Prawo ustrojowe państwa

O aporii terminu prawnego w polskiej i niemieckiej nauce o polityce

Abstract

State law. About aporia of legal term in Polish and German science of politics

The cognitive object of the science of a state law is its political system. This definition, however, does not expand all the elements necessary to circumscribe the proper understanding of this concept. Referring to the etymology in German (Staatsrechtslehre), we are talking about the science of state law. Thus, the object of analysis, according to literal understanding of the concept, would be state (Staat), not his – anyhow defined – political system. This semantic inconvenience surprises here so far as it needs to be taken into account that for the ancient Greeks, not the state (πολιτεια), but politics (πολιτικά) meant the whole doctrine of state (πολιτική επιστήμη). Experience of the ancient Roman jurisprudence has brought in this issue fundamental change. From then on law, dichotomously divided according to the criterion of “benefits” (utilitas) into private (jus civile) and public (jus publicum), will be seen as a whole legal system that regulates social relations between people, people and assets and people and the state. In contrast, however, to the private law, protecting the interests of individuals, the task of public law is to guard the common interest, thereby bringing benefits to society as a whole.