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• Cheating at the genetic lottery - the regulation of human germline gene editing in Hungarian criminal law

  71-104

  Miklós Pete

  Views:

  20

  Germline gene editing has undergone a revolutionary development in recent decades: genetic intervention has the potential to bring about drastic changes in human lives, or even in the human race. However, this development has not been matched by legal and, in particular, criminal law: the response of criminal law to the development of genetic engineering is outdated, insufficiently elaborate and the deterrent effect of the penalty is disproportionate to the gravity of the offence. In my thesis I am outlining the development of genetic engineering, its ethical and social risks, the international regulation reflecting these, the domestic regulations and their shortcomings, and - as a synthesis of my experience - I am making a de lege ferenda proposal to remedy the latter in an effort to create the most appropriate criminal law regulation possible. The aim of my proposal is, first and foremost, to regulate germline gene editing through more specific, modernised and, in certain aspects, stricter criminal law provisions, which will protect the individual, society, humanity and the interests of society from the dangers that can be expected from the imminent spread of human germline gene editing.

• The organisational changes of public administration in the mirror of the system of the authorities of the offences law

  Zsuzsanna Árva

  Views:

  133

  The paper introduces the most recent processes taking place within the Hungarian public administration from a special aspect and follows the system of the authorities of the misdemeanor law from the 19th century to nowadays. It presents the system of the monarchy, the councils and the period after the change of regime. The Constitutional Court with its Resolution no. 63/1997 (XII. 12.) declared the dual nature of offences – being against public administration and bagatelle cases pertaining to criminal law – and although with a different legal reasoning, it prescribed the right of access to court in both cases. The mentioned separation has resulted in conceptual problems exerting their influence to this day, at the same time the majority of authors dealing with this field instead of the majority opinion accepted the concurrent explanation of László Sólyom, to which Constitutional Court Judges János Németh and Tamás Lábady also joined. In 2012, however, several important changes took place simultaneously. The new Act on Offenses shifted towards criminal law while it terminated the right of local governments to regulate offenses. In parallel with this, the Act on Local Governments at the beginning provided an opportunity for the local governments to sanction anti-social behavior which was revoked by the Constitutional Court in the same year. The paper investigates the effect of the decisions of the Constitutional Court and analyzes the opportunities of public administration within the present legal framework to apply sanctions and defines those criteria on the basis of which the legislator could settle the current situation.

• Thoughts about the latest modification of the Hungarian Act on Copyright

  Tibor Kiss

  Views:

  88

  The Act LXXVI of 1999 on Copyright was amended by the Act CVLV of 2005 with effect of 15 April 2006 in compliance with the provisions of the Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on measures and procedures to ensure the enforcement of intellectual property rights (hereinafter: “Enforcement-Directive”). The Enforcement-Directive concerns the measures necessary to ensure the enforcement of intellectual property rights (copyrights, patent, trade marks, etc.). The Member States of the European Union had to provide for the proportionate measures and procedures needed to ensure the enforcement of intellectual property rights covered by the Enforcement-Directive. The amended and supplement provisions of the Hungarian Act on Copyright provide efficient shelter for the authors from the infringement of copyright law on the one hand and provide legal (procedural) guarantees for the potential infringers on the other hand.

  There are some new provisions which can be applied against the infringers not only by final judgment but also as provisional and precautionary measures. When a judicial decision has been taken finding an infringement of copyright or neighbouring right, the judicial authorities may serve the infringer with an injunction aimed at prohibiting the continuation of the infringement. The judicial authorities can serve the alleged infringer, or the intermediary whose services are being used by a third party to infringe a right, with an interlocutory injunction intended to prevent any impending infringement of copyright or neighbouring right, or to forbid the continuation of the alleged infringements of copyright or neighbouring right, or to make such continuation subject to the lodging of guarantees intended to ensure the compensation of right holder. The judicial authorities can be empowered to require the applicant to provide any reasonably available evidence to their satisfaction with a sufficient degree of certainty that the applicant is the right holder and that the applicant’s right is being infringed or, that such infringement is imminent. The judicial authorities may order the publication or seizure of bank, financial or commercial documents. The judicial authorities may order the recall, at the infringer’s expense in appropriate cases, of the goods which have been found to infringe copyright or neighbouring right and may order that the goods which have been found to infringe the right, as well as the materials and implements used primarily for the creation or the manufacture of the goods in question, be disposed of outside the channels of commerce, without any compensation being due.  It can be also ordered, that the decision be displayed and published in full or in part in the newspapers or in the internet designated by the right holder.

  The most efficient protection against the usurpation can be satisfied by the parallel regulation of the civil and criminal law. The next steps to be done by the European Union are the criminal law provisions. Besides the regulations, consistent jurisdiction is necessary, in which the courts should play an important role.

• Mortgage and credit guarantee registry

  15-26

  Fanni Ferenczi

  Views:

  159

  Analyzing th esystem of mortgage we must reach back to the Roman Law. At that era it had been possible to pledge liabilities, rights and moreover aggregated asset, property. Mortgage is a long term institute of Hungarian Private Law as well. Paragraphs 251 – 269 of Act IV of 1959 on the Civil Code of the Republic of Hungary regulates mortgage in the Law of Obligations, placed among collaterals. In the last two decades the old Civil Code of the Republic of Hungary has been modified twice. Act V of 2013on the Civil Code of the Republic of Hungary weakens but definitely rewritten the principles of lending. Regulation of mortgage and the system of chattel mortgage registry has significantly changed. Several novelty has been introduced therefore the system of chattel mortgage registry was reformed too. Detailed regulations of credit guarantee registry in Act CCXXI of 2013 and Act 18/2014. (III. 13.) KIM has also been accepted correspondingly to the previous changes.

• The essential aspects of the protection of wages in Hungarian labour law’s regulation and legal practice

  27-37

  Nóra Kristóf

  Views:

  39

  The aim of my publication is to scrutinise the Hungarian rules concerning the protection of wages and concluding how effectively they serve the social interests of employees. Furthermore, I researched if the regulation is efficient and consistent enough to protect the employees in point of the compensation for work.

  During the research, I was examining the efficiency of the protection of the employees and their salaries in practice. The other question was whether the current regulation is satisfactory enough to provide the main purposes. In order to answer these questions I was analysing the theoretical dimension and the judicial practice as well.

  I concluded that even if there are some incompleteness and inconsistency in the Hungarian labour law, the regulation seems appropriate and rational concerning the interests of the employees. In my opinion, the social function of labour law serves the employees’ interests enough to give them a decent standard of living.

• Jurisdictional Constants and Doubtful Questions in Recent Hungarian Jurisdiction of Damages for Non-Pecuniary Loss

  Tamás Fézer

  Views:

  64

  Since 1992, date of Constitutional Court’s decision No. 34/1992, certain rules cannot be found in Hungarian Civil Code. There is only a part of a sentence that gives right to any injured person to claim damages in case of personal injuries. More than 10 years after the cassation we are able to look through the legal practice in connection with damages for non-pecuniary loss. The recent re-codifying process plans a brand new institution to substitute and follow damages for non pecuniary loss: pain award. To establish a decent regulation of pain award, jurisdiction of the last decade cannot be neglected. This essay aims to gather typical and crystallized methods of judgements in certain cases, which could be seen as essential and accepted unwritten rules of jurisdiction concerning this field of damages.

  One of the most difficult problems to solve is the question of amount. This field of damages for non-pecuniary loss is always problematic, because all of the cases are different. Although there are similarities between cases if we examine just damages themselves, but due to the difference of human personality it is almost impossible to give exact phrases and rules to help our judges. We can say that highest amounts are generated by assaults against physical integrity and life. Examination during a legal procedure concentrates on the stress caused by the injury, number of injured rights, age of the injured person and the durability of the harm. If the injured person contributed to the injury, it generates reduced amount of damages.

  Method of compensation is really simple for the first time. Hungarian legal system knows two different types for the method of damages: in kind or in money. Former one is inapplicable for non-pecuniary losses. If we compensate in money, there are two solutions: injured person can get the whole sum immediately or we can choose allowance as well. The adaptation of allowance is rather small in Hungary, in spite of the advantages this legal institution could offer. It does not mean res iudicata, so it is flexible and offers opportunity to adjust to changed circumstances in the future: both duration and amount of allowance could be changed.

  It is an interesting question whether personal circumstances of the misdoer could be examined when calculating the amount of allowance. The answer is not unambiguous. Civil law focuses on compensation for the injured party, not the punishment of the misdoer. In spite of this essential lemma, it is necessary to take into account the solvency of the defendant, if we want the plaintiff to get the adjudged amount really.

  Youth is not the only reason of allowance, sometimes old age could be a well-based legal ground for application of this method of compensation as well. It is really important to examine the personal circumstances of the injured party to choose between these two methods: which one serves the aim of compensation, moderation of lost joy of life the most.

  Civil Code precludes the possibility to apply both methods together for the same plaintiff. In my opinion the solution of German Civil Code (BGB) should be considered. BGB allows both methods together. It means that possibilities could be wider and fit better to the actual case and its circumstances.

   Although obligation of damages has two parties traditionally, in a legal procedure of damages for non-pecuniary loss this bipolar situation can be proven false. On the part of the misdoer it is an interesting question what kind of damages can be blamed the state. In Hungary we can meet rules order the responsibility of the state in the field of medical damages or damages for unlawful arrest and illegal imprisonment. Amounts of damages are the highest in these situations.

  On the part of the injured person an often argued problem the position of secondary victims’ claims. These claims are always problematic, because personality rights belong closely to the person himself and there is no possibility to inherit them. Hungarian Civil Code admits compensation for relatives only in case of injuring reputation of a dead person. There are several decisions in which courts admit these claims on the ground of their sui generis base. It is a decent solution, but because of the uneven jurisdiction it needs codifying.

  We can say that there are a lot of jurisdictional constants in Hungary in connection with damages for non-pecuniary loss. These are easy to collect and most of them are able to be codified in a strictly non-taxative style. But this examination showed that doubtful questions can also be found in Hungary especially the application of allowance, claims of secondary victims. To arrange these problems, starting point should be jurisdiction itself.

• The Notarial Examination of the Order for Payment Requests

  14-20

  Fanni Ferenczi

  Views:

  129

  2010 marked the opening of a new chapter inthe more than 120 years history of the Hungarian order for payment procedure. Breaking with the Hungarian traditions, the notaries became competent to carry out these procedures instead of courts. The Hungarian Chamber of Civil Law Notaries established an accessible web-based computerised system for support of procedures. The registration of requests, the assignment of cases to notaries and the administrative handling of cases are carried out through this electronic network. The legislator’s aims when modified the regulation of this legal instrument was to reduce the duration of order for payment procedures and the workload of courts. In this paper I give an overview of the content of order for payment requests and of the practical experience of the notaries in connection with the examination of requests.

• Regulatory issues of intellectual property rights

  27-33.

  György Csécsy

  Views:

  165

  The study finds that the regulation of intellectual property is dominated by civil law rules. The old Civil Code expressed the correlation with the law of intellectual property and regulated the legal protection of know-how, however, the legal material could be found in the separate legal acts organically related to it. The new Civil Code, Act V of 2013 is no longer entitled as intellectual property rights but “copyright and industrial property rights”, and know-how has been protected as a form of trade secret. The homogeneous nature of copyright is broken by Act XCIII of 2016, which provides for collective rights management. In the field of industrial property protection, the most problematic legal institution was know-how. The LIV Act of 2018, which was born after the rules of the new Civil Code, opens a new chapter in the regulation of know-how. In this connection, the law transposes Directive 2016/943/EU into the Hungarian law. The legislator therefore chose the solution that it has incorporated the new conceptual approach, legal institutions, and rules of procedure for the protection of business secrets into national law not by creating them in the Civil Code but by creating new legislation. In this way, the private secrets of natural and legal persons will continue to enjoy the protection of personal rights, while trade secrets and know-how will enjoy protection based on the logic and sanction system of intellectual property protection.

• Civil law notaries within the organization of Roman Catholic Church

  55-65

  Henriett Nagy

  Views:

  106

  The current, traditional Latin-type civil law notaries do not exist within the organisation of the Roman Catholic Church. However, the ecclesiastical “notary” and the concept, function and activities of the civil law notary may be related, and even made parallel, which may support the idea of some common origin or development. My article discusses the reason why we may still speak of persons having quasi notarial competence within the church. Also, it purportsto describe the diplomatic mission of the Vatican, the tasks of the embassy, touching on the issue of legalization as well; moreover, it draws a parallel between the ecclesiastical clerk and the civil law notary from the aspect of civil legal principles, such as impartiality and independence, comparing them also in terms of appointment and similar elements concerning attestations. It covers the rules governing the preparation of instruments and the certification of copies in more detail, as well as the procedural function of the ecclesiastical clerk, the similarities concerning archives and the custody of documents, and finally presents the issue of removability and termination of office.

• Peter Goodrich and the Satirical Legal Studies

  Gábor Bereznay

  Views:

  50

  Satirical Legal Studies is a study by Peter Goodrich, written in 2005. It was published in Michigan Law Review. I wrote my essay with the purpose of analyzing the main points of this study because – as I know – it has not been translated or published in Hungarian yet.

  Goodrich gives a comprehensive analysis of the history of the satirical genres, making comparisons, revealing the most important characteristics of these kind of writings. It is the function that distinguishes simple humour from satire and especially legal satire. Satire uses humour as a tool for pointing out to relevant legal matters that need to be changed, so it can easily be admitted that the purpose of satire is reform itself. It means also that the satirical tendencies in jurisprudence have always become stronger in times of need for reforms but we can state that independent of this satire has (more or less) always been present throughout the history of jurisprudence.  

  Satire has classical, antique traditions that show us the connections between satire and politics or literature. The literary vein of satire or legal satire is less radical than the other one which is in close connection with politics. The latter, more radical form is called Menippean satire and the style of it has always been a certain call for reforms, it always represented a certain social urge to change some relevant legal matters.

  The study deals with the problems of metaphysical nonsenses in the territory of law, such as for example law would be God made, or it could be unchangeable. Satirical Legal Studies clearly states that these are all contradictional nonsenses. Besides this Satirical Legal Studies has always represented and fought against the social injustice and the injustice of legal institutions.

  These main points guide us to the figure of the Bad Man, whom the author, Goodrich features as the immunological power of the society revealing all the serious social affairs waiting for an answer. Taking all these facts into consideration the Bad Man is not a tool for the idea of Bad, what’s more: he is or can be the cure for a society’s illness if the legal system does not ignore him and his voice at all because his decadence is only the decadence of the certain time and place that he is a part of. The role of satire is to face the legal system with the pure reality and needs in order to become adequately reactive.  

• Thoughts about claims of secondary victims for moral damages

  Tamás Fézer

  Views:

  60

  On the very swampy field of damages for non-pecuniary loss there is a special problem called claims of relatives. These claims are also known as claims of secondary victims or third parties. In this legal situation the injury itself hurts not the claimer himself. The claimer has non-pecuniary or moral loss because of his connection with the injured person. He is not the direct and suffering subject but the one who has a loss in his personal rights.

  In Hungary the question is whether these claims can be permitted or not. During the changing structure of damages for non-pecuniary loss in the second half of the 20th century, this problem fitted to the actual judgement of moral damages. Now days the question is a little bit easier: in almost every decision courts admit the right of relatives to claim damages for an injury against there beloved relative, but in most of the cases they demand that plaintiffs has to demonstrate manifested losses not only the infringement of their personality rights.

  In this essay beside the Hungarian jurisdiction I examine German, French, English, Belgian and Dutch legal points of view too. The most interesting and – in my opinion – the one that can be useful for the upcoming new Hungarian Civil Code is the Dutch system.

  Dutch Civil Code limits the possibility of ‘third parties’ to claim damages for non-pecuniary loss as a result of the injury or death of another person. In typical cases the plaintiff would like to claim compensation because he suffered mental illness from witnessing the death of another person, namely a relative. This claim is not awarded by Dutch courts because of the prohibition of Civil Code, but the interpretation of the mentioned provision lives restrictively in jurisdiction. We can find two situations when the claim of third parties can be awarded. First of all, the claimant can only claim for damages, caused by a mental trauma because of being witness of an injury against another person, if he can establish that the aggressor (defendant) also committed an unlawful act vis-à-vis the claimant himself, which resulted in the trauma. It is really difficult to be demonstrated because of the causation required by BW. The process to verify that the aggressor, who committed an unlawful act against another person, causes the trauma is almost impossible in some cases. The second chance of the secondary victim to claim for compensation is if he verifies that the trauma amounts to physical or non-physical injury. If this is the case, the claimant can get compensation of his pecuniary loss (such as cost of medical treatment) and non-pecuniary loss on the basis of his non-physical personal injury.

  A famous case in Dutch case law is ‘Taxi bus case’. A 5-year old little girl was riding her bike close to her home, when a taxi bus overruns her. The bus actually rides over the girl’s head. The mother was immediately warned by one of the neighbours and found her daughter with her face turned to the ground. First, the mother called the ambulance hoping that the girl was still alive. When the mother tried to turn her daughter’s head to look her in the face, she experienced that her hand disappeared into the skull of the girl. The mother noticed that the substance next to her girl’s head was not, as she considered, her vomit, but appeared to be the girl’s brain itself. The mother suffered severe mental illness because of the shock of this sight and the realization. Dutch law is consequent in the question that there is no claim for non-pecuniary damages subsequent to death of a relative.  Taxi bus case was the first when Dutch Supreme Court awarded the right to compensation of non-pecuniary damages to somebody who lost his relative. The decision contained that the act committed towards the child, must also be regarded as tortuous towards the mother. The Court emphasized that there was a distinction between the consequences of the child’s death, for which no non-pecuniary damages may be awarded, and the consequences of the confrontation with the accident, for which damages may indeed be awarded. The mother received 14,000 Euros for non-pecuniary damages. This case shows that although in principle the plaintiff has a right to claim compensation for the exact damages he suffered, the courts are free to assess the damage in a more abstract way, if that corresponds better to its nature.

  Examining this case it is obvious that extra conditions are demanded to claim for non-pecuniary damages because of the loss of a relative. Only the fact of losing a close relative is not enough for a successful action. There have to be special circumstances, which demonstrate that the unlawful act made a direct effect to the plaintiff, who became the primary victim.

  The English solution is interesting because not only the relatives have right to claim but almost anybody who can verify a close relationship with the injured person. In my opinion this system ensures a more coherent and logical jurisdiction, because during the examination of authorization not only a legal fact – being a relative of the injured person – establishes the right to claim but a real emotional relationship.

• The temporal scope of the new Criminal Code in context of provisions of the General Part

  63-72

  Zsófia Antal

  Views:

  46

  Act 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.

• Act on Business Advertising Activity and the protection of inherent rights under Hungarian civil law

  Tibor Kiss

  Views:

  102

  There is a significant inconsistency within the domain of enforcement of inherent rights in the Hungarian regulation. The protection of the inherent rights is based on the section 75 of Act IV of 1959 (hereinafter: „Civil Code”), which provides that inherent rights shall be observed by everyone and inherent rights are protected by law.

  The lack of consistency can be led back to the difference between the provisions of the Civil Code and Act LVIII of 1997 on Business Advertising Activity. Under Section 85 of the Civil Code inherent rights may only be enforced in person.

  There are two exceptions to the above rule laid down in the Civil Code:

  • The legal representative of an incompetent person, or the relative or conservator of a missing person whose whereabouts are unknown shall be entitled to proceed in the protection of that person's inherent rights.
  • In the case of impairment to the memory of a deceased person, the relative and/or the person having been named as the heir apparent in the will of the deceased shall be entitled to file a court action. If conduct causing defamation to a deceased person (former legal person) infringes upon the public interest, the public prosecutor shall also be entitled to enforce this inherent right.

  The Act on Business Advertising Activity provides for several general advertising prohibitions and restrictions. Under Section 4 of this act advertising may not be published if it infringes personal rights, respect for the deceased or rights related to the protection of personal data. Under Section 16 of this act advertising control proceedings may be initiated upon request or ex officio. Based on the regulation of the Act on Business Advertising Activity advertising control proceedings may be requested by any person whose rights or rightful interests, or legal status is injured by violation of any provisions relating to commercial advertising activity. If the aggrieved consumer cannot be identified, or if enforcement of the claims is inappropriate considering the number of consumers injured, administrative agencies or non-governmental organizations providing for consumer interests shall also be entitled to initiate proceedings.

  When the regulations of the Civil Code on enforcement of inherent rights are compared with that of the Act on Business Advertising Activity, it can be established that provisions of the latter act are not in compliance with the provisions of the Civil Code. On the basis of the decision No. 1270/B/1997 of the Hungarian Constitutional Court, the inconsistency is not significant, the different regulatory of the mentioned acts is not unconstitutional. I take the view that in order to achieve consistent regulation the Act on Business Advertising Activity should be modified by prohibiting the advertising control proceedings initiated ex officio in relation to the advertisings which infringe personal rights.

• Thoughts about accessory private prosecution

  Sándor Kardos

  Views:

  70

  In Hungary the new code of criminal procedure established a new legal institution to the Hungarian legal system: accessory private prosecution. This kind of private prosecution gives opportunity to the afflicted person to continue penal procedure in case of negative sentences from investigation authorities. If the prosecutor or the investigation authority stops proceeding or the prosecutor sets aside, withdraws formal accusation, afflicted person can substitute them during a penal procedure and has a right to claim the continuation of it. Our valid code does not limit the field of crimes this legal institution of accessory private prosecution can be applied. But there are some strict reasons, which limit this right of the afflicted person. If the investigation authorities neglected formal accusation because of childhood, death, prescription, clemency, prohibition of ne bis in idem, accessory private prosecution cannot be applied.

  Pros of accessory private prosecution can be found in the rights of afflicted persons. Criminal power of the state cannot be absolute, so we have to give the right for the injured to judge whether he insists on taking the responsibility of the perpetrator despite the opposite opinion of public bodies. This legal institution can help omissions of prosecutors to be remedied. Practicing this right depends on the stadium of the procedure. During the investigation period or the period of formal accusation reasons for accessory private prosecution are different.

  According to the new rules of the code, applying an advocate in the procedure is an obligation for the afflicted person. This regulation ensures that the structure of penal proceedings cannot be changed basically. In a normal procedure there is always a professional expert, the prosecutor on the side of accusation. That is why the code does not permit accusation without applying an advocate.

  Costs are interesting question in case of accessory private prosecution. In popular action procedures costs are paid by the state. When the afflicted person practices the right of accessory private prosecution, state pays in advance, but if perpetrator is acquitted or the court stops proceeding, costs should be paid by the private prosecutor himself. There are some rules to ease this burden for the afflicted person: if he has bad financial capacity and he can certify this circumstance, court can authorize him not to pay for the fee of the advocate.

  There is a special question in connection with accessory private prosecution: representation of the state. In these procedures the afflicted person is the state or one of the state bodies itself. There are two points of view to answer the question: who is authorized to represent the state as an accessory private prosecutor during a penal procedure. First we have to make difference between the injuries: if the injury is against the state while practising public authority, the injured party is the state itself. But if the injury hit the state as a civil legal entity, a possessor, the right to claim is in the hand of that public body, which was entrusted to handle the injured property. This theory means that in case of injuries against the public author state, only the prosecutor can represent it, so there is no chance for accessory private prosecution.

  The other solution for this problem has its starting point that in every crime against public property, accessory private prosecution can be applied. In this case the state can be represented by that part of it, which has interest. Although there are no jurisdiction in this question, because accessory private prosecution was established by the new code from 1st July 2003 after fifty years into the Hungarian legal practice. According to the regulations of the code, we can find the following sentence: afflicted person is whose right or legal interest was hurt or endangered by the crime. Analyzing this definition the argument can be read previously is decent for those situations, when we would like to find the legal representative of the state as an accessory private prosecutor.

  Accessory private prosecution is a good solution that fits to the new directions of law development, to increase rights of the afflicted person. Naturally, time needs to become a well-adopted legal institution in Hungarian legal system after half a century silence.

• The comparison of the civil law liability for the actions of courts and the civil law liability of attorneys in view of the standard of attributability

  128-148.

  Zsolt Zsurzsa

  Views:

  144

  It is a basic requirement of society that those who are infringed upon in exercising their rights, may enforce the sanctions of the infringement in a judicial process. This process is mainly executed by state courts in most legal systems, which are supposed to settle legal disputes by interpreting the relevant laws, and by taking the relevant case law into consideration. However, this is a complex process that requires professional legal knowledge from the parties. Attorneys are meant to be those professionals, who help people seeking justice to obtain their respective compensation, and also with other problems requiring legal expertise. The attorneys shall also execute this ask to the best of their knowledge. In some cases, however, this legal enforcement process may fail, which may result in the person seeking legal advice or compensation to lose its opportunity to pursue its claim permanently.
  This case might happen as a result of the actions or omissions of courts, or that of attorneys. In these cases, it is logical that the liability of these two actors of justice for the parties’ damages may be decided upon by assessing the quality of work that has led to a person suffering material damages. It would be easy to assume that the standard for the reasonable conduct for both actors is very high. However, apparently the standard for the reasonable conduct of courts seems to be a lot lower than that of attorneys in the judicial practice. In practice, only in case of the most severe infringements of courts may the injured parties receive compensation for damages, while a lot less severe infringement – or even quite the same infringements – may result in the attribution of the attorney’s liability.
  I intend to analyze this difference in the civil liability of the two actors in the light of the legal background, legal practice and the different tasks of courts and attorneys as well as the reasons of this phenomenon, and form an opinion on whether it can be justified or this practice should be discouraged. To do so, I analyze the relevant Hungarian judicial practice and legal science, and cite some foreign examples as well.

• Civil law claims in the context of drone flight

  Zsolt Zsurzs

  Views:

  178

  The technology of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), which are most commonly known as ‘drones’, is one of the most rapidly developing field of modern science. That is largely owing to the fact that drones are used in more and more fields of economy, from architecture and media to agriculture and logistics, etc. According to predictions of the European Union, the drone industry may have an income of € 10 billion annually, by 2035, and could create about 100,000 workplaces as well.[2] In addition, the number of hobby drone users is also increasing quickly, with millions of registered drone users in the United States of America alone.[3]

  The nature of drones, namely the fact that these devices can soar up to 30 or more metres in the air and carry out different kind of operations (including taking photographs) by an operator on the ground may cause a lot of conflicts between drone operators and people not taking part in the operation. However, these conflicts, are unlikely to be solved without legal interference, which makes it necessary for both lawmakers and organizations applying the law to prepare for these situations in order to be able to give proper answers to the problem.

  In my research, I have indicated the development of drones in a historical context and also specified the classification of drones, which allowed me to outline those types that are relevant to the subject matter. I also presented the legal background of drone flight in force, on the level of the EU legislation and also gave an insight to the previous, Hungarian legislation. Then, I started to identify those legal claims that can be especially relevant on the terrain of civil law, and concluded three main claims can be named: liability for damages, infringement on personal rights (right to one’s image and, in particular) and the civil tort of trespass to land.

  I analysed all of these claims separately and in connection with each other, and found interesting problems that could have huge relevance in a legal dispute before a court. I intended to support my findings and arguments with opinions from legal scientists, court decisions from Hungary and abroad, and legislative solutions from abroad. At the end of my writing, I concluded that the described problems, and the solution that is given to them, are indeed crucial, because they will most definitely affect the way people can use drones, and neither too strict, nor too loose rules are appropriate to decide upon the subject.

• Prevailing regulation of the termination of parental control under the Civil Code

  12-18

  Tímea Csizmadiáné Pethő

  Views:

  185

  Being 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.

• Alternative procedures in labour law disputes in the light of the basic right to turn to a court

  Zsolt Nádházy

  Views:

  83

  Thanking to the fact that numerous European countries have become more democratized, and to the practical experience based on common law legal system, from the middle of the XXth century some of the continental legal systems have begun to apply alternative procedures for solving disputes between parties, such as facilitation, arbitration or mediation. We can stress two important common features of these solutions. Firstly, if parties apply these ways, they can avoid the traditional judicial way (or, if the result of the chosen method is not satisfactory, these ways can be considered as the preliminary step before the judicial way). Secondly, these procedures have appeared firstly in labour law.

  As we emphasized, applying these solutions parties try to avoid the judicial way, for this reason in this study we try to introduce the relationship between these methods and the basic right to turn a (traditional) court. Expert’s opinions in connection with these processes are very different, we introduce only the two farthest standpoint: on the one hand these ways can speed up the procedure between parties, and can increase the efficiency of it, and parties can agree with each other by amicable way. On the other hand, applying these ways some of the basic rights (for example the principle of independence of courts and the right of fair trial or the principle of contradictory) will be decreased.

  In this study we try to examine the problem determined in the title, on the basis of the rules of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, and the Constitution of Hungary. But, we have to examine not only the right of fair trial and turning to a (traditional) court, but the monopoly of courts in connection with solving legal disputes (as constitutional principle) in details. We utilize the orders of the Hungarian Constitutional Court as well as the theological and practical experience of these procedures. We have to emphasize that from the different alternative dispute-solving mechanisms we examine not all of the models, but only the model of New York, because only the procedures follow these model are relevant for us in this study.

• Academic freedom in the jurisprudence of the Hungarian Constitutional Court

  Petra Lea Láncos

  Views:

  56

  The 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.

• The autonomous country-towns of the Hungarian Plain in the Turkish times

  69-74

  Szilvia Vásár

  Views:

  60

  My essay is on the development of autonomy of the country-towns and the changes of their relationship with the Hungarian county, the land lords, and the Turks. My research is based on the analysis of original account books of Debrecen and Nagykőrös. The situation of these towns was special in the 17th century, among other things, because of their geographical location. Debrecen situated at the border of the three big powers and Nagykőrös placed inside of the Turkish Empire. Later the country-town leaders were able to pay the cost of autonomy. The county administration system disappeared in the Turkish territory, but the functions of it were continued. For example the assembly of Pest county was hold in Fülek which was outside of the county. The administrative bodies of the counties worked according to the old Hungarian regulations. Turkish ruling was considered temporary. It was hard to keep contact between the county and the towns. It was one of the reasons of establishing municipal self government. These towns regularly paid tax to the Hungarian land lords and a higher amount to the Turks. The land lords who escaped from the Turkish territory were still in power. The towns paid the tax to the lords in a lump sum. The lords didn’t exercise their power. The town leaders recognized this situation and reached economical and later political autonomy that was very expensive. After the end of Turkish ruling the counties (re)expanded but the local self governing system was maintained.

• Legal relations in German partnership under the Civil Code

  Veronika Szikora

  Views:

  59

  Partnership 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.

• Questions around prescription by title

  81-89

  Tucsek Máté

  Views:

  406

  In this paper I am willing to introduce different aspects of the new institution of the Hungarian civil law, the so-called prescription by title. This young way of acquiring property was a novelty in the field of law and jurisprudence, and a novelty for entities as well. The law of property contains the most important and fundamental rules of private law, this is the reason why it is always ultimately important that the legislator and the exact purpose of the legislation has to be as clearly defined as possible, since this is what ensures the security of property transactions and guarantees the freedom and protection of one of the most ancient social institutions, property. By its unique nature, prescription has always been the subject of legal disputes, thus the arguments above are cumulative.

  The aim of this paper is to present the regulation of prescription by title, its dogmatic features, draw parallels with its ancestor in Hungarian legal history and an unusual foreign example, examine some relevant aspects of judicial practice and finally attempt to compose a possible  alternative regulatory technique.

• The changes of the legal regime of tobacco advertisements in the laws of Hungary

  László Pribula

  Views:

  62

  Since the change of the regime the economic role of advertisements has changed significantly. Advertising forms a considerable part of economic activities, the cost of which constitute a growing portion of the expenses of a given enterprise. The mass-appearance of advertisements has altered the relationship between consumers and advertisers, it has restructured consumption habits and the importance of advertising in media.

  The most significant modification of the Hungarian Advertising Act occurred by (Act I of 2001), which was in large passed with the consent of the advertising profession. The modification introduced the concept of deceptive advertisements, apparent comparative advertisements and special offers. Comparative advertisements were also regulated in a satisfactory way. However, several legal institutions were introduced as well, which should have been included in competition law. In the last two decades actions against unlawful advertisements were largely based on competition law, which restricts advertising activities violating fair competition in general. Advertising Decree and later the Advertising Act regulated the restriction of advertisements of certain goods and services, or defined the restrictions on certain advertising activities. Due to the modification, the role of Competition Act became less significant, since Advertising Act also contains most prohibitions on advertising activities that were defined in the Competition Act. In addition, in the case of violation of regulations on deceptive and comparative advertisements, Advertising Act denoted the Bureau of Competition and the court as chief acting powers, whereas the violation of rules on apparent comparative advertisements falls in the scope of the Consumer Protection Authority.

  What is more, the (Act I of 2001) “smuggled” the entire prohibition of tobacco advertisements into the Advertising Act, which totally contradicted with the opinion of advertising profession. Thus Hungary, similarly to France, joined the strictest practice in this question. It is also disputable whether such restrictions promote the fight against smoking, and it was certainly disadvantageous that legislation decided in the question without involving the profession, for which there had been no precedents so far.

• Benedikt Carpzov's two works in Debrecen archives

  1-11.

  András Biczó

  Views:

  130

  The Saxon Benedikt Carpzov was considered one of the most illustrious jurisprudents in the early modern period. In the 17th century, Carpzov gained high prestige and authority across Europe, serving as a general reference point for criminal jurisprudence and legal practice. His works – primarily that focused on criminal law – were also applied and referred to by Hungarian courts in the 18th century. The research of Carpzov’s influence on 18th-century Hungarian criminal law as a legal historical phenomenon has not been a fully revealed area. This brief paper tries to make an interesting cultural-historical contribution to the research of the “Carpzovian-effect” in the criminal practice of the Debrecen Magistrates. Fortunately, we can find Carpzov’s two works in good condition in the National Archives of Hungary-Archives of Hajdú-Bihar County. This circumstance provides us unique opportunity to examine these jurisprudential works more profoundly. The Saxon author’s works functioned as “cultural transfers” transmitted foreign legal impacts to Hungarian praxis. The notes, text underlines, and the other types of text highlightings found in these books can enrich and make the research results of analyzing the archival documents of Debrecen criminal procedures more nuanced. This paper is preliminary research, and it establishes the dissection of the notes made in Carpzov’s works. The final goal is to understand how Hungarian judges, prosecutors and advocates interpreted (adapted) the Saxon jurisprudent’s opinions.

• The Hungarian Regulation of Domestic Partnership and The Domestic Partnership Registry

  29-35

  Fanni Ferenczi

  Views:

  179

  In recent decades, the number of the couples who live in domestic partnership and the number of children born to parents in a domestic partnership in Hungary and across Europe increased significantly. Because of these facts and reasons there was a need for a significant revision of the Hungarian regulation on domestic partnership that took place in the new Civil Code of Hungary of 2013. The notaries of Hungary have had a new role in the area of registration. In my work as a vice-notary, I often experience that couples who live in domestic partnership are entirely unconscious of the legal effects of choosing this form of living together.

  In this paper I give an overview of the past and present of the Hungarian regulation on domestic partnership. I pay particular attention to the Domestic Partnership Registry conducted by the Hungarian National Chamber of Civil Law Notaries. This summary gives me an excellent opportunity to give an account of my opinion about the registry and my practical experience with the conduction of the registry.