La responsabilité environnementale du Trésor public et des entités publiques en Pologne à la lumière de la loi et de la jurisprudence. (The environmental liability of state treasury and public entities in Poland in light of the law and jurisprudence)

Abstract

Background: Currently, environmental challenges and dilemmas are particularly prominent in legal and jurisprudential scholarship. The fact that the quality of the environment in which we live has a direct impact on our life or health means that environmental problems as well as issues of the state of the environmentʼs quality are increasingly becoming a matter of interest for individuals. The subject of this article is the liability of the State Treasury and public entities for environmental damage and failure to comply with preventive duties, as well as for the deterioration of the quality of the environment under Polish and European law, in the light of Polish and international case law.

Research purpose: The research purpose of the conducted analysis is to present the theoretical and dogmatic determinants of the liability of the State Treasury and public entities for the environmental damage and failure to comply with preventive duties, as well as for the deterioration of the quality of the environment, both in the private and public regime.

Methods: In the course of the analysis, the theoretical and dogmatic-legal method was used. Moreover, in order to exemplify the analyzed issues, views presented by jurisprudence were relied upon.

Conclusions: The considerations carried out indicate that the challenges related to the state of the environment and climate change are also accompanied by an increase, in various forums, of legal measures aimed at forcing modern states to take optimal actions to improve the state of the environment and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. These actions involve enforcing the liability of the State Treasury and public entities for the environmental damage and failure to undertake actions concerning the state of environmental quality. In many cases, the legal actions of local and regional authorities are not sufficient to ensure environmental protection and, as the case law of European courts confirms, the international forum can sometimes be a form of forcing states to take responsibility for the state of the environment.