Judiciary correction of contracts in the Polish and English legal system

This paper attempts to answer the question whether an English judge has competence to issue judgments under the provisions of the good faith principle, implemented into the UK legal system through the EU consumer directives. The competence of an English judge will be examined by the analysis of the legal vehicles of judiciary correction of contracts already present in the English common law. Those vehicles will be compared with respective Polish vehicles of judiciary correction of contracts. The comparison will be done under the presumption, that Polish judges are able to apply the good faith principle stemming from the EU consumer directives. The above mentioned ability of Polish judges is rooted in the tradition of the Polish contract law, where good faith and analogous principles are present. In effect, the outcome of the comparison should prove whether the common law offers English judges vehicles analogous to those which enable Polish judges to issue judgments based on good faith. Consequently, the first part of this paper outlines the basics of the English legal system and discusses the methods of the application of law at a general level. It continues with the description of different understandings of the good faith principle and provides information on threats which in the perception of the common law lawyers are embodied in that principle. The second part contains a reconstruction of the Polish legal rule used by judges to apply judiciary correction of contracts, which may contain the good faith principle. Eventually, the third part presents English vehicles of judiciary correction of contracts on the background of Polish rule, attempting to answer if an English judge is able to effectively use the good faith principle.