Pewność i jakość prawa a starorzymskie i współczesne czynniki prawotwórcze w Polsce

This publication analyzes three legislative factors functioning in Roman law, i.e., the activity of a praetor – creating law through appropriate handling of processing means and sanctions, jurisprudence – whose opinions by ius publice respondendi, had the force of law in force, and the emperor – who, as the supreme judge, issued decrees which were binding interpretations of the law as well as rescripts, which were replies to individual inquiries of citizens on legal matters. The aim of this analysis is to find their modern counterparts. The content of the article includes selected forms of law-making activity of these entities, which will be juxtaposed with contemporary activities of the judiciary which creates “precedents”, interprets and subsides the law, as well as elected officials who prepared binding interpretations of the law, e.g., within the tax law and the Court of Justice of the European Union which issued rescripts and decrees equivalent to the activity undertaken by the emperor in Roman law. As a result, an attempt is made to demonstrate whether, and if so, to what extent, their activities affect the quality and reliability of the law formed currently.