Information as a legal category

Abstract

The term “information” is commonly used in every area of law. It appears in context of penal, administrative and civil law. The questions about the semantic range of this term and about the terminological consequences of the existing regulation seem inevitable. Implication of these questions are not only theoretical but also practical because a very wide semantic range of the term
“information” makes the area covered by those regulations considerably broad. This leads the author to the conclusion that there is a need to establish a universal definition of the considered term in the context of freedom of information and the need to protect it. The word “information” is generally considered to be evident, however – in author’s opinion – this comprehension is only intuitive.
This means that the considered term is not equivocal in the whole Polish law system. The author has therefore dealt with following questions: if there is a legal definition of the term “information” in Polish legal regulations, if this category has been sufficiently defined on the legal field and if there is a terminological homogeneousness regarding this term in sources of law that are in force in Poland.