present the hierarchy of

social structure and a way to impose persuasive pressure and they should not be omitted in

court translations e.g. my learned friend (Zieliński in Bosiacka 2006:228) e.g. ‘Counsel for the

Defence’. In terms of the court’s final decision, it is typically expressed by means of

mandative subjunctive, which is intended to express demands, orders, strong suggestions or

requirements together with the following verbs: require, request, insist, demand, order,

stress, suggest, propose or adjectives like imperative e.g. ‘The Court orders (it is ordered)

that the Petitioner be given the Respondent, with a true copy of the Petition for Divorce’

(Bosiacka 2006:225).

ENGLISH COURT SYSTEM

English Court System is very complicated and multi-layered. There are no direct

equivalents in Polish reality. Apart from that, there are many language-specific and legal-

system specific terminology and rules e.g. equity or precedent, which have no direct

reflection in Polish jurisprudence. A short diagram representing the English court system

shall be presented in the Appendix 2. The House of Lords supervising the Court of Appeal

(Civil Division along with Criminal Division), which in turn supervises the High Court of Justice

including three Divisions i.e. Queen’s Bench Division, Chancery Division, Family Division. The

Crown Court and High Court may file appeals to the Court of Appeal, whereas Magistrates

Court is subject to the Supervision of the Crown Court or the High Court. The lowest type of

courts is Family Courts, which fall under the supervision of all those mentioned hereinabove.

The High Court of Justice and the Court of Appeal form the Supreme Court of Judicature

(www.leeds.ac.uk/law/hamlyn/courtstr.htm).

INTERNAL STRUCTURE OF ENGLISH JUDGMENT

The structure of judgments may vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction and depending

on the style of proceedings e.g. criminal or family but despite this variation one may

establish a model structure of judgment which may be dominating in almost all jurisdictions

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of the English court system. Therefore, a typical internal structure of the English judgment

consists of the following elements:

IDENTIFICATION OF THE COURT AND PARTICULARS CONCERNING THE AUTHORIZED

BODY

In this section we may usually find out which type of court is dealing with the case.

This section indicates names and surnames of judges along with other authorized entities

involved in the proceedings e.g. ‘Before: Lord Justice Simon Brown (Vice-President of the

Court of Appeal Civil Division), Lord Justice May (Vice-President of the Queen’s Bench

Division) and Lord Justice Clarke’.

CITATION (OPTIONALLY CASE NUMBER)

In case of English judgments Citation corresponds to Polish Docket Number or Court

File Number. It is intended to facilitate finding a particular case and referring to it. It is

usually placed in the top right corner of judgment e.g. ‘Neutral Citation Number: [2007]

EWCA Civ 173’; apart from Citation we may notice Case Number, which is optional and looks

as follows: ‘Case No: C1/2006/2121’ *Matulewska 2005:31).

INTRODUCTION OR IDENTIFICATION OF THE CASE OR (AND) THE PARTIES TO

PROCEEDINGS

This ‘introductory section’ deals with identification of the court and particulars

concerning an authorized body, also called ‘identifying the case’ (Bhatia 1949:129). The

introductory section usually sets out the name of the case, presents the parties involved in a

given type of legal dispute, and indicates the type of case. When referring to the name of

cases, they tend to be named after the parties involved or with the name of the plaintiff. Due

to the adversarial nature of court proceedings the common practice is to write initial ’v’

between the names of two litigants (Alcazar and Huges 114). Instead of the letter ‘v’ some

judgments are more likely to use the conjunction ‘and’ instead e.g.

‘THE QUEEN on the application of LINDA ANN SOPER Appellant

- and -

CRIMINAL INJUJRIES COMPENSATION APPEALS PANEL Respondent’

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Sometimes the court shortens too long titles, which later appear in shortened forms

throughout the whole judgment. The same will appear in brackets following the first

appearance of the person e.g. ‘The Chief Constable of South Yorkshire (the Chief Constable)’

(Alcazar and Huges 115).

SUMMARY OF A DECISION

This section indicates the main decision rendered in particular case. What is

characteristic here is the use of subjunctive, which in Polish judgments expresses decisions

and orders of the court, thus underlying its mandatory character (Matulewska 2006:25) e.g.

'Upon hearing the Parties it is hereby ordered as follows:

1. THAT the Petitioner be given the Respondent, with a true copy of the Petition for

Divorce and Notice to the Respondent by service ex-jurio, in WARSAW, Poland’.

ESTABLISHING THE FACTS OF THE CASE

It is the section where the court usually determines basic facts concerning particular

case. Typically in this section the problem is identified and particular circumstances that led

to the conflict are described. It may be expressed with the following words: ‘Referring to the

decree made in this case on the 25th day of April 1985 whereby it was decreed that the

marriage solemnized on the 23rd day of November 1976 at the Register Office in the District

and London Borough between the Petitioner and the Respondent be dissolved’ (Divorce

Judgment issued in the District ND London Borough, UK, see: the Appendix).

MAIN BODY OF JUDGMENT

It is usually presented in the form of numbered paragraphs. The main body of a

judgment covers the following elements (Bhatia 1942:130)

a) the relief sought by one of the parties i.e. by the plaintiff (claimant) specified in the

pleadings where he/she indicates the grounds for making such claim and gives some

more detailed description of important circumstances of conflict e.g. ‘This is an appeal

by the claimant, Linda Ann Soper, against a decision in the Administrative Court by

Munby J on 2nd of May 2002 in judicial review proceedings in which Mrs Soper

challenged the rationality and lawfulness of an award to her of compensation by the

defendant Panel. Pill U gave permission to appeal’.

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b) the grounds for the decision (often includes findings of facts) which is simply the

justification of judgment given by the court explaining its choice e.g. ‘I would dismiss

this appeal, remembering that these are judicial review proceedings and not a

rehearing on the factual merits’.

c) findings of facts or principal matters of facts, which is an elaborate description of the

parties’ contentions and comments made upon them. This section should e asserted,

admitted, proved and set out as coherent and as succinctly as possible. Facts of the

case should be established by means of providing a detailed description of what

happened that caused a given course of action and what brought the case before the

court. Mrs Soper was born on 24th November 1947. On 26th November 1992, just after

her 45th birthday, she was injured while she was working as a cleaner at Tower Hamlets

Technical College in Poplar High Street. She tripped o a wire which had been placed by

a person who was never identified some 8 inches above the ground in the area of

lavatories. She fell and was seriously injured’.

Moving on it may be may be subdivided into separate sections or number of separate

section. Judges often decide to do it for the reason of convenience. However, each such

additional sub-section must contain a descriptive heading e.g. “The Application of the

principles of law”, which is simply stating the content thereof (Alcazar and Huges 112-116),

(Bhatia 1947:130).

Such detailed description of legal circumstances accompanying certain case has two

functions. Firstly, it provides answers to some questions that readers may have and

secondly, it lets the readers to identify between the legally significant facts and those, which

are of less significance. This facilitates better comprehension of the whole situation

described in the judgment, thus enabling the reader to fully understand and appreciate the

judge’s decision (Bhatia, 1942:129).

Main body of judgment indicates the relevant law based on particular facts of the

case e.g. summary of a pleading. It is important simply because the whole branch of

Common Law is based on the doctrine of precedent. English courts rely on previous

decisions issued by other courts when the facts of the case remain the same. In the words of

Williams it means “Cases must be decided the same way when their material facts are the

same, though obviously it does not require that all the facts should be the same. We know

that in the flux of life all the facts of a case will never recur; but the legally material facts may

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recur and it is with these that the doctrine is concerned”. A casebook provides materials

facilitating rendering a decision and provides almost ready-made grounds therefore. In many

cases in order to understand a given type of decision one has to have at least some basic

knowledge concerning subsequent cases. Without such knowledge it is likely, that the

judgments issued by the court will seem incomprehensible and out of context (Williams

1982:67).

Bhatia sees it a little bit different i.e. section after establishing the facts of the case is

called ‘Arguing the case’ and in his view this is the longest and the most significant part of

the legal case This section includes some sub-moves, which are different for different types

of cases and expressed in terms of their nature and circumstances. All these sub-moves are

optional and depend on the particular court and its discretion. These moves may be are as

follows:

1. giving the history of the case together with the judgments delivered by subsequent

judges (especially present in appeal ),

2. arguments of the judge concerning the instant case, the used in the negotiation of

justice (Bhatia, 1942:130).

All these moves are supposed to lead to the derivation of the principle of law that the

judge wants to record for use in subsequent cases in order to include the statement of law

to that effect i.e. for further application which is known as

- ratio decidendi or in other words reason for the decision setting the precedent.

In case of English judgments only ratio decidendi is said to have binding force for future

cases. All the court’s remarks have ‘persuasive force’ but they are not binding when it comes

to future similar cases (Bhatia 1942:131).

THE COURT’S CONCLUSIONS

In this section the Court presents its conclusions at which it has arrived during the

proceeding. This example presents the courts conclusions expressed in case of the appeal

proceedings, where the claimant demanded compensation for injury: ‘As to the second

ground of challenge, I am not convinced that the Panel applied a wrong test. Balance of

probabilities is certainly mentioned in the Acknowledgement of Service. But the expression

used in paragraph 13 of Miss Dorrian's statement is "likely" (twice) and "unlikely" (in the first

sentence). Taken as a whole this paragraph is certainly not a decision that the chances are

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51%, nor do I consider that a fair reading suggests that it is a balance of probabilities finding

which could not be discounted for contingencies, which is what assessing chances amounts

to. On the contrary, the finding explicitly depends on quoted medical evidence which is not

expressed in terms of probability. A likelihood can be very strong, even overwhelming. Taken

as a whole, I read Miss Dorrian's statement as recording a decision that the chances of Mrs

Soper continuing to receive Disability Living Allowance as a result of her injury are very high.

This either means that the Panel did not apply a wrong test or that, if they did, the judge's

decision that the modest adjustment sufficiently reflected the overwhelming realities was

correct’.

THE FINAL DECISION

It is usually rendered by the court based on all elements mentioned and analysed.

The final decision of the court may be expressed in the following words: “For the reasons

given ORDERED, ADJUDGED AND DECREED adjudged and decreed as follows…” (Matulewska

2006:28). Similar wording found in another judgment is: ‘It is decreed that… It is ordered

that… And it is further ordered that (Form 72P in the Appendix).

SIGNATURE

This section includes the signature of judge rendering a decision. In case where there

were several judges, the signatures and conclusions will be given in the same order, in which

the judges spoke in particular case so as to result in coherent, comprehensible, unified text.

Usually these are simply the following words: ‘signed by…'; ‘by the Court; signed the Court’

or simply the court’s signature alone. (Matulewska 2006:28).

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION (CONCERNING THE COPY)

Very often this last section contains some relevant additional rules or provisions.

Additional information mentioned above refer to the copy of judgment, place it was issued

or the parties participating in the proceedings. This information may refer to different

events, facts, persons or circumstances dependent on what it subject to in a given type of

judgment or the court’s decision.

It is very frequent in divorce judgments when the court instructs the Parties that they

may not re-marry until the court grants the decree absolute. In practice decree absolute is

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given after the expiration of certain period from the date of decree nisi and the parties agree

not to appeal against such decree and there are circumstances speaking against making the

decree absolute. Decree is made absolute upon the motion issued by one of the parties

(Form 72P included in the Appendix hereto).

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