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The Right to Information Self-Determination after the General Data Protection Regulation
Views:379Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC (General Data Protection Regulation), became effective on 25 May 2018. With the regulatory form the legislator raised the regulation of the right to the protection of personal data within the European Union to a higher level. The legislative act has a fundamental impact on the legal systems of the member states showing various differences from each other. Further, it can be stated as a general experience that the right to the protection of personal data and the nature of such right are less known either to those affected or to the data controllers. The new legislative act and the penalties with increased amounts [Article 84 of the GDPR] demand the elaboration of a study understandable for laics, too. Finally, as a result of the General Data Protection Regulation, the institution system ensuring the protection of personal data has fundamentally changed, so, therefore, it is also necessary to examine the authorities of the member states and the Union, as well.
The study primarily approaches the occurring problems from the practice side. Accordingly, the examination conducted by the Commission nationale de l’informatique et des libertés (CNIL) against Google is described, as the first significant penalty imposed based on the General Data Protection Regulation.
The first part of the study is intended to present the right to the general protection of personal data. The historical part addresses in details the major elements of the historical development of data protection and the development of its contents, with particular regard to the appearance of the right to information self-determination based on the so-called “census-judgement” of 1983 of the BVerfG (Federal Constitutional Court of Germany). Finally, this part touches upon the theories defined in connection with the historical generations of the right to the protection of personal data. After the historical part the study addresses the peculiarities of the right to the protection of personal data, paying particular attention to separation from the neighbouring legal areas.
The second part is intended to present the prevalence of the right to information self-determination according to the GDPR. It is the institution system protecting personal data that has undergone the most significant change. The Work Group under Article 29 has been replaced by the Data Protection Agency set up based on the GDPR. Setting up the Agency, enlarging its scope of authority and its stronger independence from the executive powers of the Union can, by all means, be evaluated positively. As regards the security of personal data, the practice, major directives and opinions of the Work Group under Article 29 have been examined. It is a significant step forward that the GDPR has made the sphere of special personal data more specific, promoting by this the increase of the extent of protection. It is important that, as a general rule, the Regulation forbids controlling special personal data. The definition of the concept of personal data is an essential condition for understanding the regulation. In addition to the principles of controlling personal data, the legal fundaments of data control have particular significance, with special regard to the consent and the data control necessary for performing the contract. In my view, the consent is a legal fundament of auxiliary nature for data control, which is also supported by the opinions of the Work Group, too. Granting the consent and the individual excluding circumstances occurring in connection with this, were examined on a case-by-case basis. In my opinion, the automated decision making process and the regulation of profile creation are one of the most cardinal issues of the GDPR. The way in which profiles are created, their use and the permissibility of such use are discussed in details. In my view, the regulation of the GDPR is deficient as regards the automated decision making process and the profile creation. The decision making necessary for performing the contract is not separated sharply enough, and it is not necessary for this. In my opinion, in respect of this latter sphere of cases the GDPR is not strict enough and may easily serve as a basis for misuse on the part of data controllers. In my view, granting the consent should be made stricter in respect of creating profiles and the introduction of the (contradictable) legal presumption of refusal would also be desirous.
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Doubtful questions in connection with the effectiveness of insurance contracts
Views:132The dispensation of justice most often makes decisions in legal disputes about contract law on the basis of the general rules of contract law. The freedom of making contracts and the dynamism of contract law have resulted in an agreement that the conditions of the contract and the general rules should generally be considered to an increasing extent rather than the special regulations referring to the given contract. However, there are some contracts which theme, subjects and content require the application of special rules that result in solutions hard to interpret for parties inexperienced in law and that are radically different from those recommended by the general rules of contract law. Insurance contracts are those type of contracts, where the rules determine when the contract comes into existence and effect and when the services are due. These regulations are based on a logic that is radically different from the general rules, so they can often lead to serious misunderstandings. It is discernable in the judiciary practice that the dispensation of justice respects the specific features of insurance contracts, but tries to interpret the rules in a way that draws near to the general rules of contract law. The decisions of the Hungarian Supreme Court give priority to the interests of the insured parties and allow in fewer cases when the insurance company is exempted of its obligation of payment. However, judiciary practice has little effect on the content of insurance law. It seems justified to make insurance companies work out as detailed and clear conditions as possible and make them disclose the orders basically concerning their obligation of running risks.
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Latest Regulatory Developments regarding Artificial Intelligence in Hungary and the EU: The provisions of the AI Regulation entering into force and the most recent developments regarding AI in Hungary
65-88Views:120Artificial intelligence (AI) has undergone rapid development over the past decades, even accelerating in the past few years. The European Union is trying to respond to the technology’s regulatory challenges with the AI Act, and Hungary is trying to respond to it through legislation, related to the act. The article reviews the interpretation of AI in the EU and Hungary, the differences in the definition accepted between the two and the circumstances of definition, especially between generative models, general-purpose and general AI. The article presents the most important provisions the gradual entry into force of the AI Regulation at the writing of the article, with special regard to prohibited AI practices and the regulations on general-purpose AI models. In addition, also due to its timeliness, it presents and analyses the EU-level institutional system of the AI Regulation, and the planned domestic organizations related to it and complementing it, building on the available forms of the new Hungarian AI Strategy (MIS 2.0). The aim of the article is to provide the reader with an insight into the regulatory efforts of the EU and Hungary AI, with a special focus on the legislator's responses to the social and economic issues of technology.
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The temporal scope of the new Criminal Code in context of provisions of the General Part
63-72Views:104Act of 2012 on the Criminal Code came into force on the 1st of July 2013 after a long codification period. A new Criminal Code always leads to problems in application of law, therefore, it is quite actual to make an examination on new provisions. Some classic provisions of the General Part remained the same, although the penalty system and some other regulations have been renewed. The temporal scope of the new code will possibly be in focus for years.
The aim of this research is to take an examination on the case law and judicial decisions of Hungarian courts related to temporal scope of the new Criminal Code that is a significant part of this paper. The new Hungarian Criminal Code has been required to be prepared more severe than the former code. The other aim of this research is to revise the new provisions of the General Part resulting in statements about whether these new rules are more severe or more lenient than the Act IV of 1978.For this purpose a close legal interpretation shall be taken into account.
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Legal relations in German partnership under the Civil Code
Views:156Partnership under the civil code is a harsh institution in Hungarian legal system. Despite of this fact, most of the European countries apply this legal entity a lot as a background for other, more complicated corporate forms. In my essay I demonstrate those rules in German Civil Code (BGB), which show the importance and opportunities of these partnerships.
If we would like to describe the essentials of partnerships under the Civil Code, the most important question is the legal relations from both inner and external point of view. Internal relations mean an obligation between the parties, who form this partnership. It is natural that we can find both rights and commitments between founders. This is a contract but BGB says that all parties have equal rights and commitments in the same partnership. As a general rule of the Code, it is permissive, not cogent. BGB has basic regulation for operating such a partnership, but can be useful if founders live with this permissive opportunity and shape special rules for their partnership, which fit to their aims, functions, different financial potential of the parties.
There is a chance for founders to neglect building a whole structure and organization for their partnership, if they want to operate it as an inner partnership, without external relations, focusing only for the rights and omissions between the parties.
From all contract that establishes a partnership under the Civil Code membership rights follow. These rights cannot be transferred. A distinction can be made between administrational, common business management and financial rights. Rights to common business management can consist of right to information, right to supervision or the most important right to vote. Financial rights gather typical rights such as right to dividend or liquidity proportion. These rights are social omissions from the viewpoint of the partnership itself, as these are for the interest of the parties.
The most important omissions of the founders are financial contribution to establish the partnership. This regulation results from that partnership is to promote common aim of the founders, and to achieve this, all of them have to make available pecuniary or non-pecuniary assets. According to a special rule of BGB, over against the other corporate forms, members of the partnership have no omission to increase or complete their assets.
Management of the partnership is not only a right but an obligation too. A special omission is that all members and founders have to be loyal to the partnership. Because of the strong partnership character of this corporate form, this means that members have to keep the interest and aim of the partnership in view. They all are responsible for achieving the aim of the partnership and nobody can sit as a beneficiary. Loyal members have to keep secrets in connection with operating the partnership and of course the sudden obligation to inform the others of all events and experiences, which are in tight connection with the partnership and the interests of the parties. If any of the members breach these obligations, rules of damages can be applied in BGB.
Assets of the partnership are special, because no separated corporate assets form. Financial and non-pecuniary contribution becomes the assets of the community of members. It is undividable and common. But these common assets are strictly separated from the private assets of the parties. Rights for profit and deficit are equal, but this permissive rule allows different regulation in the contract. The only cogent sentence is the prohibition of societas leoniana, i.e. nobody can be precluded of profit and deficit.
External relations mean the representation of the partnership. In this case the most important law is the contract itself. In case of disagreement between the parties, there is a helping rule of BGB: members can act as a body. If we take into consideration the rules of liability, we can say that because of the lack of legal capacity of the partnership, individual liability has its important role. Generally this liability is unlimited, but there is a chance to agree with the creditor to limit liability. But this limitation is only valid for that legal transaction.
Rules for partnerships under the Civil Code in Germany are more detailed and nuanced than in Hungary. Partnership is the basic type of civil law partnerships, such as limited partnership or general partnership. We have to consider that building up a more coherent regulation for these partnerships can be useful to categorize atypical corporations.
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Texas Shoot-out and other security clauses in the Syndicate (Shareholders) Agreement
118-129Views:146The shareholders agreement is considered a typical contract. This agreement is concluded by and between the members of the company in order to establish the rules of the cooperation among them, their behaviour towards and expectations from each other in connection with the company.
The agreement is often used in the practice, since its flexible construction enables to rule various types of transaction. For example, in Hungary there is a growing tendency i.e.the major investments and joint venture agreements are being established in the frame of a shareholders’ agreement.
On the other hand, drafting such a contract is a complex procedure. This type of agreement is not governed by specific law, therefore the general rules of the contract law may be linefore. Furthermore the shareholders’ agreement is located at the borderline between the civil and company law, and in a given case it might be complicated to enforce the provisions of the agreement. For example, if the member breaches the voting provision outlined in the shareholders’ agreement, then the resolution passed upon the contract breach cannot be challenged.
Due to lack of a specific law, the practice created the adequate legal securities to ensure the enforcement of the cooperation structure outlined in the shareholders’ agreement.
As the first analysed security, the purpose of the buy-out clauses (Russian Roulette, Texas Shoot-out, Dutch Auction, Put-Option, Call-Option) is to ensure the company’s permanent operation, if there is an insoluble dispute among the members, which obstructs the decision making, and consequently the operation of the company, as well. The concept of the buy-out clause is to settle the dispute in the way of taking over the participation of the involved member by another member.
The exit clauses (Drag Along, Carry Along) aimed to encumber or to unburden the step out from the company. The entitled person is able to sell the shares of the remaining members to the buyer, or to oblige the seller to sell his own and the entitled person’s participations jointly to the buyer.
The takeover clauses’ (Control Flip Over, Swiss Clause) duty is to enable the enforcement of the corporate legal obligations outlined in the agreement. If a member fails to fulfil his obligations, the entitled person may acquire his participation, which will enable him to pass the necessary resolution in the members meeting (general meeting). After the voting, the “seller” is entitled to buy back his participation at the same price.
If the members want to exclude acquiring participation by third persons in the company without their approval, there are adequate securities to be specified in the shareholders’ agreement (for example the right of first refusal, option right).
By the specific type of shareholders’ agreement the creditor makes investments in the company and becomes member in order to secure the transaction. If the company or the original owners of the company breach the contract, they will be held individually liable till the limit of the investmented amount.
The shareholders’ agreement is an efficient option to rule major transactions, and with the help of the securities described in this study, the investor could feel his money in safe. On the other hand, there are still a lot of questions to be answered. For example the compliance of these securities with the strict provisions of the law. It is the duty of the practice to reveal the answers.
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New Tendencies in EU Law on Air Passenger Rights
1-9Views:198egulation (EC) No 261/2004 depending on the circumstances of the travel disruption, requires air carriers to: provide passengers with assistance, such as meals, refreshments, telephone calls and hotel accommodation; offer re-routing and refunds; pay a flat-rate compensation of up to €600 per passenger, depending on the flight distance; and proactively inform passengers about their rights.
Under the Montreal Convention (as translated by Regulation (EC) No 2027/97 into EU law), a passenger may be entitled to compensation in case of mishandled baggage (but with a limit of about €1200), except if the airline can demonstrate it has taken all reasonable measures to avoid the damages or it was impossible to take such measures. Airlines often fail to offer passengers the rights to which they are entitled in instances of denied boarding, long delays, cancellations or mishandled baggage, in particular under Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 ("the Regulation") and Regulation (EC) No 2027/97. Case law has had a decisive impact on the interpretation of the Regulation. The Commission Communication of 11 April 2011 reported on the varying interpretation being taken on the provisions of Regulation (EC) No 261/2004, due to grey zones and gaps in the current text, and the non-uniform enforcement across Member States. Furthermore, it is difficult for passengers to enforce their individual rights. With regard to Regulation (EC) No 261/2004, the European Parliament asks the Commission to propose a clarification of the passengers' rights, in particular the notion of ‘extraordinary circumstances’. On 13 March 2013, the European Commission made a proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 establishing
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common rules on compensation and assistance to passengers in the event of denied boarding and of cancellation or long delay of flights and Regulation (EC) No 2027/97 on air carrier liability in respect of the carriage of passengers and their baggage by air. This paper takes a closer look at this proposal. The proposal aims to improve enforcement by clarifying key principles and implicit passenger rights that have given rise to many disputes between airlines and passengers in the past; and by enhancing and better coordinating the enforcement policies carried out on a national level. Issues covered by the proposal are the following.Definition of "extraordinary circumstances"
Right to compensation in case of long delays
Right to rerouting
Right to care
Missed connecting flight
Rescheduling Tarmac delays
Partial ban of the "no show" policy
Right to information
Handling of individual claims and complaints
Better take into account the financial capacities of the air carriers
Ensure better enforcement of passenger rights with regard to mishandled baggage
Adapt liability limits in accordance to general price inflation
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Thoughts on the successions of the business shares
Views:173The article focuses on the successions of the business shares which are in the Hungarian limited liability companies. There are several changes because of the new Civil Code that affected this area although we have to examine the former regulation because of the period of validity, too.
The succession law is the area of the law with whom every people has connection at least once in their life. The number of the legacies grows in which business shares can be founded because more and more people are participating in business societies.
The new method of the regulation differs from the previous. The new Hungarian Civil Code (Act V of 2013) consists of not only the “classical” civil law (for example property law, law of contracts) but the family law even the business law. Before this there were two separate laws and because of this situation we have to examine the relation of these laws and their methods of regulations.
Afterwards we study the state of the successors in the Hungarian limited liability companies. It diverges from the other companies because the limited liability companies are transitions between general and limited partnerships and joint-stock companies. There were more ideas how to regulate this company; at the end it has differences but not so significant.
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Prevailing regulation of the termination of parental control under the Civil Code
12-18Views:311Being a judge practicing on the area of the law of crimes I rarely come across with the need to apply civil law. Nevertheless, a handful legal concepts may be applied also by criminal courts. One of these concepts is the termination of parental control. Before turning to relevant case analysis in my study, I focus on the principle of the "child's best interest" which is referred to under article 3 of the New York Convention on the rights of children and which has a general fundamental applicability in respect of all provisions of the Convention. This principle must apply not only in civil, but also in criminal proceedings and generally in all types of proceedings irrespective of the area of law such proceedings fall under. Special emphasis is attributed to the legal consequences of terminating parental control and to the distinction of cases where the termination of parental control by the court is mandatory and where such a decision is made in the discretion of the court. I pay separate attention to cases where the court has convicted the parent of a crime committed wilfully against the convicted person's own child and in which cases the convicted person is sentenced to prisonment and as a result of these the criminal court has competence to order the termination of parental control. I address also some issues relating to matters of proof and evidence in connection with crimes of domestic violence. Finally, I explain the nature of a child-focused jurisdiction through the presentation of the Hungarian system which ensures to respect and to give effect to the rights of children to the maximum extent possible. The ability of providing special treatment for children in court proceedings is of the utmost importance.
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The Hungarian system of sanctions in connection with copyright law comparising to directive 2004/48 EC about validation of intellectual property right
Views:193Copyright law is a relative young area of civil law. Intellectual property and creations ensure the revelation of human personality. The infringement of these rights became general with the development of technology. From the beginning copyright law tried not only circumscribe the possibilities of unrestricted use but ensure effective protection to authors with exact sanctions.
In the essay I examine the international and Hungarian regulation against usurpation demonstrating all sanctions and opportunities. Not only one area of law gives protection to these rights. Civil law, criminal law and administration law has different sanctions for infringements.
On 29th April 2004 2004/48/EC directive has been accepted about validation of intellectual property rights. The explanation of this directive is that different regulations in member states endanger the unified internal market. The directive consists of the rules of proceedings and sanctions.
In this study I present the development about system of sanctions form an international and from a Hungarian perspective. I examine all types of sanctions concerning to the field of civil law and try to analyze functions and aims in connection with them. The effectiveness and history of these legal institutions are also presented in the study.
Comparing the directive and the Hungarian copyright law it can be said that despite of all circumstances the Hungarian law has to be improved especially on the field of proceedings and temporary arrangements. These rules are specified compared to the ones in the Hungarian civil procedure, so judges have to take care of these differences.
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Some Thoughts on Participation of Civil Organisations in the Process of Policy- and Law Making in Hungary
10-26Views:170Among the tools of including the concerned elements of society into the decision making processes the government operating since 2010 rather prefers the non-legal ones (i.e. those which do not constitute direct obligations for the government); rather solutions outside of the legal system are put into focus. Therefore the so-called national consultation, which – among others, such as sectoral, professional and other negotiating forums – introduced in Hungary a previously unknown political technique: within two years – in ordinary mail – each citizen received two surveys with possible answers to choose from, furthermore, – as a method not really used before in Hungary – an information booklet was sent to all citizens with the right to vote which presented the newest pieces of legislation.
Looking beyond political slogans and pathetic forms it may be well observed that the government expects from the method of crowdsourcing – which may be considered traditional in other countries – as well as from different online consultations and the introduction of new means (surfaces) of information the establishment and deepening of discussion (cooperation) with society. Among the new means of information we shall mention that the government of Hungary created its websites civil.kormany.hu and kozhasznusag.kormany.hu related to the civil sector (in broader sense about legislation related to the civil sector). The websites – according to the intentions of the government– are part of the process of changing the attitude aimed at with the new act on the civil sector (Act CLXXV of 2011 on right of association, non-profit status, operation and support of NGOs), through which the government wishes to establish transparent connections with the civil sector.
In Article 7 of the new Act CXXX of 2010 on legislation the two basic form of social compromise are described, general negotiation and direct negotiation. The former one provides opportunity for sharing opinion on the website of the organisation publishing concepts, drafts (in a way which obliges the organisation which asks for the opinion, e.g. through confirmation obligation or through preparing summaries on the merits), while the latter one allows the concerned minister to directly request persons and organisations to give opinion. A specific form of direct negotiation – creating obligations on the side of the minister – is the institution of strategic partnership, the framework of which is settled in a thorough agreement. One material weakness of the regulation, however, is that Article 13 paragraph (2) of the act only lists in an exemplary way those with whom such partnership may be concluded, by mentioning forms of organisations (e.g. church, trade union, civil organisation). -
A közút tartozéka: egy sajátos jogintézmény ellentmondásai
Views:168In the legal terminology of private law several times the same definition is used for addressing the same legal institution (e.g. default penalty, in-building). In most of the cases there is no problem to separate these institutions and we can also give an explanation why legislator used the same terminology.
The definition of accessory is used for a special group of article groups in the Hungarian Civil Code and also used in the Act I. of 1988. From the angle of judicature it is problematic as even if the definition of road accessory is build upon the general terminology of accessory in the Civil Code, the two legal institutions are not the same.
In the essay we would like to emphasize that the safety of traffic does not give a decent reason why we have to restrict the proprietary rights with using the institution of road accessory. This restriction is in a close connection with not only the distance from the public road but the effect of the property to the safety of traffic. The valid regulations may cause illogical contradictions and judicature problem.
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Dents on the Bodywork – Corporate Governance Issues Regarding the Recent Corporate Scandals in the Automotive Industry
3-14Views:147The aim of the article is to examine the key corporate governance issues in light of the recent scandals in the automotive industry. The article explores the underlying reasons which culminated in the events of the General Motors ignition switch scandal, and Volkswagen's "Dieselgate". While these two events may seem unrelated at the first glance, however, the facts show that similar problems led to these scandals, most of which were deeply rooted in the corporate culture. Factors, such as the lack of clear and honest communication and the willingness to bend the rules show that the principles of corporate governance were not put in practice within these corporations. The author believes that by taking corporate governance seriously the scandals could have been entirely preventable.
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Stations in legal history of error; focused on Nándor Bernolák’s thesis of error
Views:138I examine one of the grounds for the preclusion of culpability and grounds for the termination of culpability: error. Grounds for the preclusion of culpability are the followings: infancy, abnormal mental condition, constraint and menace, error, negligible degree of danger to society of an act, self-defence, extreme necessity (emergency), absence of private motion, other grounds defined in the Act. Grounds for the termination of culpability are: the death of the perpetrator, prescription, remission, cessation or becoming negligible of the dangerousness for society of the act, other grounds defined in the Act.
Grounds for the preclusion of culpability and grounds for the termination of culpability mean that culpability shall be precluded.
Error - as an obstacle of the preclusion of culpability – is not as usual as other grounds for the preclusion of culpability, for example: insane mental state, constraint or menace. Error means - 27. § of the Hungarian Criminal Code – that the perpetrator shall not be punishable for a fact of which he was not aware on perpetration. The person, who commits an act in the erroneous hypothesis that it is not dangerous for society and who has reasonable ground for this hypothesis, shall not be punishable. Error shall not exclude culpability, if it is caused by negligence and the law also punishes perpetration deriving from negligence.
I examine error’s ruling from Roman law to now days. One of the most important books was written by Nandor Bernolak: The Error doctrine. I succeeded Bernolak’s method to search how error was regulated in different ages. Bernolak wrote his essay in 1910, so he described the rules of error as it appeared in Code Csemegi. I follow his method during the examination of 1950.:II. Criminal Code of General Part, 1961. IV. Criminal Code and finally 1978. IV. Criminal Code.
I found many differences and similarities between Criminal Codes, Propositions, and finally I compiled a table about the changes of the development in error’s legal history.
There is a rule that is known generally from Roman law: „ignorantia facti, non iuris excusat”, which means: ignorance of the law means no excuse.
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Constitutional processes, a comparative study of the Hungarian constitutional processes (1989-2011)
Views:253In my research paper I study the Hungarian constitutional processes. The subjects of my analysis are three periods, namely the change of the political system in 1989, the constitutional attempts from 1994 to 1998, and the constitutional process between 2010 and 2011.
The processes are examined on the basis of the two notions: “legality” and “legitimacy”. Under the concept “formal legality”, I mean the legal validity of the constitutional process; i.e. whether the constitutional process takes place in accordance with the current legislation. The concept of “legitimacy” has two aspects. On the one hand, empirical legitimacy investigates whether the citizens de facto accept the constitution and value it as respectable independently of the normative motives of its acceptance. On the other hand, normative legitimacy examines whether the constitution is based on justifiable principles and whether it might be considered as legally binding.
The constitutional process in 1989 - aimed at establishing a democratic transition – took place within round-table discussions of the representatives of the old system and the strengthened opposition. As a result of the radical changes, the democratic Constitution was established in Hungary and the multi-party system also developed. The outcome of the discussions was the general supervision of the Constitution. Formally, there was only an amendment to the Constitution in 1989; however, as regard its content, a completely new norm was established.
Since the change of the political system in 1989, the idea of creating a new constitution emerges again and again in the Hungarian public life. In the course of the elections in 2010, a party alliance (in which both parties represented the same political line) reached the required two-thirds majority in the Parliament, and aimed at establishing a new constitution. The result of the constitutional process is a completely new constitution (both the form and the content of the previous constitution were changed).
All things considered, it can be stated that the amendment to the Constitution in 1989 was accepted lawfully by the Parliament of the old system, i.e. the constitutional process was legal, and in a normative sense, a legitimate Constitution was created. In 2011, the Fundamental Law of Hungary (Hungarian: Magyarország Alaptörvénye) was adopted on the basis of the procedure determined by the Constitution in 1989, i.e. the constitutional process was legal, though; the present research paper highlights some elements of the constitutional process that might be criticized. At present, the legitimacy of the Fundamental Law of Hungary is controversial from both sociological and normative perspectives.
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Előreláthatósági klauzula a szerződések jogában
Views:138The essay is about the clause of foreseeability in connection with damages for breach of a contract. This seems to be a constant problem throughout the history of law how and when it is reasonably to limit the amount of damages in case of breach.
The general principle of full compensation originates in the main purpose of private law, restoring the violated financial situation. At the same time in business relations it often happens that damages occurred as consequences of breach highly exceed the contractual interest of the party and generate indirect damages independent from the violator’s influence. This is considered to be the starting point of the dilemma about restricting the damages availably for compensation.
Full compensation and its relation to breach of a contract occurred in the Hungarian jurisprudence many times. Miklós Világhy suggested the reconsideration of full compensation in contract law in 1971. Attila Harmathy also suggested the implementation of foreseeability clause in the rules of contract law as the ‘best possible way to treat business relations between the parties’.
Due to the historic and social differences various forms of foreseeability are known in the legal systems.
The study examines the development of foreseeability, its first codification in the French Napoleonic Code Civil, its application in the law of the USA and some significant sentences of English courts. The first application of foreseeability was in the infamous Hadley v. Baxendale case, in which an English court worked out the meaning of contemplation rules. In the case of Victoria Laundry Ld. v. Newman Industries Ld. (1949) the court defined the meaning of foreseeability. According to the sentence of the case damages are limited to those that were foreseeable for the party at the time of entering a contract. The study also analyzes the German model of restricting damages of breach. The German theory ensures the possibility of exoneration for the violator if the other party failed to give proper information about the unusual danger of breach in the particular case. If the entitled party acted intentionally, the German law accepts exoneration. The essay demonstrates the adequate causality conception of the German law. This theory states that an act can only be the probable cause if – due to the normal and reasonable procession – it is able to cause such consequence. In our opinion foreseeability gives a stricter and much better solution of restricting damages with a more objective measurement for the obliged party on how to calculate his behavior in a certain contractual relation. The amount of risk can be predicted if the rules of damages for breach are based on foreseeability rather than adequate causality.
The new Hungarian Civil Code plans to establish objective liability in contract law. The only exoneration can be the successful reference to unavoidable external cause. Beside this stricter liability the new Civil Code also introduce the possibility of limitation in damages, the application of foreseeability clause. This seems to be a significant preference for the obliged party. As in the Hungarian legal history foreseeability clause was never used, it is an essential question how judicature will interpret the rule in practice. In our opinion for an adequate application of the new clause it is necessary to take a closer look at the United Nations Convention on the International Sale of Goods (CISG), the Principles of European Contract Law (PECL) and the interpretation in the American and English case law. This study tries to give some help for it.
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Liability for dameges caused by a person of lack of discretionary power
92-101Views:291The new Hungarian Civil Code also modernizes the non-contractual liability law in several aspects. Even if the so-called general clause of non-contractual liability reamains unchanged, its contstitutive elements are regulated in detail in the new Civil Code. The new Code also introduces some new provisions with regard to liability for dameges caused by a person of lack of discretionary power. The objektive of this survey is to present these changes and to examine its possible impacts on judicial practice.
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Enforceability of the civil law in connection with organ donation, the lack of legal framework
Views:116Developments in the last centuries in the fields of pharmacy and surgery have had a beneficial effect on the treatment of various diseases and injuries. As a result these two areas have attracted the support and admiration both of the scientific world and the general public.
The examination of the effects of taking part by human beings has become unavoidable in the healing process. This relationship is unusually complex regards scientific opportunities and fragile in respect of people’s defencelessness.
Important legal background material is available today relating to organ transplantations. It must be recognized, however, that this legal corpus has been a long time in the making and is still taking shape even today. Although people are trying to establish suitable legal framework for medical law, there are still some weak points and „prejudices”. Nowadays it is necessary to make an attempt at reconciling medical science and law not forgetting about the fact that their approaches are different.
Medical law is not just about damages. Informing about the topic, the rights and the possibilities, preventing the trials: all of these things are more important. First of all, this is a life-saving procedure and money can not „repair” the problem in that case. Although it sounds cliché, it is true: you can not replace the unpurchasable organ by money. On the other hand, this should be a teamwork between the donors and recipients. They have to cooperate. The „job” of the law – which tries to be objective while it makes rules- should be to consider both views.
It is well-known that the waitinglists are very long. What is the reason? What kind of solution is able to make the waiting-time shorter? These are very serious questions but the efficient transplantation is the most important. Transplantation is one thing and surviving it is another. And top of all that there is the problem of the „tragedy of the transplantation”: it is often said that donors have no rights. Which should/ can be preferred : the right to live or the right to voluntarism?! Can you decide which system (opt-in or opt-out donation system) gives better solution?!
Giving a right answer is not so easy. Opt-out system may increase the level of available organs but it does not mean necessarily that there will be more organs for donation with absolute certainty. That is why you can not say simply that the „donor-licence” is a bad idea. There are lot of „ingredients” you should consider: technical developments, public education and last but not least social acceptance. According to the law in the opt-out system doctors should not ask the relatives about their opinions but it is said they usually do it. Is this an efficient system?!
In my opinion an effective „dialogue” is needed -not only between law and medical science but between the organ donation systems, too- for the sake of a „flexible” legal background which can take part actively in our everydays in the 21st century.
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Collisions of fundamental rights in the legislative background of criminal procedure particularly regarding the sector-specific confidentiality
Views:197The right to a fair trial by an independent and impartial tribunal is a fundamental right everybody is entitled to. Through such right, transparency and publicity becomes an important guarantee of the administration of justice, in a broader sense, and as a procedural principle of different court proceedings as well. The collision between the requirements of privacy protection and transparency impose challenges on the legislator, the legal practitioners and on the judicial practice as well, from many aspects. Beyond issues of data protection, these requirements influence the publicity of the courtroom, the publicity of proceedings to the press, and the protection of personality rights.
In the general interpretation publicity is a safeguard which guarantees the indecency and impartiality of the court and it is also a significant instrument of social control. The study distinguishes between the different level of publicity in a criminal procedures such as “socially publicity”, “courtroom publicity” and “client publicity” and examines practicable problems like online-streaming during the criminal court proceeding.
In order to ensure the transparency of courts, the information stored must be provided to the parties, other authorities, and the media, taking into account applicable legal provisions.
When it comes to the operation of courts, one of the biggest problems with regard to the constitutionality of data processing is when the qualification of a particular data is changed several times in different procedural stages, and is – consequently – subject to different legal protection. Needless to say that the same data cannot be considered as both public and protected at the same time in the same procedure. However, this issue arises regularly, which is quite frankly a legal nonsense requiring an immediate and comprehensive solution.
Finally the study mentions some de lege ferenda recommendations as well.
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Short Analyses of Basic Definitions of Design Law According to the Practice
62-68Views:133The Committee of the European Union after the issue of the Directive 98/71/EC found that the integrity of the internal market needs an easily accessible uniform protection of designs that covers the whole territory of the Community. For this reason was issued the 6/2002 EC regulation on Community Designs. The most important definitions and the grounds for invalidity are absolutely identical in the directive and the regulation. May aim by this short essay is to interpret the main definitions of design law by analysing some published cases of the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (OHIM). The case law has important role in the field of design law since the requirements of protection and the grounds of invalidity contain a number of unique terms can be construed only by practice. As a consequence of the harmonised design law the practice of the Office can exercise a strong guiding effect not only on the application of community design law but national level design laws in the procedure of the national offices and courts. . 25 (1) point b) is the most used ground for invalidity in practice when a conflict with Art. 4-9. occurs. Within this point lack of novelty, individual character and prior disclosure shall be mentioned first of all. In the relation of novelty and individual character it seems of the cases that lack of novelty always excludes any further examination of individual character since individuality can be considered a narrower definition of novelty. By analyzing the overall impression produced by a design to an informed user the Office always underline that the difference must be instantly and obviously recognizable. The impression shouldn’t be based on through examination of the informed user. The invalidity division stated that any prior design in important databases on internet shall be deemed to be known by the specialised circles and can result the disclosure according to the regulation. In connection with features dictated solely by its technical function the Office stated that designs contain only elements of merely technical purpose (in this case an engine block and engine parts) specific position of such elements and the general impression of the whole enough to provide legal protection for such features. There is no ground for invalidity pursuant to this reason if the same technical function can be achieved by different design.
In my essay I focused on the most the above mentioned most relevant parts of some definitions. My future plan is to analyse the differences between the legal practice of different European countries concerning this issue.
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Domestic violence
Views:385There have been different theories concerning the reasons of domestic violence and abuse.
The court as well as the police can call for restraining, which is especially established for preventing the repetition of the domestic violence.
For the treatment of the above mentioned problem there have been founded two models: the Duluth and the Austrian model.
In the memberstates of the European Committee it can be said that the strong front against the domestic violence is quite general, but the regulation is very diverse which means there is no silver bullet in the fight against it.
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Specialities of public works in criminal law as a punishment
Views:151In Hungary there are two types of punishments: principal punishments and supplementary punishments. I examined the labour in the public interest, which is one of the principal punishments. Judges use this punishment barely than imprisonment, fine. Difficult to use this punishment, because it needs many preliminary works. I examined the labour in the public interest’s ruling from the 1950.:II. Criminal Code of General Part to nowadays.
In Hungary a person sentenced to labor in the public interest is obligated to perform the work defined for him in the court sentence. Only such work may be ordered as work in the public interest which the convict, in light of his health condition and education, is presumed to be capable of performing. There are many problems in rule of the labour in the public interest, for example one day of work in the public. As rule of the Criminal Code punishment shall be six hours of work, but other rule is, punishment shall be 4-8 hours of work for one day.
Other interesting rule is, the imprisonment substituting labour in the public interest or the remaining part thereof shall be established in such a way that one day of labour in the public interest shall correspond to one day of imprisonment. In my opinion it would be better, if the imprisonment substituting labour in the public interest or the remaining part thereof shall be established in fine.
On the other hand I suggested to use this punishment if a person younger than 18 years old. I think if a person is 16 years old, this punishment can be more effective than other punishments.
I found many differences, and many similarities between Hungarian and international Criminal Codes, Propositions, and finally I wrote some important, new point to change the rules.
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The works council as an independent data controller
Views:351In most cases, the employer is the only one identified as a data controller in connection with employment relationships, even though other actors of employment such as the trade unions and the works councils also process data in relation to their activities carried out based on and in compliance with the Labour Code. Even so, while the data processing of the trade union does not raise any particular questions compared to other data controllers, issues do arise in connection with the works council. Works councils undeniably process the employees’ personal data in order to carry out their activities and fulfil their tasks, though without own assets and organisation separate from the employer’s, data processing of the works council could be attributed to the employer and considered as if it was the employer’s data processing, which would settle most of the possibly arising questions such as liability for infringing data protection rules. However, after the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) of the EU came into force in 2018, the definition of the data controller changed and includes now so-called “other bodies” as well, even if these bodies lack legal personality. Thus, the works council itself shall be considered as data controller which means that it must execute the obligations set in data protection rules. Despite the fact that based on the GDPR rules the works council shall be considered as data controller independent from other data controllers including the employer, this fact seems to be unknown for all relevant bodies, even for the data protection authority. Possibly because the works council is still thought to be a part of the employer’s organization and thus it is not obvious that the transfer of data between the employer and the works council is limited and conditional as they are two independent data controller, obliged to guard the employee’s relevant data even from one another. Hence, it is important to emphasize that the works council itself is an independent data controller in order to ensure a high level of protection for the employees. The aim of this paper therefore is to prove that the works council is clearly an independent data controller by analysing the relevant Hungarian and EU rules.
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Re-Reading Hugo Grotius Reflections to Thoughts of „Father of International Law” in International Law of 21th Century
Views:164There are several theories when the birth date of international law was. Hugo Grotius (1583-1645) was the first who systematized these specific rules and raised it to a scientific level. In this essay I examine how Grotius thought about important institutions of international law and what kind of impact these considerations have to our modern age.
War cannot be seen only as an unlawful act, because most of the original human instincts can be recognized in fighting to each other. This point of view proclaims that international law does not denounce war generally. Existence of international law is important to determine the rules of warfare. To suit to the criterions of lawful war, a war should perform two requirements: opposite parties have to be main authorities in their state and both of them have to keep special formal rules during their fight. Main supremacy means that this power is absolute in its territory, so there are no other relevant human factors to limit it. In our age we have to mention that this criterion is no longer applicable without reservation, because the attack against USA on 11th September 2001 demonstrated that not only states can fight to each other.
Grotius gives importance to the reasons of war too. Three reasons exist: defence, regain possession and punishment. Defence means self-defence, which is a right for everybody to protect himself against unlawful injuries, but this solution has to be the last one. Self-defence can be applicable only if it is necessary, sudden and proportional. After the attack against USA a question was born: is it possible to protect before the real attack, when the enemy is in the period of planning an injury. This preventive self-defence is supported by USA, but UN appreciates the right to self-defence only if there is an armed attack against the state. According to Grotius reasons of war can be pretexts or real reasons. Fear of uncertainty can be a pretext for example, because it is not the most proportional instrument to avoid conflict.
Grotius examines not only ius ad bellum but ius in bellum, rights during a war. These regulations are formal obligations, which give frame to the lawful war and show direction to the opposite parties. Grotius says that there are regulations strictly from the law of nature. A great example is that every instrument can be applicable if it is necessary to reach the major aim of war. It is obvious that today this sentence is intolerable, because technical revolution created such weapons that have power to destroy a whole country suddenly. That is why certain prohibited weapons and methods of warfare exist in international treaties. Grotius deals with the problem of traitors, who support the enemy. There is a slight distinction between the nature of dispatched goods. If these goods can be used for fighting, i.e. weapons, traders are enemies too. If these goods are luxury ones, no traitors can be found. The third situation is more problematic, because if these goods can be used in and outside a war too, the exact situation has to examine to judge the intention of the party.
Groitus has interesting thoughts about prisoners. All prisoners and their descendants become slaves. It means the enemy can do anything against prisoners. By now we have certain rules how to treat with prisoners and it is a general regulation that torture and murder against prisoners is strictly prohibited.
An interesting question is in connection with the law of contracts. Hostages and pledge can be typical securities to strengthen a contract. Grotius says that killing a hostage can be lawful, but inner morals order that killing is lawful only if hostage is culpable too.
Grotius deals with the question of ministers, arranging debates. Looking through this huge work of Grotius we can say statement that he is the father of international law is not without basic and well structured reasons. Before the birth of his book, there were only rules and commentaries for national laws. Grotius extended them to a larger perspective, up to an international level.
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Right to the fair trial in the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights against Hungary, with special regard to the requirement of reasonable period of time
31-41Views:226As for the right to a fair trial sanctioned by the convention, our most determining deficiencies arise regarding the compliance with a reasonable period of time. Despite of the relatively small number of the Hungarian infringements of the European Convention on Human Rights, the expectation of sufficiently efficient dispositions eliminating the prolongation of the judicial procedures applies for Hungary as well.
In general, it can be concluded that the Hungarian legal system provides the basic human right to fair trial. This claim is supported by the low number of infringements in Hungary. In this study I sought to present the data related to the Hungarian cases proceeding at the European Court of Human Rights, as well as elementswarranting the emergence of the right to a fair trial assured by Article 6, together with the aspects during the monitoring of the cases of the prolongation of the judicial procedures respected by the Court of Strasbourg. Finally I aimed to delineate the aforesaid apropos of a representative and an exceptional case in respect of the practice of the Court as well.