Property is defined by the European Convention on Human Rights as a category of property rights subject to respect and protection (Art. 1, para. 1 of Protocol 1). The concept also covers a variety of property interests with a precise economic value. As a consequence of ownership transformations in Poland, aside from private property (Art. 20 of the Constitution), the ownership of other entities (the State Treasury, state legal persons or local government units) was also included. The division of communal possessions originated from the need for implementing public tasks by the local authorities.
The legal foundation of granting local government units important assets of the State Treasury was assigning them legal personality, whereas the guarantee of their independence (also in the matter of communal property protection) was judicial protection (para. 2). Therefore, the constitutional regulations concerning the protection of communal property are included in the jurisprudence of the Constitutional Tribunal and the Supreme Administrative Court.
The Tribunal defines ownership as a constitutional model (Art. 21, para. 1, Art. 64 and 165, para. 1; with the exception of Art. 20) and normalizes the principle of equal protection of property regardless of the body that disposes of it, for instance, a municipality.