Department of Civil Law

Research staff:

Prof. Ewa Bagińska, (Head of the Department) [e-mail]

Assoc. Prof. dr hab. Sylwia Majkowska-Szulc, DSc [e-mail]

Assoc. Prof. Jacek Wiewiorowski, DSc [e-mail]

Assoc. Prof. Dorota Maśniak, DSc [e-mail]

Assoc. Prof. Anna Sylwestrzak, DSc [e-mail]

Assoc. Prof. Arkadiusz Wowerka, DSc [e-mail]

Izabela Adrych-Brzezińska, PhD [e-mail]

Krzysztof Czub, PhD [e-mail]

Beata J. Kowalczyk, PhD [e-mail]

Maja Maciejewska-Szałas, PhD [e-mail]

Bartosz Szolc-Nartowski PhD [e-mail]

Paulina Wyszyńska-Ślufińska, PhD [e-mail]

Hanna Czerwińska MA [e-mail]

Kinga Konieczna, MA [e-mail]

Mateusz Kosmol, MA [e-mail]

Barbara Kubić-Marlewska, MA [e-mail]

Dawid Rogoziński, MA [e-mail]

Katarzyna Wałdoch, MA [e-mail]

Department secretary:

Katarzyna Wylot, MA

e-mail: sekretariat04@prawo.ug.edu.pl

Scientific development and research of the Department
on the 50th Anniversary of the Faculty of Law and Administration (1970-2020)

At the Faculty of Law and Administration of the University of Gdańsk, the research interests of civil lawyers have always been broad and covered the whole area of this branch of law. In the first three decades of its existence, until 1996, research in the Department of Civil Law (KPC) was conducted under the direction of professor Alicja Kędzierska- Cieślak. From 1997, when professor Tomasz Sokołowski took over the chair, the scientific work focused on the issues of general contract law, family law, general civil and probate law, and, to a lesser extent, the specific part of obligations[1]. The Department also practiced Roman law under the supervision of professor Władysław Rozwadowski. [2] After 2007, i.e. following the appointment of professor Ewa Bagińska (who took over the chair in 2008), the research area has expanded significantly to contract law, in particular to fundamental problems of civil liability and tort law. In the second decade of the 2000s, an in-depth analysis of the institutions of substantive law was developed and attention was given to modern and detailed research fields, including civil medical law, consumer law, intellectual property law, and insurance law. Finally, there was a significant internationalisation of scientific reflection through broad references to European and American civil law. Today, the Department of Civil Law is becoming an increasingly important centre for the study of comparative civil law, and the academic work it produces has influenced the study of civil law in Poland and abroad.

For several decades, the Department of Civil Law has been conducting scientific research on the fundamental and topical problems of all departments of civil law, in particular property law, obligations, family law, medical law, intellectual property law, insurance and European private law. The publications of the staff are cited in Polish and foreign literature, contribute to the development of the doctrine of law and are significant for judicial decisions.

Outside the theoretical layer, the work of the Department is also oriented towards the practice of current law.

Openness and sensitivity to foreign solutions are valuable both in the context of individual attitudes towards the legal system and in contributing to the development of local science. The KPC maintains constant scientific contacts with several university centres in Europe. The growing position of the Department of Civil Law in the scientific community in Poland and abroad is evidenced by the organisation of two important scientific events in 2019. On the 23^rd and the 24^th of May 2019, another periodic conference meeting was held within the framework of the academic Civil Code Project at the UG Faculty of Law and Administration. From the 10^th to the 12^th of October 2019, KPC and the Faculty hosted experts from the European Group Tort Law, who took part in a working meeting and the Civil liability and new technologies international conference.

The impact of the most significant effects of the research of KPC staff on the civil law science is listed in the following notes according to the traditionally accepted sequence of civil law departments (general civil law, substantive law, contract law – including tort and consumer contract law, family and welfare law, intellectual property law, insurance law, medical law). Within this framework, an effort was made to preserve the chronological order.

I. Civil Law – general part

Three Ph.D. dissertations written at the Department in the past decade have been part of the research into the institutions of general civil law. Grzegorz Karaszewski obtained his Ph.D. degree in 2010, based on the dissertation titled Umocowania niegasnące ze śmiercią mocodawcy w polskim prawie cywilnym (supervisor: W. Rozwadowski). Maja Maciejewska-Szałas, defended her thesis titled: Zwykła forma pisemna czynności prawnych i równoważna jej forma elektroniczna. Studium prawnoporównawcze (supervisor: T. Sokołowski), which she subsequently published in 2012 under the title Forma pisemna i elektroniczna czynności prawnych. Studium prawnoporównawcze (Warszawa 2014). The author considered that, under the Polish civil code (k.c.), a better solution would be to use the phrase that an electronic signature serves as a method of authenticating a declaration of will (instead of an "electronic form"). She also called for a third type of electronic signature – qualified – that would allow for, e.g. greater transparency and shortening of the content of the provisions; she pointed out the need to modify article. 78 § 2 k.c. and art. 7 (2) of the Banking Law Act.

The monograph entitled: Ciężar dowodu w prawie i procesie cywilnym (Warszawa 2015) was published on the basis of a Ph.D. dissertation by Izabela Adrych-Brzezińska, defended in 2014 (supervisor: E. Bagińska). The work covers the concept of the burden of proof in both material and formal sense, the history of the development of the rules of the burden of proof starting with Roman law, modern rules on the distribution of the burden of proof between parties, constructions affecting the rule expressed in art. 6 k.c. ("inverted" burden of proof, prima facie rules of proof, the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur, the theory of lost opportunity, the ability of the court to estimate the extent of damages), legal and factual presumptions, as well as procedural issues. The most original element of the study is the definition and analysis of the concept of the "standard of proof", which is presented from a legal and comparative perspective. Both pre-war and later literature lacked a monograph on the burden of proof from a substantive perspective. The monograph of I. Adrych-Brzezińska filled this gap in the Polish doctrine, and in addition, due to the comparative approach, allowed a more thorough assessment of the norms adopted in Polish law and the position of the Polish judicature.

Within this thread, one should also mention the creation of the collective work by many members of the Department, i.e. Leksykon prawa cywilnego – część ogólna, ed. E. Bagińska, Leksykony C. H. BECK (Warszawa 2011), which serves as an auxiliary teaching material for students in various fields of study.

II. Property rights

One of the main and long-standing areas of interest in the Department is property law. Publications by Department members in this area have been present in the publishing market and seen in the doctrine and practice for years. Starting from the most recent, one should note the scientific research undertaken by Adam Jedliński in his doctoral dissertation entitled: Umowne nabycie własnościowego prawa do lokalu (Gdańsk, 1985), written under the supervision of A. Kędzierska-Cieślak, in which pioneering studies on the essence of cooperative rights to the premises were carried out, and which subsequently resulted in well-known articles[3]. Among the more recent achievements of the Department's staff, we should also note T. Sokołowski's script Prawo rzeczowe dla ekonomistów, Poznań, 2000, which, due to its clear presentation of matter using numerous diagrams and tables, is still used by students of administration students at the Faculty of Law and Administration as one of the sources recommended to them.

In the last five years, there have been two habilitation dissertations, which gave rise to awarding the habilitated doctor degree in legal sciences (in 2015) to Anna Sylwestrzak and, in 2016, to Małgorzata Balwicka-Szczyrba. Moreover, in 2016, Kamil Jędrej defended his Ph.D. dissertation titled: Nieruchomość wspólna – konstrukcja prawna (supervisor: E. Bagińska).

In particular, the important contribution of habilitation monographs to the development of the science of property law should be highlighted. In the case of a monograph by A. Sylwestrzak entitled: Użytkowanie. Konstrukcja prawna (Warszawa 2013) we are dealing with the first study of its kind in Polish law on the right of use. It presents a detailed analysis of all the structural elements of law, using a broad comparative legal framework, which gave rise to numerous conclusions on interpretation and proposals for reform of the current regulations. Although it has a long tradition in the Polish legal system, it is currently used relatively rarely, and its popularisation would require the modernisation of certain solutions to adapt them to changing socio-economic relations, and in particular to make it a marketable law, which would encourage more frequent adoption in practice. The work shows that it would also be useful to normalise the issues of doubt by proposing a course of legislative work on the use of shared ownership, the use of rights, and in particular, claims, the formulation of the user's right to rebuild buildings on the used land, the introduction of a model of foreign legislation, the maximum term of use for a legal person, which would prevent the owner's rights being permanently burdened and, in the event of the destruction of the object of use, the introduction of a mechanism for the transfer of that right to surrogates of the lost object. Giving the owner the option of asking the court to remove the use and replace it with an annuity should be considered.

The monograph by M. Balwicka-Szczyrba entitled: Korzystanie z nieruchomości przez przedsiębiorców przesyłowych – właścicieli urządzeń przesyłowych (Warszawa 2015) presents in an original, comprehensive and multi-faceted way the problem of legal titles for real estate, which can be acquired by transmission entrepreneurs-owners of transmission equipment, as well as the problem of the use of real estate without such title. The author claims that the binding regulation in art.  49 k.c. i 305¹ – 305⁴ k.c. is not optimal and possible ways to amend it have been proposed. A detailed analysis of the problem of the lack of legal title to the property by the operators using it, which is an undesirable phenomenon in the trade, has therefore identified the steps for the gradual reduction and eventual elimination of this phenomenon. In addition, the claims which may be raised against transmission operators – owners of transmission equipment using property without legal title were presented and the concept of transmission equipment and its ownership was analysed.

Recent publications on legal issues have taken the form of legal commentaries. In the first of these, Sąsiedztwo nieruchomości. Komentarz by M. Balwicka-Szczyrba, G. Karaszewski and A. Sylwestrzak (Warszawa 2014) an in-depth analysis of the regulations in the area of the wider neighbourhood was carried out; apart from the provisions of the law of the neighbourhood sensu stricto (Dział II Tytuł I Księgi drugiej k.c.), the problems of land servitude and non-tax regulations contained in the law on the ownership of premises, the law on housing cooperatives and the law on the protection of tenants' rights were taken into account. In another commentary by M. Balwicka-Szczyrba, G. Karaszewski, A. Stępień-Sporek and A. Sylwestrzak entitled: Management of common assets edited by M. Balwicka-Szczyrba (Warszawa 2016) the legal problem is represented in terms of the consideration of the management of common property by co-owners, the management of common property according to the act on property ownership and the management of common property in the act on housing cooperatives. Finally, it should be noted that M. Balwicka-Szczyrba and A. Sylwestrzak are co-authors of the work titled Kodeks cywilny. Komentarz. Tom II. Własność i inne prawa rzeczowe (art. 126-352) eds. M. Habdas and M. Frasa (Warszawa 2018), in which they developed comments on general provisions on limited substantive rights (Art. 244-251 k.c.).

The most recent research in the field of property rights focuses on the problem of limited property rights.[4]

III. Contract law – tort law, civil liability law

Many studies, articles, and other scholarly works, as well as degree papers, have been published in the Department in this extensive civil law section. An early article by A. Kędzierska-Cieślakowa entitled Zagadnienie funkcji prawa cywilnego w związku z unormowaniem odszkodowania w ustawodawstwie polskim (in:) Odpowiedzialność cywilna za wyrządzenie szkody. Zagadnienia wybrane, edited by Grzybowski S., Warszawa 1969, which is still cited today in the doctrine, marks the beginnings of the Department. 

In 2007, M. Balwicka-Szczyrba defended her Ph.D. thesis entitled: Szkoda przyszła deliktowa na osobie – problematyka przedawnienia roszczeń odszkodowawczych (supervisor T. Sokołowski). This work was published as Przedawnienie roszczeń z tytułu odpowiedzialności deliktowej za szkody przyszłe na osobie (Poznań 2008). The book deals with the subject of the statute of limitations from a non-traditional perspective, i.e. civil law regulation, with an extension to atomic law, but also constitutional law, and the analysis took on great importance in the context of the constitutional amendment of art. 442 of the Civil Code enforced by the Constitutional Tribunal. In 2007, the author claimed that the limitation of the institution of the suspension of the statute of limitations on minors to claims relating to bodily injury or health disorder is illegitimate, as is the exclusion of the suspension of the statute of limitations on product liability.

Tort law, studied in the comparative legal dimension, is a fundamental research direction in the more than two decades of scientific work of Ewa Bagińska. Both of the author's monographs published before obtaining the habilitated doctor degree (Odpowiedzialność za produkt w USA, Toruń 2000, and Odpowiedzialność odszkodowawcza za wykonywanie władzy publicznej, Warszawa 2006) are recognised by Polish science and are often cited in doctrinal discussions on product liability and liability for torts of public authority, as well as used by judges when deciding cases for damages caused by public authority. This outstanding habilitation thesis was updated and developed in a joint publication (co-author J. Parchomiuk) entitled: System Prawa Administracyjnego edited by R. Hauser, Z. Niewiadomski, A. Wróbel, Vol. 12 Odpowiedzialność odszkodowawcza w administracji (1^st edition in 2010, 2^nd edition in 2016). In addition, E. Bagińska has published several studies, articles, commentaries, and reviews in Poland and abroad, taking a position on many controversial issues. In particular, she defends a view with a broad understanding of the condition of unlawfulness in line with art. 417 of the Civil Code and on the usefulness of the concept of relative lawfulness – especially in cases of the so-called normative unlawfulness. This view has been adopted by some members of the judicature. In addition, E. Bagińska developed and presented some pioneering issues in Polish doctrine, including e.g. liability in connection with the use of genetically modified organisms in line with Polish law, theoretical justification for claims for redress for wrongful birth and wrongful conception in European legislation[5], state liability for medical damages in American law, liability for loss of chance of survival or cure, American compensation, the so-called tobacco cases in Europe. An important trend in E. Bagińska's work is the premises of civil liability, in particular the problems of property damage (its divisibility, extent and how to remedy it), compensation for harm, causation, as well as new concepts and trends of tort liability in Poland and abroad[6]. The culmination of years of research into modern trends in compensation liability worldwide is the so-called. professorial monograph titled: Odpowiedzialność deliktowa w razie niepewności związku przyczynowego. Studium prawnoporównawcze (Toruń 2013), recognised by reviewers as one of the best works in the field of compensation law in the Polish study of private law. It addresses the question of causation in the context of the impact of its uncertainty and influence on liability. In particular, the analysis carried out concerns: the material and procedural aspects of the uncertainty of the cause of the damage under the tort liability regime, the burden and standard of its demonstration in a process, liability in the event of alternative causality, liability on the basis of the theory of lost opportunity and the theory of partial liability. The author raised the issue of attribution and the extent of liability in a situation of uncertainty as to the cause of harm, a new notion in Polish civil law gaining practical significance. In the conclusion of the monograph, the author has formulated proposals for legislation that could improve the unsatisfactory state of our law in this regard (e.g., on the regulation of compensation for lost opportunities, competitive and minimal causality). Innovative concepts and considerations about causation, harm, and the distribution of the burden of proof have broader implications, including for contractual liability.

These research achievements have an impact not only on the science of law but also on the shape of future normative regulations. Ewa Bagińska participated in teams of the Codification Commission on consumer contracts and tort cases from 2007 to 2010 and was a member of that Commission in its last, interrupted, term (2015)[7]. In addition, as a member of the European Group on Tort Law, she also co-authored the Principles of European Tort Law of 2004, which are increasingly influential on the content of new civil codifications and reforms in Europe.[8]

The cooperation with the European Centre of Tort and Insurance Law (ECTIL) in Vienna (E. Bagińska, I. Adrych-Brzezińska) is a significant current development at the Department. Its measurable effects are e.g. annual reports on Polish compensation law (published in the Yearbook of European Tort Law) and reports in the Digest of European Tort Law[9] project. They are published by European publishers (Springer-Verlag, de Gruyter Berlin, Intersentia).

It is worth to highlight that the current staff of the Department use the comparative law method extensively in their research, and some of their works are devoted exclusively to foreign law. In addition to the above-mentioned works, attention should be paid to the works of I. Adrych Brzezińska, especially concerning the institution of criminal compensation in the light of the functions of civil law, as well as the  book by M. Maciejewska-Szałas, articles by P. Wyszyńska-Ślufińska (on English law), M. Kosmola (on German and Austrian law) and B. Marlewska (on French law).

Of the many works published abroad in recent years, the following collective monograph edited by E. Bagińska is noteworthy: Damages for Violations of Human Rights. A Comparative Study of Domestic Legal Systems. Series Title: Ius Comparatum - Global Studies in Comparative Law, Vol. 9, Springer Verlag 2016 (the result of a research grant from the NCN), on the occasion of which the chair organised the first ever international conference on Damages for violations of human rights – domestic, comparative and international perspectives (22-23 October 2015).

The results of research undertaken by the staff of the Department in the framework of the implementation of the joint undertaking Rozwój Innowacji Drogowych (RID) in the years 2016-2018 financed by the National Centre for Research and Development and the General Directorate for National Roads and Motorways (GDDKiA), titled: Wpływ czasu i warunków eksploatacyjnych na trwałość i funkcjonalność elementów bezpieczeństwa ruchu drogowego are of theoretical and implementation nature. This grant was obtained by a consortium composed of: Gdańsk University of Technology (Leader), the Research Institute of Roads and Bridges, Motor Transport Institute, the Institute of Precision Mechanics, the University of Gdańsk. The project included research that can be used to develop and modernize the processes carried out in GDDKiA's core business, which, under the public roads act, is the development of the road network and maintenance and expansion of existing national roads. The UG Department of Civil Law has been tasked with developing methods to manage liability for damage related to road safety devices.  It has developed guidelines on the content of GDDKiA agreements with road infrastructure operators. A number of articles have also been written, including comparative law studies, on the liability of road managers and the insurance mechanisms involved.

IV. Contract law - consumer law

The current research in the field of consumer protection law is represented by the works of E. Bagińska and M. Maciejewska-Szałas. Articles by E. Bagińska on the theoretical aspects of consumer contracts[10] were appreciated by academia, while more recent studies note the concept of regulating consumer contracts in the new civil code[11].  This article was created in connection with the participation of E. Bagińska in the work of the Civil Code Academic Project (Akademicki Projekt Kodeksu Cywilnego). The issue of distance and off-premises contracts has been explored and explained many times by dr M. Maciejewska-Szałas[12].

A doctoral dissertation by Hanna Misiak entitled Postępowania grupowe w sprawach konsumenckich. Studium prawnoporównawcze, was written in the framework of the international agreement between the UG and the University of Pisa under the supervision of two promoters, E. Bagińska and E. Bargelli (the work was defended in September 2019). The author presented a pioneering comparative analysis of Polish, Italian, and Belgian group procedure regulation in the context of legislative work carried out in the European Union. In addition, it assessed the functioning of current and planned solutions in selected countries and examined the scope of optimal regulation of group proceedings, its essential elements, and their compatibility with the planned reform of consumer protection law in EU legislation. The dissertation will be published by the Gdańsk University Press.

V. Family and welfare law

Family law is one of the leading research currents of the Department of Civil Law, and its leading representative is Anna Sylwestrzak. In the early 2000s, two doctoral dissertations under the supervision of T. Sokołowski were written in the Department: by Anita Lutkiewicz-Rucińska titled Odpowiedzialność majątkiem wspólnym małżonków na podstawie art. 41 k.r.o. (2001), and by Anna Sylwestrzak entitled Skutki prawne separacji małżonków (2005). These dissertations were subsequently published as scientific monographs. The monograph by A. Lutkiewicz-Rucińska (Odpowiedzialność majątkiem wspólnym za zobowiązania cywilnoprawne współmałżonka, Bydgoszcz-Gdańsk, 2003) was a comprehensive analysis of the legal situation of the spouses in terms of liability in the legal state at the time; it subsequently gave rise to a number of valuable conclusions concerning the amendment of Art. 41 k.r.o. in the article Uwagi do projektu zmiany małżeńskiego prawa majątkowego (Kwartalnik Prawa Prywatnego, 2001, No. 1). The monograph by A. Sylwestrzak (Skutki prawne separacji małżonków, Warszawa 2007). on the legal consequences of separation was an original work, sought after because it concerned the then-new institution of separation of spouses. A number of conclusions  de lege lata contributed to the development of a stable interpretation of the  k.r.o rules about separation in later years.

            Among the publications of the KPC staff from that period it is worth to note the work of T. Sokołowski entitled Problematyka AIDS w świetle prawa rodzinnego (Poznań 2000), which addressed the problem of the influence of infectious disease on family relations, which had not been widely seen in the literature until then, and - by the same author – the many times revised textbook entitled Prawo rodzinne. Zarys wykładu (Poznań, 2008) which to this day serves as the primary source for the study of Family Law at the law studies at the UG Faculty of Law and Administration. Because of its unusual approach to the subject and original concepts, it is a widely cited work in the doctrine.

Another publication achievement within the family law section is the co-authorship of A. Sylwestrzak and A. Lutkiewicz-Rucińska in the commentary to K.r.o. (Kodeks rodzinny i opiekuńczy. Komentarz, ed. H. Dolecki and T. Sokołowski, Warszawa, 2010. – 1^st edition Warszawa, 2013 – 2^nd edition), in which A. Sylwestrzak prepared commentaries on the provisions on separation, the name of the child and the recognition of paternity, while A. Lutkiewicz-Rucińska prepared commentaries on parts of the provisions on the matrimonial legal system. This commentary is a work valued in the doctrine, the success of which also includes the original contributions of the Department staff; e.g. in the form of A. Sylwesterzak's proposal of a new concept of the legal construction of the recognition of fatherhood as an act of knowledge, for whose effectiveness it is necessary to make two equivalent statements: a mother and a man acknowledging fatherhood.

            Among the numerous article publications, which are a valuable contribution to the study of family law, it is worth pointing out the articles by A. Sylwestrzak: Obowiązki dziecka wobec rodziców, RPEiS 2001, No. 3, Separacja w prawie włoskim, KPP, 2004, No. 3 and Małoletni pełnomocnik, PS, 2012, No. 7-8; article by M. Balwicka-Szczyrba, Pięciodniowy termin z art. 8 § 3 k.r.o. (in:) Przesłanki konieczne zawarcia małżeństwa. Próba systematyzacji zagadnienia w aspekcie wymogów formy religijnej, ed. A. Tuni, Lublin, 2011 and by A. Lutkiewicz-Rucińska Sprzeciw małżonka wobec zamierzonej przez drugiego małżonka czynności zarządu majątkiem wspólnym (part 1 & 2), Rodzina i Prawo, 2006, No. 3 and 2007, No. 1. These articles, being the primary sources of the topics covered in them, formed the basis for further research in these areas; they are well known and cited in the literature.[13]

VI. Intellectual property law

The research area covering copyright and industrial property law is represented by Krzysztof Czub. His notable doctoral dissertation (defence in 2010, supervisor E. Baginska) was published under the title Prawa osobiste twórców dóbr niematerialnych: zagadnienia konstrukcyjne (Warszawa 2011). The author formulated the concept of personal rights common to all creators of intangible goods, and also addressed many issues hitherto only indicated in the Polish doctrine, such as ghostwriting and speechwriting, which he developed in subsequent articles. Krzysztof Czub has also written numerous articles on the most current and important issues both theoretical and practical[14], as well as the original textbook Prawo własności intelektualnej (Wolters Kluwer 2016).

From the latest developments, it is worth pointing out that in 2019, a doctoral student, Jacek Markowski, defended his doctoral dissertation titled Autorskie prawa osobiste twórców gier komputerowych (under the supervision of E. Bagińska and K. Czub).

VII. Medical law

The most recent research current at the Department includes medical law. Ewa Bagińska is co–author of the only monograph in English covering Polish medical law, updated several times (Medical Law – Poland, Kluwer Law International, 1^st edition in 2011, 4^th edition in 2013), as well as a continuously updated study on the construction and characteristics of contracts for the provision of health services concluded between medical entities and the National Health Service (in: System Prawa Prywatnego, Vol. 9. Umowy nienazwane, ed. W. Katner, 3^rd edition in 2018), numerous chapters and articles on medical event compensation, medical error liability, and patient rights protection, and, finally, co-author of Komentarz do Ustawy o prawach pacjenta i Rzeczniku Praw Pacjenta ed. by M. Nesterowicz (IPOZ, 2009). In turn, I. Adrych-Brzezińska’s articles and commentaries deal with the burden of proof in medical processes, medically assisted procreation[15] and the right to consent to a medical procedure[16].  Both of these authors co-authored (with several others from other academic institutions) a prestigious work: Wielka encyklopedia prawa: Vol. 10, Prawo medyczne edited by Ewa Bagińska, 2016, published by the Ubi societas, ibi ius, under the patronage of the President of the Republic of Poland.

VIII. Insurance law

In recent years, due to the impact of insurance on the development of indemnity law in the KPC, research has been undertaken into selected aspects of economic insurance. For more than 20 years, Dorota Maśniak has been conducting research on legal conditions concerning the use of insurance in environmental protection.  She is author of the monograph Ubezpieczenia ekologiczne (Kraków 2003), which, despite the passage of fifteen years, remains the only comprehensive item on environmental insurance in the national legal doctrine. The results of further research in this area are scientific articles [17]and participation in research projects[18]. The search for opportunities for the development of insurance law to address social problems has also led to research on disaster insurance[19] (determined by climate change) and communication (determined by technological development).  The monograph Transgraniczny system ochrony ofiar wypadków drogowych. Studium prawnofinansowe, Warszawa 2010 (habilitation dissertation)  [20] is considered to be the most important item in D. Maśniak's work concerning the role of insurance in the protection of road accident victims. The economisation of EU law has forced another direction of research into the paradigm shift of insurance customer protection[21] and the search for the place of insurance law in the study of law[22]. The dynamic development of the insurance market justifies the need for research on the legal determinants of the relationship between insurance market participants (insurers and insurance intermediaries)[23] and other traders, including, in particular, banks[24]. From the point of view of the impact of science on practice, attention should be paid to subsequent editions of the commentary on the act on compulsory insurance, the Insurance Guarantee Fund, and the Polish Office of Motor Insurers (in:) Prawo ubezpieczeń gospodarczych. Komentarz, Vol. 1, Komentarz do przepisów prawnych o funkcjonowaniu rynku ubezpieczeń, Warszawa 2010.

In addition, E. Bagińska and P. Wyszyńska-Slufińska examine the current problems of insurance liability[25], design issues[26], and deal with the issues of consumer insurance law[27]. The views expressed in these works have a real impact on Supreme Court jurisprudence[28].