Norms of the constitution as a source of limits of evidence in civil procedure

Bibliogr. s. 80-81

The right to prove the truth in the court is the implementation of the constitutional right to a fair trial. Polish Code of Civil Procedure does not contain a general regulation concerning the restrictions on admissibility of evidence in the context of the legality of its acquisition. Courts invented the method of assessing the admissibility of evidence, confronting the right to a fair trial with another constitutional value that has been violated by the producing of evidence. While exercising this method, courts use a weighing mechanism similar to the Alexy’s model of balancing of principles. On the ground of the Polish Constitution, within this mechanism, the proportionality test should be used, and the principle of legalism of the actions of the State should be taken into account. This means that the court should not allow for the inclusion of evidence collected with violation of the law by public authority, because the state authorities do not have the constitutional right to a fair trial to justify the violation. Furthermore, this method allows the courts to settle a collision of values based on the axiology contained in the norms of the Polish Constitution.