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The Abolitionist Tendency in Hungary: the History of Capital Punishment between the Sixties and the Eighties
Views:116The capital punishment was poena ordinaria throughout the history of Hungary. Nevertheless, it was applied most frequently not in the Middle Ages, but in the 20th century. There have never been so many legal executions in our country, than during the World War One and Two, however in lack of reliable statistical data the precise number of the death penalties is not known even in recent years. There were numerous death penalties imposed in the Fifties as well, mainly in the years of retaliation after the Revolution of 1956. Only in 1961 did the situation get back to normal, when implementation of martial law stopped for good and all. In this year the Parliament of the People’s Republic of Hungary passed the Act V of 1961 on the Criminal Code that permitted the infliction of the death penalty for altogether thirty-one criminal offenses (for nine crimes against the state, two crimes against peace and humanity, eight military offenses and twelve common offenses), but this sanction in no cases was qualified as compulsory, the judge had the possibility to impose an imprisonment sentence for 10-15 years in each times. The Criminal Code’s Amendment, the Law Decree No. 28 of 1971 reduced the number of the crimes punishable by death to twenty-six, although a new capital felony, seizure of aircraft, was introduced as well. In 1978 a new Criminal Code, namely the Act IV of 1978, was drafted in which death was also ordered for twenty-six offenses, of them for a new one, Act of Terrorism. Meanwhile the number of the death penalties carried out persistently decreased (in the Sixties there were 129 executions, in the Seventies there were 47 and in the Nineties there were 32). However, the process of the abolition actually started only in 1983 when a conference was organized by the Hungarian Lawyers Alliance to discuss the future of the capital punishment in the Hungarian criminal law. Nevertheless, the Hungarian abolitionist movement gained strength in deed when the League Against Capital Punishment was formed in 1989. In the subsequent year the League asked the newly established Hungarian Constitutional Court to declare the death penalty unconstitutional on the ground that it was contrary to the right to life protected by Article 54 of the Hungarian Constitution. Eventually this happened in 1990 by Constitutional Court Decision No. 23-AB of 31 October 1990. From this time the practice of capital punishment is irrevocably forbidden in Hungary.
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Az autóbusszal közlekedő utasokat az Európai Unióban megillető jogok
27-37Views:144The European Parliament and the Council adopted new rules for passengers traveling by buses. The 181/2011/EU Regulation concerning the rights of passengers in bus and coach transport developed a strict liability of bus carriers in cases of delay and cancellation. It deals with accidents, the meaning of right to information, handling of complaints, and the non-discrimination and mandatory assistance for disabled persons and persons with reduced mobility.The Regulation is entered into force on March 21st 2013. The article is about to analyze the content and the meaning of these new rules and rights passengers have when they use bus transportation.
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The Origins of Publicly Used in the Hungarian Patent Law
Views:90It was obvious at the creation of the 37th Act of 1895 on the patent rights of inventions, that the protection of patents is a subjective right based on objective conditions, and in connection to this, the discretionality of both the monarch and any other state organizations. For the purposes of this act, the requirements of petantibility were: novelity; invetnion; susceptible of industrial application. Some of these criteria the article is presented the novelity, especially the case of publicly used. Under the first patent act, any new invetion capebla of being used industrialy can be patented, except medicines, food for men and animals, and chemical products, and if the Goverment opposes, warlike inventions. An invention was new, if it had not been published in print anywhere, or publicly worked, or patented by others in the realm. As a result the study is presented the evolituon of „publicly used” from the first patent act by the end of the second world war.
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Agents and Insiders – The Relationship Between Agency Costs and Insider Trading
54-64Views:183This paper examines insider trading regulation regulations from the viewpoint of agency costs. An overview is given regarding the different definitions of insider trading in jurisprudence which helps establishing the essence of this behaviour. The author also aims to give an insight to the agency problem and agency costs which arise in a business organisation with separate ownership and management. Only through that can be the effects of insider trading demonstrated on agency costs. The article aims to give a balanced overview by enumerating reasons whether insider trading increases or decreases agency costs. If it raises agency costs then prohibition is justified. If it decreases agency costs, e.g. it serves as a more efficient compensation mechanism, then allowing insider trading might be more beneficial.
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Jusqu’ou peut aller le droit pénal européen?
Views:65Depuis l’entrée en vigeur du traité d’Amsterdam, la Cour de justice des Communautés européennes a de plus amples compétences dans le Titre VI du traité sur l’Union (3e pilier) consacré á la coopération policière et judiciaire pénale. Á partir de ce moment on peut rencontrer plusieurs arrêts concernant le droit pénal. L’affaire Procédure pénale contre Maria Puppino joue un rôle essentiel parmi ces arrêts. C’était la première fois que la Cour de Justice des Communautés européennes a été saisie d’une question préjudicielle sur l’interprétation d’une décision-cadre adoptée dans le cadre du troisième pilier.
Dans cet arrêt la Cour souligne l’extention de l’obligation d’interpretation conformément á la décision cadre même si le résultat est contraire aux lois pénales ou procédure pénale internes. Quelques temps après «La Cour de Luxembourg limite la souveraineté des États en matière pénale» -écrivait-on dès le 15 septembre 2005 dans un grand quotidien. Les revues juridiques en droit pénal ont adopté le même ton: «La Cour de justice des Communautés européennes limite la souvaireneté des États en matière pénale.»
La Cour de Justice a déclaré que la protection de l’environnement constituait un des objectifs essentiels de la Communauté, c’est pourquoi la Communauté a la compétence pour rendre des décisions visant au rapprochement des sanctions des états membres dans ce domain.
De nos jours la question du droit pénal européen est de plus en plus actuelle, malgré cette substancielle européanisation, de nombreux pénalistes et les états membres défendent plus que jamais les particularités nationales.
La présente contribution montre brièvement l’histoire du troisième pilier concernant la coopération policière et judiciaire. Puis j’analyse en détail ces deux arrêts mentionnés ci-dessus qui présentent la situation actuelle du droit pénal dans l’espace de l’Union européen. En suivant les arrêts de la Cour de Justice on peut constater une forte européanisation dans ce domaine mais en même temps on peut voir une certaine «bataille» de compétence entre les institutions européennes notamment entre la Comission et le Parlement contre le Conseil. La Comission veut obtenir de plus en plus de compétence. En ce qui concerne les états membres, les participants dans le procès préjudiciel combattent contre la Comission et accentuent qu’il faut que le troisième pilier reste dans le cadre de coopération intergouvernementale et ils ne veulent pas renoncer á leurs souvairenités et leurs spécialités dans le domaine pénal. On peut dire qu’il y a deux champs de bataille dans le droit pénal européen, d’une part entre les institutions européennes, d’autre part entre les états membres et l’Union.
Dans la «bataille» c’est la Cour qui essaie de résoudre ce problème, donnant de plus en plus de droit á la Comission, renforcant les élements communautaires dans le troisième pilier. Malgré les protestations des États membres, la Cour limite leurs souveraineté en matière pénale. La communautarisation de droit pénal a déja commencé mais il reste beacoup de questions ouvertes. Dans mon article, j’ai posé ces questions et j’ai essayé de trouver les réponses possibles présentant les arguments des differentes parties.
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The adjudication of the unlawful financial service in the notarial practice and its connection to the document forgery
10-27Views:66The unlawful providers destroy the trust, as well as in the lawful providers in the whole financial system. The adjudgement of the loan service by non financial providers can cause problem in the notarial practice. Namely the notary can just conclude of the frequency, for-profitnature and organization of the loan service provided by the parties statements.
My present study gives a summary about the criminal facts and their analysis occur in the practice as well as to the notarial bench, who can be seen as non-proffessional connected to the criminal education. The article provides useful information, the reader gets an opportunity to analyse the unlawful financial service from the notarial aspect.
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Thoughts on the successions of the business shares
Views:93The 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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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:154As 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.
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The most common practical problems of summary offence against property, particulary theft and fraud
42-53Views:85In this study, based on the procedure of the Central Summary Offences in Hajdú-Bihar, I will try to present the most common practical problems of summary offence against property (particulary theft and fraud),
First of all, my article describes the legal background as to why summary offence procedure is called „petty criminal law” in Hungary, and as a result what legal basis are being used for criminal concepts.
In the second part of the study I will present some resolution to the most common and the most important legal imperfections and problems.
Last but not least I will make an attempt to disclose the most common issues, which might occur in the so-called „quick procedure”, the „bring to court”.
In summary I hope, my study can be of useful assistance to the summary offence procedure and can elevate standard/level of the procedure.
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Honestly about the Closed Doors - Do Persona Non Gratas Participate in the Psychological Expert Examinations in the Criminal Procedure?
73-78Views:90Authorities and courts are supported by various experts from a long time in the process ofdomestic criminal procedures, howeverlegalpsychologyis a pretty young profession in this field. Despite of its brief history it has achieved stability in the system of criminal sciences and has an outstanding role in influencingjudgementon cases. What happens when this specialty itself becomes the subject of an expert procedure? My article willtryto answer this question. I examine the mechanisms of hungarianlegal psychological expertingthrough personal features of the experting-examination within thecriminal legal procedures of law. At the same time I verify thepresumption that thesecomponents work unrealistically and dissimilarly to the actual practice due to thenatureof current legislations. My hypothesis is supported by four interviews with legalpsychological experts and relevant statistical data brought from the analysis of thirty-one cases from TheCourt of Law of Debrecen, between 1st Jan 2000 and 15th Jul 2016. In the last section of my work I propose individual recommendations and guides for the legislator in relation to the earlier highlighted defects.
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A büntetőjogi mediáció gyakorlati aspektusai
1-12Views:125Mediation is a conflict-management method designed to achieve restorative justice (offenders should assume responsibility and pay the penalty for their deeds, with the greatest emphasis on reparation of the victim, and the affronted community should be conciliated). This method may be applied to solving a variety of disputes or conflicts (e.g. disputes involving neighbours, families, couples, and companies).
The mediation technique has already been used in the fields of civil law, family law and employment law. From 2007 onwards, it can also be applied in criminal procedures. According to Article 221/A of the Code on Criminal Procedure (Act XIX of 1998) the mediation process may be used in criminal procedures dealing with certain offences against the person, property or traffic offences if the crime is punishable with no more than five years imprisonment, and the offender has made a confession during the criminal investigation. -
The lead of the proceedings and the subjectivity of the judges – influence in the courtroom
59-65Views:156The image of the judicial proceeding and the impressions of the participants are defined by various facts. These are important things, because the prestigious environment and the skill-based human approach are key factors in the acceptance of the judgments. The article analyzes the possibilities of the judicial influence through examples: like the condition of the buildings, the appearance and behavior of the employees and the staff. The statements made by the accused during the investigations are also very important within these topics, because they can justify the charge and predict the process of the proceedings. The personality of judge has great importance in the lead of the proceedings – for example tone, questioning style, situation awareness and logic. These things above are definitely specify the way of the proceedings.
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Fragmentation and changes in Hungarian succession law
81-103Views:245The right to inherit is recognized in the Fundamental Law, the detailed substantive legal rules are laid down in the Seventh Book of the Civil Code. In recent years, the legislator has formulated rules of substantive succession in other legislation beyond our private law code (the Civil Code). According to the Registered Partnership Act, the rules applicable to the spouse apply mutatis mutandis to the registered partner, which means that the registered partner is also a legal heir. The special rules for the acquisition of ownership of agricultural and forestry land by succession by will are laid down in the Land Traffic Act (Act CXXII of 2013). On 1 January 2023, a new law will enter into force (Act CXLIII of 2021), which will supplement the succession law provisions of the Civil Code in the case of joint legal intestate succession of undivided common ownership of agricultural land by several heirs. The designation of a public body to represent the State in succession matters is provided for in a separate ministerial decree. The present article analyzes how all these complex, fragmented regulations make it difficult to enforce the law and the extent to which it hinders the speedy execution of probate proceedings. The present article criticizes the fragmented regulation and proposes the integration of the rules of the separate laws into the Civil Code, as this could contribute to a more efficient application of the law.
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Ethical and environmental questions about the subjectivity of living beings
Views:138In the focus of the discipline of environmental ethics stands the moral relationship between human beings and the environment. The development of this science was necessary due to the traditional anthropocentrical approach, which provided an excellent moral base for the exploitation of our natural environment.
Although nature was the focus of much of nineteenth and twentieth century philosophy, contemporary environmental ethics only emerged as an academic discipline in the 1970s. Basically two main lines can be distinguished: the invidualistic and the holistic approach. The main idea of individualism (biocentric), similarly to traditional anthropocentrical paradigm, is that only individuals can represent value, which must be respected by others. These individuals are not only human beings, but all living being?, because each individual living thing in nature - whether it is an animal, a plant, or a micro-organism - is a ‘teleological-center-of-life’ having a good or well-being of its own which can be enhanced or damaged, and that all individuals who are teleological-centers-of life have equal intrinsic value (or ‘inherent worth’) which entitles them to moral respect. The holistic approach offers a totally different solution by extending the moral concern to the whole biosphere.
Hereinafter this article, along with the most popular disciplines of environmental ethics, examines whether non human beings can have legal standing or not.
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Child Offenders and Victims
52-62Views:474In this article an evergreen topic will be discussed again and certainly not for the last time ...
After the presentation on the children of the information society, – the "Z" generation currently living its childhood –, their specific problems and their living space, and after discussing the psychological and sociological background, legal history, and last but not least, the statistics, – I am looking for answers in my study such as what factors, data, precedents motivated the legislature to modify the punishable age for crime, furthermore, whether the more than three years since the entry into force of Law C of 2012 have confirmed the decision to be correct. I will also make mention of victims because of the considerable overlap between the perpetrator and the victim circles characterizing juvenile crime, showing the process which broadens the victims’ rights besides the ever stricter penal policy.
Have hopes regarding the new regulations proven right? What else can the legislature do, and what can we do for our own children?
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Aspects of Penal Law and Investigation of the Criminal Offence of Theft as Stipulated by the Romanian Criminal Code
1-12Views:133Theft represents one of the oldest ways of embezzling goods from the public or private patrimony. As a typical form of criminal offences concerning the patrimony which are committed by stealing, it represents a great social danger in any given historic age. Thus, it is necessary that the judiciary bodies be aware of the main issues concerning the methodology of investigation of this kind of criminal offences, as well as of the nature of the causes and conditions that trigger or favorize the committing of such deeds.
The Romanian Criminal Code stipilates in article 208 theft in its simple form and in article 209 aggravated theft. Simple theft has the following forms: theft of movable material goods, theft of energies or documents; theft of a good that belongs entirely or partly to the doer; theft of a vehicle for the purpose of using it; theft from one’s spouse; theft committed by the person who lives with the injured party or is housed by the latter; theft committed by a minor to damage his/herguardian. According to the Romanian legal provision theft consists in ”taking a movable good from the possession or custody of another, without the consent of the latter, for the purpose of unjustly appropriating it“, certain circumstances being necessary to consider it as an aggravated theft. Activities performed in accordance with the forensic regulations and with the provisions of the Romanian Code of Criminal Procedure must clarify the following general aspects: what is the area of the crime scene, what category do the stolen goods belong to, the circumstances in which the deed was committed with reference to the number of persons that participated together in committing the theft, conditions of place and time, the way of getting on the crime scene. Also, dispositions can be given to perform searches, reconstructions, to present persons and objects in order to have them recognized, as well as tactical activities of hearing persons. -
About the GDPR – focusing on libraries and archives
63-75Views:89Nowadays data has become one of the most important value which raises the question of protecting personal data. The European Union responds to the challenge by legal instruments: since 25 May 2018 it has been obligatory for the member states to apply GDPR. In the article, first I study the novelties of GDPR. Then I examine to what extent the provisions apply to libraries and archives.
The novelties can be divided into several larger groups. Some of them belong to the data subjects (data portability, right to be forgotten, pseudonymisation), the other parts are principles like data protection by design and by default or the closely related accountability principle. The Regulation also introduces a new legal institution, the data-protection impact assessment and requires the notification of personal data breach. Concerning the expected impacts, it is clear that the Regulation strengthens the rights of the data subjects but imposes new obligations on data controllers and strengthens the role of control. GDPR is a determinative law for the undertakings and business life, and it must also be applied by libraries and archives. For archiving purposes in the public interest, however, the Regulation allows for exemptions concerning libraries and archives. The provisions require libraries and archives to identify the risks that may occur while processing personal data as well as to examine their regulations.
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Presidential Pardon from the Aspect of Criminal Law
102-113Views:338The individual pardon, exercised by the President of the Republic, has recently become the centre of attention in the media and among the lawyers in context of life imprisonment without parole eligibility. This prompts me to investigate the presidential pardon in this article.
I am dealing with the origins and the standardization of pardon, then I move on to the conditions and criteria the Head of State can take into consideration when making the decision. Afterwards, I am presenting some statistics.
The power of pardon is stipulated by the Fundamental Law of Hungary, and the specific rules can be found in the Criminal Code, the Criminal Procedure Act and the Punishment Executive Act.
I am focusing on the last one, in which the Government and the Parliament have redressed the problems of life sentence, regarding human rights, with a compulsory procedure of pardon, thus giving the convict the hope of being released from prison. However, this solution raises a few questions, so arguments can be made both for and against it.
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The role of interest in civil processes
42-46Views:291The study reviews the enforcement of various interest-related claims in civil litigation and their special litigation rules, emphasizing that there are few specific norms in the Code of Civil Procedure from a procedural point of view compared to the enforcement of pecuniary claims. The study compares the interest provisions of the Act III. of 1952 and the Act CXXX of 2016, and seeks to provide adequate answers to enforcement issues arising from regulatory gaps. The article states that the law generally sets out some specific procedural provisions for contributions to be enforced together with the principal claim, which are also subject to interest as a contribution to the principal claim. The number of purely interest-specific provisions in our current law is negligible. The analysis covers the following specific legal provisions concerning interest: the amount in dispute, appeal against the interest provisions of the judgment at first instance, the admissibility at second instance of an increase of the claim for payment of interest, the admissibility of an application for review only of the provisions of a final judgment concerning interest. The study evaluates trends in court practice through analysis of ad hoc court decisions. The author states that uniform and coherent case law is in the best interests of the claimants based on clear legal provisions.
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Criminal offences that infringe on individual freedom versus restrictions imposed during the pandemic to guarantee access to education
12-22.Views:144In the study we propose as follows, we will look at differences in perception between the pandemic constraints imposed by the governmenst of countries affected by the pandemic in view of managing the pandemic and society’s perception that governments have deprived citizens of their freedom by restricting their mobility and imposing restrictions with regard to travel, including in order to attend educational activities. In some cases, the communities affected by the restrictive measures have gone further, accusing governments of the crime of “Illegal Deprivation of Freedom”, which is included by the legislator in the criminal codes of countries. We consider that the accusations brought against the authorities are unfounded, exaggerated, and thoroughly wrong. We believe that they are due to communication gaps in the public domain, the differences in perception of community members in the context of changing paradigms and the insufficient legal education, which leads to confusion between illegal deprivation of freedom and limitations or restrictions. Although, in the legislation, the articles that provide for the criminal offences relevant to the matter are included in the criminal (penal) codes, for example, in the Romanian legislation in Article 205 of the Criminal Code, with the marginal name “Offences against Individual Freedom” of Title I, which bears the marginal name “Offences against the Person”, and falls within the area of interest of legal sciences, we will analyze the effects in relation to the limitations and restrictions imposed by the authorities for the management of the pandemic. To this end, on the one hand we will highlight the aspects of material criminal law necessary for the legal classification of a deed as offence of illegal deprivation of freedom, in accordance with the provisions of the Criminal Codes of Romania, Hungary, Republic of Italy, Greece, and on the other hand, we will present some aspects regarding the management of the coronavirus crisis in the area of education.
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On Law as a Multidisciplinary Phenomenon
42-50Views:83A cikk bemutatja a jog fogalmi elemzésének korlátait, és a jog funkcionális és multidiszciplináris megközelítésében rejlő lehetőségeket. Vázolja a jogfilozófia történetének néhány állomását, és hangsúlyozza a jogfilozófia multidiszciplináris tendenciáinak terjedését. Megvilágítja a különböző tudományos megközelítések néhány összefüggését a római jog vallásos gyökereire vonatkozó egy konkrét kutatás alapján. Végül vázolja a multidiszciplináris jogi kutatások vertikális és horizontális struktúráit, amelyek az ontológiai szinteken és a speciális kutatási érdeklődéseken alapulnak.
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Civil law dogmatic deficiencies and legislative hiatuses in a private law legislation: Short case study
49-66Views:113Based on the Government Decree 383/2023 (VIII.14.) on the ministerial approval of lease contracts of companies directly or indirectly majority-owned by the state, the article presents a case study showing that the legislation suffers from numerous "legal errors" that violate the provisions of the Legislation Act and is not in line with the fundamental doctrinal principles of civil law. The case study describes in detail the provisions of Act CXXX of 2010 on Legislation that the Government Decree does not comply with and shows how imprecise wording leads to problems of interpretation. The paper points out the private law terminus technicus which the legislator did not apply correctly (the party of the lease contract, consideration, invalidity - ineffectiveness) and the author proposes to correct the errors and to clarify certain normative provisions.
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The special requirements applicable to the management of national assets, with a special respect to the requirement of transparency
85-96.Views:173The Fundamental Law of Hungary states that the property of the Hungarian State and of municipal governments shall be considered national assets. National assets shall be managed and protected for the purpose of serving the public interest, satisfying common needs and preserving natural resources, taking also into account the needs of future generations. Economic operators – such as companies - owned by the State or municipal governments shall conduct business prudently and independently, in accordance with the relevant legislation, under the requirements of legality, efficiency and effectiveness. The special requirements regarding the management and safeguarding are laid down in Act CXCVI of 2011 on National Assets (hereinafter: National Assets Act) and Act CVI of 2007 on State Property (hereinafter: State Property Act) also contains a few requirements in its preamble.
Based on the above, national assets shall be managed and protected in a special way, compared to privately owned assets. Publicly owned enterprises play a very important role in the national economy, since they provide a significant amount of GDP, they employ numerous people, they usually provide public services and last but not least they manage public funds. As a consequence, these companies shall also manage their assets with respect to the special requirements. In our article, we introduce these requirements by examining their content and also their relationship towards each other.
One of the most important requirements is transparency, since these enterprises manage public funds and according to the Fundamental Law, every organization managing public funds shall publicly account for the management of those funds. Public funds and national assets shall be managed according to the principles of transparency and of corruption-free public life. Data relating to public funds or to national assets shall be recognized as data of public interest. We lay a special emphasis on transparency by introducing the relating regulation and also by summarizing the most prominent statements of court decisions from the last few years. In their judgements the courts interpreted the requirement of transparency in connection with state-owned enterprises and the relationship between transparency and the protection of business secrets and business interests of the companies.
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Academic freedom in the jurisprudence of the Hungarian Constitutional Court
Views:58The change of political regime in Hungary has also brought about a democratic commitment to the constitutional guarantee of human rights and fundamental freedoms. Among other freedoms, academic freedom was redefined in positive constitutional law, and the stage for judicial interpretation was set. The Hungarian Constitutional Court has been in operation and delivering rulings for almost two decades now, also shaping the contents und guarantees of the fundamental right inherent in academic freedom. In the Court’s case law, academic freedom has been reflected upon chiefly in two aspects: first, from the viewpoint of the freedom of scientific research and the access to historic archives, bearing a great potential for the post-communist society in facing its burdensome history and dealing with past grievances and, second, as the guarantee of the autonomy of institutions of higher education, gaining relevance in the last few years in the light of the reformed Act on Higher Education. However, academic freedom has remained a neglected field of study of constitutional law scholars, and a detailed elaboration of this fundamental freedom has yet to be undertaken.The present article offers a brief insight into the jurisprudence of the Hungarian Constitutional Court related to the concept and scope of academic freedom. As an illustration, the recent case law related to the autonomy of institutions of higher education is introduced, with an attempt to sketch the judicially set guarantees and limits of this fundamental freedom.
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Theoretical issues of equal treatment in relation to the legal classification of labour law
57-79Views:187There are many national and international academic debates on the classification of labour law. On the one hand, labour law can be categorised as private law when we consider the establishment of employment relationships. The legal basis for an employment relationship is exclusively the employment contract, thus labour law belongs to classical private law. On the other hand, the content of the employment relationship can be determined not only by the employment contract, but also by a number of other rules. These norms typically have public law content and, as so-called public law elements of labour law, seek to limit the contractual freedom of the parties. The existence of public law elements is typically justified by the legislator on the grounds that there is subordination between the parties in the employment relationship, so that the contractual balance of rights, which is characteristic of private law, is shifted in favour of the employer. The presence of elements of public law, and in particular the requirement of equal treatment, is intended to redress this imbalance in employment law by limiting the contractual freedom between the parties. In the present article, we examine in particular whether the presence of public law elements gives labour law a specificity of its own. In addition, focusing on the principle of equal treatment, we examine how the prohibition of discrimination in labour law and classical private law can be interpreted and whether this general behavioural requirement is capable of redressing the balance that has been shifted between the parties. Finally, we ask the rhetorical question: if the requirement of equal treatment is capable of redressing the balance, why is there a need for additional public law elements in labour law?