The Many Faces of Procedural Formalism and Their Compliance with the Rule of Law—Lessons from the French and Polish Administrative Judiciaries

Abstract This article investigates selected contradictory procedural arrangements in France and Poland to establish how they can all operate under the same European rule-of-law standards. Building on the theoretical framework of procedural formalism and on the Polish and French highest administrative courts’ case law on the procedural question of whether court staff can produce certain documents and copies thereof in place of a party to court administrative proceedings, the authors portray diversified, and sometimes even contradictory, approaches to procedural formalism, which testifies to inconsistent understanding and implementation of rule-of-law standards in proceedings before administrative courts in both countries.