American law and American jurisprudence remain a constant source of inspiration for theorists and philosophers of law as well as researchers of political and legal thought. Although the implementation of selected American legal solutions in European countries is oftentimes difficult (and in some cases even impossible), there is no doubt that American jurisprudence is dedicated to the aim common to the entire Euro-Atlantic legal tradition, namely the protection of individual rights and freedoms, human dignity of all persons, the rule of law and the division of political power. The monograph research goal is to show how selected ideas and institutions present within American law (e.g., the election of the president by the Electoral College, jury trials or the broad-based freedom of speech), serve the implementation of the above-mentioned Euro-Atlantic values by means other than those that are used on a European ground. Because the authors of individual chapters use the comparative method as well as an analysis of American ideas and institutions using the methodological apparatus characteristic of the continental legal theory, the monograph has a very important value: it shows American law and American jurisprudence through the prism of a researcher looking for answers to universal questions about the role of law within liberal democracies: how to guarantee the freedoms necessary for individiduals' self-realization as well as provide for security and social welfare.

Preface and acknowledgements

Notes on the Contributors

FOREWORD
Łukasz D. Bartosik and Michał Urbańczyk
The Importance of American Solutions from the Perspective of European Research of Philosophy of Law, Political and Legal Thought, and Generally Applicable Law

PART I
IDEAS AND INTERPRETATIONS

CHAPTER I
Mikołaj Hermann and Michał Krotoszyński
American Concepts of Legal Interpretation from the Perspective of Polish Theory of Law
1. Introduction
2. Criteria for Classifying American Concepts of Legal Interpretation
3. American Concepts of Legal Interpretation

CHAPTER II
Michał Urbańczyk
American Idea of Human Dignity in the Case-law of the Supreme Court of the United States: A European Perspective
1. Introduction
2. The Idea of Human Dignity in the American Political and Legal Tradition
3. Analysis of the Case Law of the U.S. Supreme Court after 1943
4. Conclusions

CHAPTER III
Agnieszka Bartolik
The Doctrine of Piercing the Corporate Veil: The Measure to Fight Fraud or Injustice
1. Introduction
2. Limited Liability Creation
3. Creditors’ Protection and Understanding the Concept of Limited Liability
4. Piercing the Corporate Veil as an Exception to Limited Liability
5. Doctrines of Piercing the Corporate Veil
6. Horizontal Piercing
7. Reverse Piercing
8. Involuntary and Voluntary Creditors
9. Conclusions 

CHAPTER IV
Mehmet Sadik Bektas
Pragmatic Truth in Rorty’s Cultural Politics
1. Introduction
2. Different Versions of Truth
3. The Pragmatic Theory of Truth
4. Cultural Politics as a Pragmatic Truth
5. Utilitarianism as a Basis for a Pragmatic Theory of Truth

PART II
INSTITUTIONS AND PROCEDURES

CHAPTER V
Łukasz D. Bartosik
The Right to a Jury Trial in Light of the American Criminal Justice System: A European Perspective
1. Introduction
2. The Constitutional Foundations of the Right to a Jury Trial in the American Criminal Justice System
3. Salient Benefits of the Right to a Jury Trial
4. Potential Challenges Facing the Implementation of the Jury System in Poland
5. Conclusions

CHAPTER VI
Paulina Obara and Michał Passon
Judicial Selection System and Its Impact on Judicial Independence
1. Introduction
2. Judicial Independence
3. Judicial Selection
4. The Impact of Selection Methods on Judicial Independence
5. Conclusions

CHAPTER VII
Artur Pietruszka
Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPP) in the American Legal Thought
1. Introduction
2. Constitutional Background
3. The Right to Petition and the Right of Access to Court
4. The Notion of SLAPP
5. The Fallout of the SLAPP Phenomenon and the Mitigating Measures
6. Conclusions

CHAPTER VIII
J. Patrick Higgins
An Introductory Re-examination of the Electoral College as a (Re-)distributive Mechanism in American Federalism
1. Introduction
2. Time out of Joint? The Nature of the EC
3. There and Back Again: Tiebout, Buchanan, Tullock, and Montesquieu
6. Is the Electoral College Still Working? 6 Empirical Tests
7. Conclusions: the EC and Political (Re-)distribution

PART III
CHALLENGES AND DEBATES

CHAPTER IX
Jakub Serafin
From Lyndon B. Johnson to Barack Obama: Anti-Poverty Policy in the United States
1. Introduction
2. Importance of the War on Poverty
3. General Information about Current Poverty Rate in United States of America
4. Barack Obama: Views and Actions on Poverty Issue
5. Most Significant Data About Social Welfare Programs and Its Participants (2009-2012)
6. Conclusions

CHAPTER X
Maciej Aureliusz Nycz
Abortion in Judgments of the Supreme Court of the United States
1. Introduction
2. Before Roe v. Wade
3. Roe v. Wade—the Greatest Abortion Landmark Case
4. Later Developments
5. Recent Rulings
6. Conclusions

CHAPTER XI
Michał Szymański
Popularization of Totalitarian Systems and Holocaust’s Negation in European and American Legal Tradition
1. Introduction
2. Definition of Totalitarianism and Holocaust Denial
3. Europe
4. United States
5. Recapitulation

CHAPTER XII
Julia Pietrasiewicz
The Influence of Freedom of Speech on the Fair Use and Its Further Development
1. Introduction
2. Fair Use and the U.S. Constitution
3. The Beginning of the Doctrine
4. The Importance of Doctrine in the Present World
5. Impact on World’s Legislation
6. Conclusions

CHAPTER XIII
Gaspar Kot
Corporate Supervision in the United States: The Origin, Definition and Role of Independent Directors 
1. Introduction
2. Regulation of Independent Directors in the U.S.
3. The Praise and Criticism of the Independent Directors Regulations
4. Conclusions 

Prawo amerykańskie i amerykańska jurysprudencja pozostają nieustannym źródłem inspiracji dla teoretyków i filozofów prawa oraz badaczy myśli polityczno-prawnej. Mimo, że implementacja wybranych amerykańskich rozwiązań prawnych w krajach europejskich jest znacznie utrudniona (a w niektórych przypadkach wręcz niemożliwa), nie budzi wątpliwości fakt, że amerykańska jurysprudencja na celu ma realizację wartości wspólnych dla całej euroatlantyckiej tradycji prawnej: praw i wolności jednostki, godności człowieka i obywatela, rządów prawa i podziału władzy politycznej. Celem monografii jest ukazanie, w jaki sposób wybrane idee i instytucje prawa amerykańskiego (np. wybór prezydenta przez Kolegium Elektorów, udział ławy przysięgłych w postępowaniu sądowym czy szeroko zakrojona wolność słowa), służą realizacji wymienionych wyżej wartości przy użyciu środków innych niż tych, które stosowane są na gruncie europejskim. Autorzy analizują i porównują amerykańskie idee instytucji przy użyciu aparatu metodologicznego charakterystycznego dla kontynentalnej nauki o prawie, ukazując amerykańskie prawo i amerykańską jurysprudencję przez pryzmat badacza poszukującego odpowiedzi na uniwersalne dla demokracji liberalnej pytania o rolę prawa w gwarantowaniu swobód i samorealizacji jednostki oraz bezpieczeństwa i społecznego dobrobytu.