Law in force on a specific date in a Polish law thesis

Published: 13.09.2026 Updated: 08.11.2026 About 6 minutes to read

Two printouts marked with navy and orange tabs beside a ruler — Comparing two versions of a source document.

You have drafted a law master's thesis chapter at a university in Poland. It cites the Polish Labour Code and discusses an event in early April 2023. Your footnote points to a later consolidated text, but your paragraph gives the date the amendment was published. How can you tell whether the provision in the paragraph was in force on the day of the event?

Start with the date your claim refers to. Identify the provision, find the amending act and check the date that particular change took effect. Read the transitional provisions too. Keep a note next to your paragraph with the date, the version of the provision and the source for each finding.

This guide covers editing an existing draft in the field of Law. For help building the argument, see A master's thesis in law – how to build a legal analysis.

Separate the date of analysis, publication and entry into force

A historical research question may concern an earlier event. If you are describing the rules in force when you finish checking the chapter, state that date. For a comparison, give both dates and make clear which claims relate to each one. The day you downloaded the PDF is a separate detail.

Find the act's record. Search ELI or ISAP by the act's title or its reference in the Polish Journal of Laws (Dziennik Ustaw). Note the article, paragraph, subsection or point cited in your draft. Check whether it had the same number and scope at the time.
Open the published text of the amending act. Read the point that changes the provision. Look for that point in the entry-into-force clause and check for an exception to the general date.
Reconstruct the earlier version. An officially published consolidated text (tekst jednolity) incorporates the amendments covered by that publication. An editorially updated text (tekst ujednolicony) is a reading aid. To reconstruct earlier wording, use the relevant base text, the amending acts and their effective dates. If several changes fall within your period, trace each one that affected the provision.

Worked example: remote work under the Polish Labour Code in April 2023

Compare 6 and 10 April 2023 for two chapters of the Polish Labour Code. The dates demonstrate the method. The example is limited to the changes in the amending act.

6 February 2023. The Act of 1 December 2022 was published in the Journal of Laws (Dz.U. 2023, item 240). Article 1 point 2(a) repeals Chapter IIb on telework. Point 2(b) adds Chapter IIc on remote work, beginning with Article 67¹⁸.
21 February 2023. This is the general entry-into-force date shown in the ELI record. Article 21 lists Article 1 point 2 and Article 18 among the exceptions. ELI gives 7 April 2023 as the date for those provisions.
6 April 2023. The change to the chapters had yet to take effect. Chapter IIb still contained the Labour Code's telework provisions. You can find them in the consolidated text published as Dz.U. 2022, item 1510.
10 April 2023. Chapter IIc was already in force. The later consolidated text (Dz.U. 2023, item 1465) makes the new wording easy to find. The amending act establishes when the change took effect.

What should the note record? Provision: Part Two, Chapter IIc. Amending provision: Dz.U. 2023, item 240, Article 1 point 2(b). Effective date: 7 April 2023, Article 21. Transitional check: Article 18 of the same act. The note lets you retrace the source for each date.

Read the transitional provision separately

Once you have the effective date, check whether the example involves earlier telework under one of the arrangements in Article 18. Paragraph 1 covered terms set in an agreement or internal rules (former Article 67⁶ §§ 1-4 of the Labour Code). Paragraph 2 covered telework on an employee's request under former Article 67⁶ §§ 5-7. Article 18 allowed these arrangements to continue for up to six months from 7 April 2023. If your example concerns a particular situation after that date, say whether you know how the telework was arranged. You can establish when the Code changed even if you lack information to determine which rules governed the situation.

How to revise a sentence in your chapter

The draft sentence ‘From the act's publication in February 2023, the Labour Code regulated remote work under Chapter IIc and telework was no longer permitted’ has two problems. The first part assigns legal effect to the publication date. The second leaves out the situations covered by Article 18.

Chapter IIc of the Labour Code on remote work entered into force on 7 April 2023 under Article 1 point 2(b), read together with Article 21 of the amending act (Dz.U. 2023, item 240). For existing telework, Article 18 of that act temporarily preserved the arrangements it specified.

This conclusion covers the Labour Code amendment and its transitional rules. If your thesis discusses other legal bases for remote work before the amendment, address the relevant acts separately. Follow your university's citation guidance. See Polish legislation and case law in thesis references and footnotes: examples.

Check the paragraph against the footnote

Do you give the date for which your claim describes the law?
Have you recorded when the specific amendment took effect and checked any exceptions?
Have you checked who, what and which period the transitional provision covers?
Can readers trace the version you used from the paragraph and its footnote?

Questions about sources in a law thesis

Which statute details belong in a bibliography and footnote?

Record the act's type and full title, its date and publication reference, identifying the version used. A footnote to a specific provision should also include the relevant article, paragraph, section, point or letter. Check the details in the official ELI or ISAP record. Adapt element order and abbreviations to your thesis requirements. A website address alone does not identify the document sufficiently.

What should be described in the methodology of a law thesis based on statutes and case law?

The description should explain the problem you are analysing, the sources you use, and how you reach your conclusions. Depending on the topic, it may cover doctrinal legal analysis, comparative analysis, or legal historical analysis. Send the topic, plan, and the supervisor's or university's guidelines. I will help connect the description of the method with the work actually carried out, without adding research that was not conducted.

Official sources

Ustawa z dnia 26 czerwca 1974 r. – Kodeks pracy (Dz.U. z 1974 r. Nr 24, poz. 141). Karta aktu ELI: https://eli.gov.pl/eli/DU/1974/141/ogl
Obwieszczenie Marszałka Sejmu Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej z dnia 9 czerwca 2022 r. w sprawie ogłoszenia jednolitego tekstu ustawy – Kodeks pracy (Dz.U. z 2022 r. poz. 1510), dział drugi, rozdział IIb. https://eli.gov.pl/eli/DU/2022/1510/ogl
Ustawa z dnia 1 grudnia 2022 r. o zmianie ustawy – Kodeks pracy oraz niektórych innych ustaw (Dz.U. z 2023 r. poz. 240), art. 1 pkt 2, art. 18 i art. 21. https://eli.gov.pl/eli/DU/2023/240/ogl
Obwieszczenie Marszałka Sejmu Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej z dnia 16 czerwca 2023 r. w sprawie ogłoszenia jednolitego tekstu ustawy – Kodeks pracy (Dz.U. z 2023 r. poz. 1465), dział drugi, rozdział IIc. https://eli.gov.pl/eli/DU/2023/1465/ogl
Kancelaria Sejmu, ELI – European Legislation Identifier, dokumentacja oznaczeń wersji tekstu. https://eli.sejm.gov.pl/

Align the dates and sources in your chapter

Tell us which passages describe earlier law. Include your list of acts and your university's requirements. We can agree whether you need editing, footnote revision or both.

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