The Impact of the Jurisprudence of Courts and the Constitutional Tribunal on the Legal Situation of Followers of Judaism in Poland

The article presents the influence of the judiciary through the instruments of administering justice or the implementation of tasks in the field of legal protection on the legal situation of followers of Judaism in Poland. It was presented in three areas: the admissibility of ritual slaughter, the legal nature of the rulings of the regulatory commission for Jewish religious communities and admission to membership in a Jewish religious community. The analyzes carried out in the text lead to the conclusion that the influence of the judiciary on the legal situation of the followers of Judaism in Poland is significant. It was thanks to the ruling of the Constitutional Tribunal of 10 XII 2014 that the total ban on ritual slaughter in Poland was lifted. In turn, the interpretative judgment of the Constitutional Tribunal of 13 III 2013 introduced significant procedural changes to the regulatory proceedings. However, the most controversial issue is the issue of admitting new members to the Jewish religious communities and the possibility of state courts exercising control in this respect. The thesis contained in the judgment of the Supreme Court of 15 IX 2017, according to which if a person of the Mosaic faith intends to join a religious community, this community in principle has no right to refuse to accept such a person as its member, should be considered a kind of judicial excess, especially against the background of the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights and the jurisprudence of other judicial authorities in Poland.