The Right to Housing and the Institution of Expropriation: A Comparative Analysis of Legal Regulations in Poland and the Legal Systems of the Other European Countries

The aim of the article is to analyze how the right to housing, recognized as a human right, influences the shaping of national expropriation laws. The author provides a positive response, highlighting that both EU regulations and legal acts of the Council of Europe significantly impact the limitation of arbitrariness in expropriations and strengthen the protection of individuals against excessive state interference in this area. The analysis is based on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (which first established legal protection of housing as a right granted to every individual), the Charter of Fundamental Rights, and the Council of Europe system. The author also employs a comparative method, examining the impact of norms guaranteeing the right to housing on expropriation laws in the states that are signatories to each of these instruments. This emphasizes the importance of shared standards of human rights protection in shaping national legislation. The final section focuses on an issue that has recently garnered significant interest: housing as a right or a commodity? The author believes that an attempt to answer this question – based on an examination of law and economics – will provide a better understanding of why housing should be regarded as a tool enabling the realization of values and freedoms established by both national and international law. By framing housing in this way, it becomes clear that access to adequate housing is not merely an economic transaction but a fundamental element of human dignity, social justice, and the fulfillment of rights enshrined in legal systems worldwide.