Sąd rejonowy

Regional Court (Sąd Rejonowy) is the name given to the common court of the first instance in Poland. Regional Courts are called upon to hear a wide range of cases related to the scope of civil, criminal, family and guardianship, labour and social security, economic law.

Decisions of the Regional Courts are normally subject to appeal, typically to the District Courts (Sąd Okręgowy) for the area in which the regional court is located.

The Regional Courts are established and abolished by way of a regulation issued by the Minister of Justice in consultation with the National Council of the Judiciary in Poland. One Regional Court is established to have jurisdiction over one or more communes, however, under justified circumstances one Regional Court may be established to have jurisdiction over only one commune.

The Regional Court is composed of departments (depending on the needs) as follows:

civil department, criminal department, department for Families and Minors, department for labour and social security (in the regional courts located in the towns/cities where there are the district courts with the departments for labour and social security) land and mortgage department, commercial department (in the regional courts located in the towns/cities where there are the district courts) The Minister of Justice may issue a regulation on creating the out-of-town departments which are outside the main seat of the Regional Court and based in other towns/cities (e.g. 2013-2014, The Regional Court in Piła, VII Civil Department based in Złotów).

The Polish term "Sąd Rejonowy” is also translated into English as "The District Court”, and for that reason, many foreigners may feel confused about which term is supposed to define Polish "sąd rejonowy”. Many Polish translators think that the term "the district court” is the most appropriate term to render "sąd rejonowy” into English because the English word "district” denotes a small area of territory and the English word "regional” describes a large area of territory. For all that, the translators should follow an unwritten principle whereby they should first check whether there exists the website of a given court with an English version so as to find out how that court calls itself in English. If there is not any English version, the translators should go even further or "higher”, for instance, they should visit the website of the Polish Ministry of Justice where they find a definition of "regional court” which undeniably corresponds to the Polish definition of "sąd rejonowy”.