Another approach led us to examine failures to update law. One example is the case of Poland, where a Labour Code dating from 1974, i.e. the communist period, remained in force for over 30 years. It was certainly modified several times but never completely overhauled to reflect changes in the socioeconomic and political situation (Sewerynski, 2006). Social reforms were generally criticised for being isolated, carried out in an emergency, under pressure from a lobby, or following a change in governmental majority. In some cases, it was by no means clear that law was enacted to be effective, but seemed rather to be intended to attract media attention or respond to a passing political controversy, especially as some normative statements had the advantage of having no practical impact.