The judicial capacity of parties, entities with the rights of parties, participants in administrative court proceedings.

 

Legal solutions regulating judicial capacity determine which entities have been granted legal status as a party or an entity with the rights of a party or participants in administrative court proceedings.

 

Judicial capacity in accordance with Art. 25 of the Law on Proceedings Before Administrative Courts is possessed by::

1) natural and legal persons;

2) state and local government organizational units without legal personality and social organizations without legal personality;

3) other organizational units not listed above without legal personality, if the provisions of law allow the possibility of imposing obligations on these units or granting rights or directing orders and prohibitions to them, as well as establishing or recognizing the right or obligation arising from legal provisions;

4) social organizations, even if they do not have legal personality, in the scope of · statutory activity in matters concerning legal interests of other persons.

 

Article 25 § 1 and 2 of LPBAC regulates the judicial capacity of the parties to the proceedings, thus the applicant and the opposing party. Art. 25 § 3 and 4 on the other hand, regulates the applicant's judicial capacity, extending it to other organizational units, and determines the scope of the judicial capacity of a social organization in which there is not a deciding authority and does not defend its own legal interest, but appears in cases concerning the legal interests of other persons (Art. 25 § 4).

 

Art. 31 of the LPBAC regulates the admissibility of supplementing deficiencies in legal capacity (e.g. no entry in the register of an organizational unit which gives the unit the status of a legal person). If the lack can be completed, the court sets an appropriate deadline. In the event that the deficiencies have not been remedied, the court will abolish the proceedings to the extent that they are affected by the deficiencies and, if necessary, make an appropriate order.

 

The court ex officio examines the applicant's legal capacity. In the event that the deficiencies cannot be rectified, it will issue a decision rejecting the complaint.

 

Procedural capacity in administrative court proceedings. Procedural capacity is the ability to take legal action in administrative court proceedings. There is a close relationship between procedural capacity and judicial capacity: judicial capacity is always a necessary condition for procedural capacity. Whoever does not have judicial capacity, also does not have procedural capacity. However, judicial capacity does not have to be connected with procedural capacity, in particular persons deprived of or restricted in their procedural capacity may be parties or participants in the proceedings.

 

Procedural capacity in administrative court proceedings, in accordance with Art. 26 of the LPBAC is possessed by:

1) natural persons with full legal capacity; a natural person limited in legal capacity has the ability to act in administrative court proceedings in matters arising from legal actions, which he can make alone; the scope of activities to which a natural person is not entitled may be based only on legal provisions;

2) legal persons;

3) state and local government organizational units without legal personality and social organizations without legal personality;

4) other organizational units without legal personality, if the provisions of law allow the possibility of imposing obligations on these units or granting permission or directing orders and prohibitions to them, as well as establishing or recognizing the entitlement or obligation arising from legal provisions;

5) social organizations, even if they do not have legal personality, as regards their statutory activity in matters concerning the legal interests of other persons.

 

Art. 25. § 1. A natural person, legal person or a public administration body shall have the capacity to appear before an administrative court as a party (capacity to be a party to a court proceeding).

§ 2. The State and local self-government organisational units not having legal personality, as well as social organisations not having legal personality, shall also have capacity to be

a party in court.

§ 3. Other organisational units not having legal personality shall also have capacity to be a party in court, if provisions of law allow the possibility of imposing obligations, or conferring rights, on those units or making them the subject of orders or bans, as well as acknowledging or recognising rights or duties resulting from provisions of law.

§ 4. Social organisations, even if not having legal personality, shall have capacity to be a party in court within the scope of their statutory responsibilities in matters relating to legal interests of other persons.

 

Art. 26. § 1. Natural persons with full ability to legal actions, as well as legal persons, social organisations and organisational units referred to in Article 25 shall have capacity to act in proceedings on administrative court cases (procedural capacity).

§ 2. A natural person with limited ability to legal actions shall have capacity to act in proceedings on matters arising from legal actions he/she is able to take by himself/herself.

 

Art. 27. A natural person having no ability to legal actions in proceedings may undertake them only by his/her statutory representative.

 

Art. 28. § 1. Legal persons and organisational units having capacity to be a party in court shall act in proceedings through bodies or persons empowered to act on their behalf.

§ 2. On behalf of the State Treasury actions in the proceedings shall be taken by a body of the organisational unit to whose activity the proceeding is related, or a body of its superior unit.

§ 3. To the extent specified in the Act of 15th December 2016 on the General Counsel to the Republic of Poland [...], actions in the proceedings on behalf of:

1) government administration authorities,

2) state organisational units which do not have legal personality,

3) the State Treasury

– shall be taken by the General Counsel to the Republic of Poland.

§ 4.14 The minister competent for foreign affairs shall perform the consul’s acts in the proceedings.

 

Art. 29. A statutory representative or a body, or persons referred to in Article 28, shall be obligated to prove their authorisation by a document upon taking the first action in the proceedings.

 

Art. 30. § 1. Upon request of the opposing party, the court may appoint a guardian for a party lacking procedural capacity, which has no statutory representative and for a party having no body appointed to represent it, if that party has taken against the other party an action of utmost urgency. The order of the court may be issued in camera.

§ 2. The court order referred to in § 1 may be issued by a court referendary.

 

Art. 31. § 1. If defects in respect of capacity to be a party in court or procedural capacity or in the composition of competent bodies may be corrected, the court shall set appropriate time limit. In cases where appointment of a statutory representative should be made ex officio, the court shall refer to a guardianship court.

§ 2. The court may temporarily admit to act a party which does not have capacity to be a party in court or procedural capacity and a person which does not have sufficient statutory authorisation, provided that the deficiencies will be corrected within the prescribed time limit, and the actions will be approved by a person appointed to do so.

§ 3. If the above-mentioned defects cannot be corrected, or when they have not been corrected within the set time limit, the court shall annul the proceedings to the extent it is affected by the defects and, if necessary, shall issue appropriate order.