Silesian Law Café
We all heard about court, statute, litigation, and fairness; it’s the stuff every lawyer learns in class. But what about a supermajority in constitutional courts? The dialogical concept of legal interpretation? Or how we can effectively criminalize behaviors that infringe on children’s rights?
If these cutting-edge questions spark your curiosity, tune into Silesian Law Café!
Piotr Buława, PhD will sit down directly with the minds shaping the future of legal thought at the Faculty of Law and Administration – experts who will share their knowledge and experience. Instead of just talking about the faculty, we’re talking with the people behind it.
Every episode, join us for unscripted, deep-dive conversations with our professors, brilliant students, and guest experts as we explore their research and unique perspectives.
Photo by: Małgorzata Dymowska
Piotr Buława is an assistant professor in financial and tax law. His research focuses on international tax law, comparative law and tax policy.
Piotr Buława has been living and working in Katowice for 3 years. He is a fan of history and economics. What he enjoys most is spending time chatting or cooking.
More about Piotr Buława: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5368-1020
Episode 1 – Supermajority
Although most courts resolve their constitutional questions by a simple majority, this is not always the case. History records a few cases in which supermajority models have been developed, requiring more than a simple majority to invalidate legislation. The legal construction, political context, and constitutional implications of these models are not obvious and are worth researching Mauro Arturo Rivera León, PhD, DLitt at the Faculty of Law and Administration in Katowice, has taken up this challenge and is our guest on the first episode. I will be talking to him about this issue, as well as his new research project, ‘constitutional Zugzwang’, and his passion for literature.
M.A. Rivera León, Supermajorities in Constitutional Courts, London 2024, is available free at: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003458272
Listen to the full conversation below:
Episode 2 – Interpretation of law in Ireland and beyond
The interpretation of law is necessary. This is relevant not only to obscure or ambiguous legal provisions, but also to all provisions since the law, social conditions, and technology are constantly changing. In this episode, I talk to Professor Gerard Hogan, Judge in the Supreme Court of Ireland and Dr Paulina Konca, an assistant professor at our Faculty, about the Irish experience of legal interpretation. We discuss how Irish courts have interpreted words such as ‘home’, ’mother, and ‘marriage’ in the context of modern-day realities. We also focus on Dr Konca’s recent article on the Irish Interpretation Act 2005. This Act governs the rules of legal interpretation in Ireland.
P. Konca, The Interpretation Act 2005: Twenty Years Later, The Irish Jurist 2026/74, pp. 108-133, is available free at: http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.6983562
Listen to the full conversation below: