The theory of rational legislator and social assistance law. Remarks on the way of determination of commune’s territorial jurisdiction in cases regarding granting social benefits to the homeless

Abstract

The article’s aim is to analyse the legal regulation of article 101 of the Social Assistance Act of 12th March 2004. The mentioned article sets out the rules of the commune’s territorial jurisdiction determination in cases regarding homeless people from the point of view of the theory of rational legislator. The interest presented in this issue in the literature, in practice, by the Polish Ombudsman, and the fact that it is a subject of many decisions of administrative courts shows its importance. The mentioned article of the Social Assistance Act creates a legal fiction whose aim is to ensure that every homeless person shall have access to social assistance benefits. However, it causes many problems in its implementation during the course of administrative procedures. They result in many jurisdiction conflicts between communes. This legal rule of determination of communes’ territorial jurisdiction in cases regarding the homeless has an impact on the legal situation of homeless people, who apply for a given benefit from the social assistance system to the commune where they current-ly reside while in fact, they have the place of their last registered residence in a different commune. Legal and empirical methodologies of research were applied in the article.