A commentary on the Supreme Court resolution of 25 July 2019 (ref. no. III CZP 12/19)

Bibliogr. s. 105-106. Streszcz. ang. s. 106

This paper concerns the limits of the exception of the nemo plus iuris principle established in the Polish succession rules (Art. 1028 of the Civil Code). In the commented case, the Supreme Court stated that the mere fact of being a potential heir disqualifies a person as a third party to the inheritance. Legal interpretation conducted by the Supreme Court resulted in an ineffective acquisition of an asset by the above-mentioned potential heir from an heir included in the deed of succession. In any event, the equity concept created by the Supreme Court seems to be inadequately narrowing the scope of third-parties. It seems, however, that the source of the problem in the discussed case is not a wrongly defined group of third-parties who could validly acquire assets from succession estate notwithstanding the nemo plus iuris principle, but rather the burden of proving the acquirer’s bad faith imposed on the rightful heir and the scope of legal protection expanded to gratuitous acts.