Contemporary Challenges for Polish Administrative Law Regarding Legal Forms of Public Administration’s Activities: Reflections on the Direction of Change in Developing New Legal Forms of Activity

Abstract

The article presents scientific research with a national scope on the Polish science of administrative law, specifically examining the current hybrid legal forms of activity. The administrative authority manifests itself through the legal forms used by public administration in performing public tasks. Although there is an increasing trend towards using non-authoritative (hybrid) legal forms, questions arise about their precise legal nature and how best to classify them within existing legal form groups. Redefining legal forms of public administration activity and updating the catalogue with newly created forms thus becomes a contemporary challenge for the science of administrative law. The article examines issues concerning hybrid legal forms of public administration and their direction of change and includes reflections on a perceived disorder not only conceptually but also in terms of classification within the legal forms of public administration, especially regarding new forms that raise questions about their legal nature within the doctrine. The question is also asked about the contemporary challenge for the science of administrative law concerning legal forms of public administration. As a result of the conducted research, a thesis was formulated that Polish science of administrative law faces the task of conducting a comprehensive analysis of all legal forms of public administration in legal circulation and making an appropriate classification. These efforts should serve to redefine the concept of legal forms of activity in public administration and to update their catalogue with new (non-authoritative/hybrid) legal forms.