The Role of Administrative Courts in Shaping the Content of Local Spatial Development Plans in Poland

Purpose: The article's aim was a statistical analysis of rulings of administrative courts concerning local spatial development plans in Poland. Furthermore, statistical methods were proposed to verify regularities concerning the influence of administrative courts on spatial policy tools. Design/Methodology/Approach: The publication uses simple measures of structure differentiation. The analysis focused on the structure of validity judgments in 2010-2019 by 16 voivodeships and Poland in general. For each of the V1, V2, V3, and V measures, the measure of ß monotonicity of the structure was determined successively. Findings: The role of the law in the spatial management system, should be remembered that while specific, detailed solutions must be adapted to the specific national system, it can be pointed out that this role cannot be excessive. Practical Implications: Confirmation of the validity of the problems diagnosed in the spatial management system is an essential contribution to discussing the state and directions of changes to the spatial management systems. The legal context of rulings questioning the validity of local spatial development plans is critical from the positive and negative effects of spatial management systems. Originality/Value: The legal context of the judgments seems to be very important and innovative from the perspective of positive and negative consequences related to spatial management systems.