Dead Law – a few remarks in the context of Article 12 of the Act on the Acquisition by the State of Dead Hand Property

Abstract

The object of this article is to analyse Article 12 of the Act of 20 March 1950 on the Acquisition of Dead-Handed Property by the State, Guaranteeing Pastors the Possession of Farms and Establishing the Church Fund, and to show that this provision was in practice a dead law. The author discusses in this paper the historical background, the purpose, and the motivations of the legislator in constructing this provision. Next, the author answers the question whether the need indicated by the legislator for the introduction of the said regulation really existed and whether its introduction was de facto justified. Next, the author outlines whether the indicated regulation really did meet this need in an adequate manner, discussing the subjective and objective features. Then, since the provision has never been used in practice, the author limits himself to an analysis of the adequacy of the statutory threat to the abstractly defined social harm, pointing out that Article 12 of Acquisition of Dead-Handed Property by the State. in fact is a dead law because it has never been applied by the court. In conclusion, it will make a final assessment of the regulation and compare it to state law in the pandemic era. This thesis employs a dogmatic method consisting of exegesis and interpretation of selected provisions and, complementarily, a synthesis of doctrine and case law. Axiological and historical-legal methods were also used auxiliary.