The Civil Service of Poland
| Date | 01 July 1930 |
| Author | Jan Kopczynski |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9299.1930.tb01987.x |
| Published date | 01 July 1930 |
The
Civil
Service
of
Poland
By
JAN
KOPCZYNSKI,
PIcsidGnt
of
the Polish
SuprcnrC
Administrative
Tribunal
NE
of the most important
tasks
of the restored
Polish
state
0
was
the
creation of an administrative machinery
necessary
for
government and the
issuing
of adequate regulations which should
establish the
relation
of the
officials
to the state, and establish their
functions
and duties. Accordingly,
as
early
as
1918,
i.e.,
on
11th
June,
the former Regency Council
issued
*‘
Temporary Service
Regulations for Civil Servants.”l These
regulations
not only applied
to
officials
of the socalled political administration, but
also
to
all
other
kinds
of state
0fficia.l~~
such
as
magistrates, teachers,
railway
officials,
police officials, etc.
These
regulations were based
on
the
principle‘of the relation in public
law
of the
official
to the state,
and
inter
aliu
introduced the idea of the so-called automatic stabilization
of
officials.
Article
24
provided that after five years’ service duly
appointed state officials had the right of permanent servants
in
so
far
that
they could not
be
deprived of their office or
dismissed
except
as a disciplinary measure, or
as
a result of a court verdict. Magis-
trates were entitled
to
this
right after three years’ service.
It
is
obvious that these regulations were only binding
in
that
part of the country where the authority
of
the Regency
Council
held
good,
i.e.,
in
former
Congress
Poland. Thus
in
the other parts
of
the Republic which by virtue of international treaties comprised part
of
the
Polish
state the regulations
of
the Partitioning Powers were
in
force.
This
was
the case
in
Galicia, in the former Prussian pro-
vinces, and in the Eastern borderlands
of
the Republic which were
assigned to Poland by the Treaty
of
Riga concluded
with
the Soviet
Republic. The very title of the regulations
“
Temporary
”
and
furthermore the annexed mandate of the Regency Council
shows
clearly
that they were only
of
a temporary character. When the
growth
of
the administrative machinery
of
the state
required
a
unifica-
tion of the regulations
pertaining
to
civil
servants throughout the
Republic and a more detailed conception of the
standards
regulating
their condition, and furthermore when the complicated
and
vaned
tasks
of the different administrative departments
called
for other
regulations to govern
the
civil servants
of
the different departments
303
Public
A
dm
in
is
f
ration
the
so-called
Civil Servants'
Act,
which
is
binding
throughout
the
whole of the Polish Republic,
was
passed by the Polish Diet
on
17th
FebrWy,
1922.
Another Act dealing
with
Organization
and Powers
of
Disuplinaq
Authorities
and Disciplinary Procedure
with
regard to
state
officials
was
passed at the same time.2 Both of these
laws3
are
applicable exclusively to
officials
of
so-called
political
administration,
and are therefore not applicable to magistrates, procurators, officials
of
the state railways, teachers
of
all
Government
schools,
post and
telegraph
Officials,
except
in
the
case
of
some categories where
a
number
of
the provisions
are
applicable as long
as
they are not con-
trary
to
the
regulations
pertaining
to remuneration
or
to special
regu-
lations
arising
from the natqre of such officials' service:
Of
the above
mentioned
this
refers to
pt
and telegraph officials and to
officials
under the control of the state,
not
mentioned above,
such
as
police
officials,
customs
officials
and prison
officials.
With regard
to
those
officials
to whom
as
is
said above, these
Acts
do
not refer, the functions
of
some
of
them have been regulated
by
later
laws
or
Orders
of
the President of the Republic having the
power of
laws,
as,
for
example:
(cz)
the functions
of
magistrates and
procurators by an Order
of
the President
of
the Republic
of
6th Eebmary,
1928:
(b)
the functions of teachers
by
a law
of
1st
July,
1928:
(c)
the
functions
of railway officials by an Order
of
the
Council
of Ministers
of
8th
July,
1gzg,6
(d)
the
functions
of
police
officials
by
an Order
of
the President
of
the Republic of 6th March,
1928,'
(e)
the
functions
of the frontier guard by
an
Order of the
President of the Republic of 22nd March,
1928.~
Furthermore,
an
Order
of
the President of the Republic of
7th
March,
1928,Q
in
respect of the organization
of
prisons amplifies
the relevant regulations
as
regards prison officials .contained
in
the
above-mentioned law
in
respect
of
civil
servants.
Thus
up to the present only post and telegraph officials are with-
out
special
regulations governing their
functions,
so
that
the above-
mentioned temporary service
regulations
of
the Regency
Council
are
still
binding
in
their case
in
former
Congress
Poland, while
in
the
other provinces enumerated above the regulations
of
the former
Partitioning
Powers
are
still
in
force.
All
the
above
laws
and
orders set forth the services
of
the different
officials
under
the categories of public
law
stressing
their rights and
functions
with
greater
or
less
emphasis, and
in
particular where the
rights of the
officials
to the
so-called
immunity
from
dismissal
are
concerned,
it
regulates them
according
to the principle adopted
in
the
law
in
respect
of
civil
sewants
with
such
amendments
and additions
as
may
be
required
by the nature
of
the service
of
these different
OffiCialS.
304
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