Becoming Symbolic

Some Remarks on the Judicial Rewriting of the Offence of Animal Abuse in Poland

Bibliographic Data

ID6429038
AuthorsMarek Suska (0000-0002-0950-5588, corresponding author)
Year2024
Volume38
Issue4
Pages1271-1289
Publication date2024-09-11
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Journal for the Semiotics of Law - Revue internationale de Sémiotique juridique (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0952-8059 • E-ISSN: 1572-8722
PublisherSpringer Science+Business Media (PUBLISHER • DE)
DOI10.1007/s11196-024-10204-5
OpenAlexW4402452020
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited28

The discussion on symbolic legislation unveils intriguing relationships between law and politics. However, the abundance of observations often results in conceptual chaos and raises numerous problematic questions. These inquiries revolve around the scope of the concept of symbolic legislation (is it a marginal or universal phenomenon in the legal system?), as well as the circumstances determining whether a provision or legal act is classified as symbolic legislation. Of particular interest is the question of whether a provision or legal act can “become symbolic” over time. The research goal of this study is to analyse the process of “becoming symbolic” and derive conclusions that deepen the understanding of the phenomenon of symbolic legislation. This study organises the current discussion on symbolic legislation, focusing on a case study of the structure of the crime of animal abuse in the Polish Animal Protection Act. The author illustrates how certain elements of this provision “became symbolic,” demonstrating that this process is largely independent of the motives of the legislators. In conclusion, the author emphasises the importance of consistently separating the sphere of motives from the sphere of effects in the discussion on symbolic legislation. Furthermore, the author highlights the static nature of the former and the dynamic nature of the latter

Criminology · Political science · Programming language · Rewriting · Sociology · Computer Science · European and International Law Studies · Jury Decision Making Processes · Law · Law in Society and Culture

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