Polityczne i prawne uwarunkowania uchwalenia ustawy o Sądzie Najwyższym w 1962 r.

After WW II, the Supreme Court functioned pursuant to the Law on the Organiza- tion of General Jurisdiction Courts of 1928 as a court of cassation (kasacyjny) – and after the 1949–1950 reform of the court system – as an appellate (rewizyjny) court. As a consequence of the politically-motivated appointments prevailing from the mid-1940s to mid-50s, the justices of the interwar period were replaced by new judges at the disposition of political power and executive authorities during the Stalinist period. The thaw in relations of October 1956 led to a temporary alteration of the Supreme Court’s functioning and the approach developed in judicial decisions. By 1958, the di- rection adopted in the judicial decisions of criminal courts had already begun to raise serious doubts among the Polish United Workers’ Party (PZPR). This fact spurred legi- slative work, which was completed with the enactment of the Act of 16 February 1962 on the Supreme Court. The Act was the first separate piece of legislation concerning the Supreme Court in the history of the People’s Republic of Poland (PRL). It confor- med with the 1952 Constitution of the PRL in recognizing the position of the Supreme Court as the supreme judicial authority exercising supervision over all other courts of justice as far as judicial decisions are concerned, and in establishing the principle that Supreme Court justices be elected for a 5-year term. The systemic changes of the law necessitated the election of the entire bench of the Supreme Court, which allowed for a verification of the existing justices and the election of those who guaranteed a new approach to criminal law that accorded with the expectations of the party.