The decree of the State Council (Rada Panstwa) of 12 December 1981 on martial law imposed martial law in Poland and ended Solidarity period in Polish history. Many Solidarity activists were imprisoned and sentenced on the basis of this decree. The penal provisions from this decree were often applied by judges on retroactive basis. The text analyzes the responsibility of judges for these commitments. The Supreme Court passed a sentence on this issue in 2007. The Supreme Court expressed an opinion that judges were obliged to apply retroactive rules. The author does not share this opinion. He analyzes Polish legal acts and the Convention on Human Rights (art. 15). A part of the text is dedicated to Gustaw Radbruch’s views about human justice, which in critical situation should have been applied despite the fact that written law is different.