The purpose of this paper is formulation of a general thesis regarding the functionality of agricultural law in the past quarter of the century. The author has differentiated and analysed three stages of development of Polish agricultural law: (i) immediately after 1989 when political transformations commenced, (ii) the stage of approximation, or harmonisation of Polish law (including agricultural) in order to qualify for EU membership, and (iii) Poland’s EU-membership. The introduction of a market economy caused a significant reduction in special legal acts regulating agricultural matters. The increasing functionality of agricultural law at some later date was a result of a revival of legislative activity undertaken with a view of harmonising Polish agricultural laws with the European Union standards. An intensive development of agricultural law was a consequence of including Poland (as a EU-member State) within the CAP mechanism. However, the functionality of agricultural law shall not only be judged from the point of view of the absorption of EU funds, but also, and maybe in particular, from the point of view of their proper allocation and proper management (efficiency). Thus, when new EU regulations constituting the CAP framework for the 2014-2020 period are being implemented in Poland, special care will have to be taken to properly allocate the CAP direct payments.