Abstract

Discontinuation of the electronic proceedings by writ of payment at the request of the claimant submitted in a statement of claim in the event of the occurrence of some law-specified circumstances barring the issuance of a writ of payment or triggering its ex officio annulment and referral of the case to the competent court of general jurisdiction, may be perceived as the most important innovation in these proceedings introduced to the Polish Code of Civil Procedure under the Act of 07.10.2015 r. amending the Civil Code, the Code of Civil Procedure and some other statutes. In this paper (Part 1 of the article on the issue in question), the author undertakes to explore basic issues related to the abovementioned institution, i.e. its origins, purpose (function) as well as its scope of application and legal nature. The article presents the key issues of interpretation that may arise in connection with the application of the recently enacted provisions in judicial practice as well as evaluates the newly introduced regulation including the formulation of de lege ferenda remarks aimed at the improvement of these provisions. The author concludes that despite some striking similarities between the request of the claimant to discontinue the proceedings contingent upon the occurrence of the circumstances specified in Art. 50533 and Art. 50534 of the Code of Civil Procedure compared to the withdrawal of the claim (which constitutes a basic unilateral procedural act of a party to terminate the proceedings without court deciding on the merits of the case), the former is distinct in its legal nature (mainly due to its conditionality) and therefore shall not be perceived merely as a specific type of the withdrawal of the claim.