Acta Iuris Stetinensis

Grants and subsidies are considered synonyms in everyday language. Nevertheless, from a legal point of view, these are two different institutions. According to the legal definition, grants are funds from the state budget, the budget of local government units and from state earmarked funds subject to special settlement rules, intended, under acts or international agreements, to finance or co-finance the implementation of public tasks. In turn, subsidies are described by indicating their characteristic features, as well as by indicating similarities to and differences from grants. It is argued in particular that a subsidy has two basic features: objective awarding criteria and discretion in spending. This means that the subsidy is assumed to be of a claim nature, while the grant is of a discretionary nature. This issue is of key importance from the point of view of protection of the support’s beneficiary, because the legal nature of a given institution will determine the appropriate procedure for seeking payment of funds. The problem addressed in this study focuses on pursuing the payment of subsidies and grants under Polish law. The aim is to try to answer the question whether subsidies and grants should be pursued before common courts through civil proceedings, or whether administrative proceedings or judicial review proceedings will be the appropriate way. The research has been carried out using the non-reactive research method, i.e. analysis of legal acts, relevant literature and the established line of judicial decisions. According to the adopted research hypothesis, both subsidies and grants should be pursued primarily employing the procedure described in specific regulations. In their absence, it is permissible to pursue both categories of funds through civil proceedings, provided the amount of support may be determined and the law stipulates the obligation to transfer said assistance to a given entity.