Constitutional change through unconstitutional interpretation

This paper is devoted to the issue of changing the constitution via its unconstitutional interpretation. Therefore, in the first place, the phenomenon of an ‘informal change to the constitution’ through its interpretation is explained. Then, three methods of interpretation of the constitution used by constitutional courts are analysed, namely constructive, hierarchical and pro-constitutional interpretation. For each of these methods, some scenarios are highlighted in which the results of these interpretations are considered unconstitutional. Finally, a special case of unconstitutional interpretation of the constitution is considered, which in the Polish literature is referred to as a constitution-hostile interpretation (interpretatio constitutionis hostilis).