Sądownictwo konstytucyjne w państwie polskim w XX wieku

The article concerns the constitutional judiciary in the Polish state in relation to the formation of the rule of law in Europe. The author describes the history of systemic postulates regarding examining the compliance of laws with the constitution, shows the provisions of successive constitutions of the interwar period and after 1945, and indicates that the economic, social and political crisis in the late 1980s and early 90s forced changes in the system. The result was the amendment of the 1952 Constitution in 1982, the Constitutional Tribunal having been established as late as 1985. Nowadays the activities of the Constitutional Tribunal are regulated by the Constitution of 1997 and its rulings are final.