Prawo instrumentalne czy zinstrumentalizowane – kilka uwag o prawie III Rzeszy

Abstract

Law fulfils a regulatory function in social life. This is related to its instrumental nature. The exploitation of this potential assumes the form of instrumentalisation of the law. This phenomenon can take place both in the process of law-making, as well as its interpretation and application. Both positive and reprehensible forms of law instrumentalisation can be discerned. The purpose of this paper is to characterise the difference between the instrumental character of law and its instrumentalisation on the example of the law of the Third Reich. To this end, an analysis of the concepts of instrumentalisation of law, its instrumental character as well as its instrumental use will be carried out. This will allow for determining the boundaries between them and to relate them to the selected, specific law institutions of the Third Reich. In addition, the historical and legal background of the functioning of the indicated legal solutions will be presented. This will allow to determine the aforementioned differences between the analysed activities on the basis of examples from the practice of establishing, interpreting and applying law in history.

Keywords

• Instrumentalisation of law
• instrumental character of law
• Third Reich
• Nazi law
• Radbruch’s formula