Negative premises for aggregate sentence under Article 85 § 4 of the Polish Criminal Code

Abstract

This paper touches upon an important issue in practical application of law, i.e. aggregate sentence under the laws changed during the great reform of criminal law and criminal procedure. An often highlighted aspect of the said issue is the normative nature of the construct of the aggregate sentence, whose correct theoretical understanding, in the author’s opinion, helps in solving some of the problems with interpretation encountered by scholars. A particularly important issue raised within that area is the negative premise contemplated in Article 85 § 4 of the Polish Criminal Code, and especially the said provision of law, making the wording of the norm requiring the imposition of an aggregate sentence more adequate. Clear highlighting of statutory decoding of the legal definition of the term “conviction” used in Article 114a CC and the importance of the implication of this drafting technique, allows the author to make a clear statement as to the possibility of combining the sentences passed in countries that are not the EU members.