The purpose of this work is to analyze the functioning of extra-legal references (general clauses) in the context of the relation between the legislative policy of opening the legal system and judicial discretion in the field of law interpretation. This publication is based on the analysis of normative acts (in Poland and other selected European countries) and judicial decisions (mainly Polish). The result of the study is an attempt to settle the scope of judicial discretion in determining the content of reference criteria, the basis for their application, and their role in various stages of the process of judicial interpretation of the law. The book concludes with an attempt to construct a comparative and an optimization model of the functioning of general clauses in the legal order.

The book analyzes various aspects and examples of public administration discretionary power within the processes of law application. It presents a variety of factors that may affect the range of discretion as well as the influence on public administration's reasoning. The authors evaluate the complexity of forms and procedures for control of decision latitude that is exercised by the public administration and the society.

This book is devoted to various aspects of the potential of precedent as a legal category and the precedential practice as an element of the law in statutory legal orders. It presents a complex approach to the problems involved in precedential practice, including its theoretical consideration and generalization of the practical use of prior judicial decisions as precedents (based on the observation of Polish and European judicial practice) as well as comparative and prospective remarks dealing with the role of precedents in the statutory law order.