Search
Search Results
-
Functions and interpretation of principles in the German contract law
Views:48To describe the functions of principles we can say that all of them are fundamental basis of an area of law. They declare or solve concrete debates between the parties. If there is a problem with interpreting of a rule in the civil code, judges has this helping hand. In Germany the development of principles in the field of contract law has a really unique historical root. At the time of BGB’s birth, the German Civil Code did not accept any exculpation under the rule pacta sunt servanda. Moral philosophers acknowledged that a contract as private interest of the parties needs special protection from the state. It is not only a personal relationship, because self welfare leads to welfare of the public. The law has to regulate this field and give instruments of protection for both parties to ensure peace and equality in the field of public relations and moral.
After the First World War, Rechtsmark (German currency) had its deepest point in its history. The inflation was so high that the performance of a contract made before the war was absolutely unfair for the supplier. For the cost of one galloon gas anyone could buy the entire stock after the war. There was a too late and too small reaction from the state for this situation. An Act had been accepted in 1925 about revalorization. The main fault of this Act was the strict and very small applicability in the field of contracts. The regulations of it were applicable only for contracts with large economic potential.
German jurisdiction had to solve the problem. The most difficult part of this process was how to dissolve the strict paradigm of pacta sunt servanda. Oertmann, a German legal expert created the collapse of the foundation of the transaction. It meant that changed circumstances deprive the contract from its ground, the need of the party. Anybody who signs a contract has a need and tries to create all conditions of that specific contract to harmonize with his or her needs and interest. In case of an essential change of circumstances this interest modifies and the original transaction became tremendously onerous for him or her. The doctrine of Oertmann was insisted on pacta sunt servanda, so after the change of circumstances the whole contract failed.
Jurisdiction in Germany accepted Oertmann’s doctrine with a completion. Judges vindicated the right for themselves to modify the contract to be suitable for the new interests of the parties. This modification meant the implementation of clausula rebus sic stantibus into German contract law. It became applicable worldwide in the field of long term relationship of the parties.
In this essay I examine not only the development of these contractual principles in Germany but the effectiveness and functions of them. I describe and define the legal interest of regulating contracts and what is the connection between private and public interest in the field of the law of contracts. As a defect of the contractual procedure non-performance and other breach of a contract have special importance in civil law. Good faith is a basic principle of civil law in Hungary too and in most European civil codes. The interpretation of German good faith theory (Treu und Glauben) is significant from the viewpoint of the judicial modification of contracts. In case of clausula rebus sic stantibus if the party wants to ground his or her claim, he or she has to prove the good faith as a moral standard to be an exculpation under the heavy burden of pacta sunt servanda. The conclusion is that in Germany the basic element of private contracts is not the consent of parties but good faith of them. The socially excepted moral appears through the requirement of good faith of the parties. The law has to ensure that in any period of a contractual relationship this good faith exists.
-
Non-competition agreement
20-28Views:228The “agreement on non-competition” is essentially the extension of the protection of the basic economic interest of the employer. While during the employment relationship several labor law provisions protect the interest of both parties, the “agreement on non-competition” is designed to protect the employer’s interests after the termination of the relationship. This means – in return for financial compensation – the former employee needs to refrain from any kind of business competition against his/her former employer. This necessarily involves financial compensation and may have several restrictions, such business or geographical area or time.
The previous Labor Code did not specify for detailed regulation of the issue and the law remained rather vague. It merely referred to the fact that parties – based on their own free will – may enter into such agreement. However the new Labor Code contains explicit regulations under title XVIII of the Act as “Particular Agreements Related to Employment”.
The “agreement on non-competition” belongs to the field of employment law. Unlike the previous Labor Code that categorized this possible agreement as of purely civil law in nature, the new Labor Code declares it to belong under the scope of the Labor Code. The previous regulation even ordered the provisions of the Civil Code to be applied to such agreements however the new legislation brought a conceptual change.
The currently effective regulation provides for a 2-year limitation on such conduct on the employee’s part that would create competition with the employer. The exact amount of the consideration payable for this obligation remains to be decided by the parties however the Labor Code suggests that it shall be based on how difficult the applied restrictions make it for the employee to find another job with his qualifications and experience. As a basic limit the law provides that the amount shall not be less than one-third of the base wage payable for the same period of time.
The “agreement on non-competition” is not to be confused with similar legal institutions. The paper points out two close similarities in the legal system. One being the employee’s obligation of confidentiality; this prevails after termination of the employment relationship as well without any time or similar restrictions and even without any financial compensation. The other one is the so called “non-compete” agreement from the field of competition law. This is applicable after takeovers where the seller shall refrain from engaging into business in the same area as the buyer.
In the field of labor law the time period for the “agreement on non-competition” is up to the agreement of the parties however the new law invokes an upper limit of two years that is following the termination of the employment relationship. This is a decrease from the previous regulation that provided for a period of three years. The agreement can be modified by the consent of both parties just like the employment contract or civil law agreements.
In case of violation of the agreement three cases are to be analyzed. The first is the case of the employee breaching the provisions of the contract. In this case the employee is liable for damages towards his/her former employer. The provisions of the new Civil Code and those of the Labor Code are to be applied to the damages. In the second case the employer may request an injunction to prohibit the employee from any conduct breaching the agreement while the third case involves the breach of the agreement on the employee’s part for which the rules of the Civil Code and the Labor Code are to be applied as well.
-
Patent Law Contract and its effects in Hungarian Law
Views:45Significant changes have happened on the field of intellectual property law in the last few years. The emphasis placed on the material relations and economy became stronger. These changes caused that creations of the man came into the limelight. Of course the legal background became also very important.
We can feel the re-regulation of this legal field. Legal institutions became regulated in new Acts to be adjusted modified circumstances. There were several causes of the necessity of these changes. First of all, the new economic and social environment after the change of the regime claimed to modify the legal materials. On the other hand the international environment changed rapidly and it is still in progress. So the Republic of Hungary had to face with the obligations that are stated in international treaties and we had to put a strong emphasis on our member status in the European Union: EU regulations and directives. By now we can tell that re-codifying this area is over, we can only expect to small modification in the near future.
Modifications in most of the cases prepared for the future. But it does not mean that we can count on a very crystallized legal material. In the dynamically developing world of IP law it is not rare to use smaller modifications. We have to examine the legal practice too, that helps us finding the correct way in the fast changing economical and social relations. Performing the harmonization duty, legislator could not always take into consideration the national significances, legal practice. The lack of examining these circumstances can cause modifications in the legal material.
The Patent Law Treaty adopted at Geneva on June 1st, 2000. The provisions of the Treaty and the Regulations shall apply to national and regional applications for patents for invention and for invention and for patents of addition, which are filed with or for the Office of a Contracting Party. The Patent Law Treaty became applicable on April 28th, 2005.
Hungary joined the Treaty at the beginning, because of the need in 2008 to change the Hungarian patent law. The Treaty suggests the European Patent Convention, however in many ways it is the complementary. The Treaty gives types of applications permitted to be filed as international applications under the Patent Cooperation Treaty, divisional applications of the types of applications referred to in item.
Earlier the rules of Hungarian patent law were complicated, the process of registry was less favorable for the patentee. The harmonization of process rules effects that the patentee cannot lose his patent rights. The new rules introduce an electronic process in patent law, which makes the process easier, cheaper, and faster. But not all the procedures became electronic: only the lodgment of petition. In the future that should be better to reach electronic procedure on every level.
The harmonization of patent rules means liberalization, the notification will be easier and faster, which effected growth in the trust of business. Process rules need more harmonization in the future, and hopefully the final goal will be one global process at in all member states of the European Union.
-
The Rules concerning Compensation for Expropriation in Hungary
Views:174The regulation of expropriation law is indicative of the sound of rule of law. It shows how the state treats vulnerable groups, and people adversely affected by expropriation. In this paper I will give a short overview of the rules concerning compensation for expropriation, from the inception of expropriation law, right up to 2014. I pay particular attention to the characteristics of the regulation in the socialist era between 1948, and the regime change in 1989/1990. I expand on how Hungary tried to free itself of the burdensome heritage of the socialist regulation of that law, after the regime change of 1989/1990. Then I review the current status of legal regulation concerning compensation for expropriation that gives me a great opportunity to and explain suggestions de lege ferenda.
-
The impact of inflation on private law relationships
45-72Views:209Not for decades have we seen price rises in Hungary, or in Europe and the world in general, such as those faced by the developed world in 2022. Inflation in Hungary was 24.5% in December 2022 and in January 2023, the indicator stood at 25.7%. This article provides a summary of the key concepts related to inflation, going beyond a definitional approach to inflation to cover its types and the most important principles and methods of measuring it. Economic foundations fundamentally determine private legal relations and legal institutions. In such a situation, crisis legislation is triggered, primarily in areas that have the greatest impact on the functioning of the economy and on consumers' daily lives. The present article reviews those important civil law structures and the rules governing them in the Civil Code and other statutory and governmental regulations, the content of which is justified to be amended in a persistent inflationary environment, but which have not been the focus of the legislator so far, emphasizing the need to adapt private law norms to the changed economic environment. The article examines those legal acts in which the legislator has set out in the text of the act data referring to value or price, nominally defining and quantifying in concrete terms the price or value that plays a significant role in a given private legal relationship. This type of legislation, however, does not take into account the changes in value relations at all, so that in an inflationary environment, the price and value figures nominally fixed in the private law norm are not adapted to economic processes, i.e. they are not in line with the current price level determined by economic fundamentals. The author outlines proposals and regulatory techniques for amending the law to adapt these legal provisions to the changed price and value conditions.
-
Suspension of Application of Bilateral Treaties Owing to an Armed Conflict
28-32Views:58The effect of armed conflict on bilateral international treaties of the belligerent parties has undergone a considerable change in the past century. From the concept of termination as the effect of armed conflict by the time of World War II practice of the States had reached the position of suspension of application or no effect at all. This question is regulated solely under customary international law, but the practice of states and doctrine is not readily available and sometimes may be contradictory.
Suspension in the case of armed conflict considerably differs from the rules set out in the 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties. The lengthy procedure which is based on the negotiation of the parties of the relevant bilateral treaty is almost impossible in the circumstances of an armed conflict, especially with respect to the hostile relationship between the parties.
When dealing with this issue one finds that in the practice of States non-application of treaties during an armed conflict exists, however from the viewpoint of principles of international law, namely the principles of pacta sunt servanda, good faith, ex injuria jus non oritur and rule of law this practice - to say the least - is questionable. -
The organisational changes of public administration in the mirror of the system of the authorities of the offences law
Views:128The 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.
-
The discovering of emotions : – the Law and Emotion Scholarship in Legal Theory
47-53.Views:156The ’ideal judge’ does not know emotions. Sitting on the bench, the ideal judge is capable to exclude every emotion and making decisions completely objectively and rationally. In legal philosophy until the past few decades, the before mentioned ideal was prominent and still is to this day. However from the 60s in the Anglo-Saxon legal thinking, mainly in the United States of America, a change in perspective started to begin. There was a rapid development of movements that appraised the law and the phenomenons of law from an interdisciplinary point of view. The Critical Legal Studies movement became an independent direction within legal philosophy. Furthermore, there was great progress in the scientific study of emotions. In this area, both psychology and neurosciences achieved serious results. All of these elements together provided a base for the emergence and development of the Law and Emotion Scholarship. This emerging interdisciplinary field brings together scholars from law, psychology, classics, economics, literature and philosophy all of whom have a defining interest in law’s various relations to our emotions and emotional life. My research primarily focuses on the scholarship findings on judicial decision-making, studying how emotions can play a role in the judicial decision-making process. Because the scholars part of the Law and Emotion Scholarship – paying attention to the reality of the everyday life of judges – doubting the idea that emotionless judging is a genuine possibility.
-
Peter Goodrich and the Satirical Legal Studies
Views:41Satirical 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.
-
Civil UAV on the horizon, Simply Toy or New Abnormally Dangerous Activity?
88-107Views:112The reason why We have chosen this topic for my research is that new technologies have appeared in our environment, particularly the unnamed aerial vehicle. In Hungary, similarly to some other countries, there is a gap in the legislation concerning the use of UAV.
The UAV technology raises many questions because these vehicles can be used for several reasons. It is necessary to analyse in depth the legal environment of UAV and to change our perspective because it is not enough to consider the legal context; technical and other aspects have to be taken into consideration as well.
Most academic sources concerning the usage of UAV focus on the military use of UAV. In my research I focus on the topic from the aspects of civil law; the reason for this is that I consider the legal restrictions concerning the ordinary vehicles used for everyday purposes not for governmental ones.
The main goal of our paper is to study how the usage of UAV can be legally controlled. This question is important because the number of these vehicles are gradually growing which leads to several legal issues, for instance privacy or tort.
In our research We have analyzed the international laws and regulation plans, the international laws, draft legislation. The „abnormally dangerous activities” that appear in the title of the paper is only a call for attention to evaluate the liability in the civil law.
The other aim of our paper is to make a proposal to set up a work group who is going to work out the regulations in detail. Legislators and researchers could participate in the work group, among whom are technical and legal professionals as well.
-
Constitutional processes, a comparative study of the Hungarian constitutional processes (1989-2011)
Views:150In my research paper I study the Hungarian constitutional processes. The subjects of my analysis are three periods, namely the change of the political system in 1989, the constitutional attempts from 1994 to 1998, and the constitutional process between 2010 and 2011.
The processes are examined on the basis of the two notions: “legality” and “legitimacy”. Under the concept “formal legality”, I mean the legal validity of the constitutional process; i.e. whether the constitutional process takes place in accordance with the current legislation. The concept of “legitimacy” has two aspects. On the one hand, empirical legitimacy investigates whether the citizens de facto accept the constitution and value it as respectable independently of the normative motives of its acceptance. On the other hand, normative legitimacy examines whether the constitution is based on justifiable principles and whether it might be considered as legally binding.
The constitutional process in 1989 - aimed at establishing a democratic transition – took place within round-table discussions of the representatives of the old system and the strengthened opposition. As a result of the radical changes, the democratic Constitution was established in Hungary and the multi-party system also developed. The outcome of the discussions was the general supervision of the Constitution. Formally, there was only an amendment to the Constitution in 1989; however, as regard its content, a completely new norm was established.
Since the change of the political system in 1989, the idea of creating a new constitution emerges again and again in the Hungarian public life. In the course of the elections in 2010, a party alliance (in which both parties represented the same political line) reached the required two-thirds majority in the Parliament, and aimed at establishing a new constitution. The result of the constitutional process is a completely new constitution (both the form and the content of the previous constitution were changed).
All things considered, it can be stated that the amendment to the Constitution in 1989 was accepted lawfully by the Parliament of the old system, i.e. the constitutional process was legal, and in a normative sense, a legitimate Constitution was created. In 2011, the Fundamental Law of Hungary (Hungarian: Magyarország Alaptörvénye) was adopted on the basis of the procedure determined by the Constitution in 1989, i.e. the constitutional process was legal, though; the present research paper highlights some elements of the constitutional process that might be criticized. At present, the legitimacy of the Fundamental Law of Hungary is controversial from both sociological and normative perspectives.
-
The changes of the legal regime of tobacco advertisements in the laws of Hungary
Views:56Since 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.
-
Problems of globalization examining the development of local governments
Views:43In Hungary almost every reform has its reference to the integration in the west, especially European Union. The explanation for failures is the difficulties of adjustment. The dilemma is what kind of reasons result this problem: is it a national feature or the original distress of Hungary. We can say that the root of it is the problem of following patterns. The origin of these patterns are from the western world but these patterns needed years or sometimes ages to reach the present situation. It was an organic development.
In our modern world we can find plenty of legislative elements of globalization, unifying and harmonizing rules and institutions. Most of the international economic organizations make every effort to harmonize economic institutions, but the example of European Union shows that borders are not as simple as it seems. This harmonization and unification has to surpass it to a wider perspective (e.g. administration, public education, telecommunication or private law institutions, etc.).
In the study I examine the development of self-governing and local governments. In Hungary over the last years – since the birth of self-governing – many changes could be found. Reforms followed reforms. According to a survey the most important fields of reforms are the following:
- decentralization
- privatization
- decreasing the role of public sector
- reform of the law for public servants
- information technology
- financial and budgetary management.
Reforms of local governments are part of the globalization especially in those countries where change of the regime has happened. To reach the desired western pattern some lemmas are necessary:
- constitutional state
- territorialism of state
- guaranteed financial sources
- stability from the perspective of economy and policy.
These foundational criterions are spread by international organizations like NAFTA, GATT, WTO, IMF, WB, OECD or EU itself. Plenty of recommendations exist on this field for administration and local governments. The Council of Europe has a basic document, the Charta of European Local Governments.
If we examine the problem closer we can see that in spite of every recommendation or regulation, local governments are in trouble for example in Hungary. There are exact rules or principles to ensure the liberty or free space for them, but financial problems always exist.
In the essay I analyzes the way of following patterns in typical countries and try to show how hard is to introduce a pattern from a moment to another that has prestigious past.
-
Domestic partnerships on the basis of the current judicial practice and the draft version of the new Civil Code
Views:47An examination of the statistical data reveals that the number of marriages concluded has significantly decreased in recent years, accompanied by an increase in divorce cases. In a parallel way, there is a growing number of domestic partnerships.[1]
This study surveys the judicial practice of this field in the past two decades with the intention of attempting to describe and shed some light on the essence of domestic partnership in Hungary by way of discussing some of the most important cases and the relevant provisions of law. In view of the fact that preparation for the codification of the new Civil Code is now under way and new rules are expected to enter into force in 2 or 3 years, the changes anticipated in this area are also briefly addressed in the study. Since the Proposal intends to change the current legal provisions in three areas, special emphasis was laid on these, namely:
1. Under certain conditions, as defined by law, alimony may be awarded to a formal domestic partner.
2. Continued use of the place of residence earlier shared with the former domestic partner is possible also after the termination of the domestic partnership.
3. A former domestic partner may request that the property relations be settled after the termination of the domestic partnership.
[1] Domestic partnerships were first surveyed in Hungary in the 1970 census: the number of such relationships, which was 62 thousand in 1970, doubled by 1990, and increased by nearly four and half times by 2001. As a result of these developments, 74% of the 2,869,000 families counted were based on a married couple. Ten years before this proportion was still 80%, while three decades ago it was as high as 88%. (Népszámlálás [Census], Vol. 2001, no. 19. “Family types, family forms”, KSH, p. 17).
-
Certain private law aspects of the law on the transfer of agricultural holdings
65-97Views:76In this study I will examine the law on the transfer of agricultural holdings, focusing on the provisions that can be related to private law. The aim of the law was to facilitate generational change in the field of agriculture, and I believe that farm transfer contracts can be an effective tool for the transfer of agricultural holdings, but it is not yet known to what extent they will be used and to what extent they will be able to fulfil the hopes placed in them.
-
Academic freedom in the jurisprudence of the Hungarian Constitutional Court
Views:47The 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 change of legal rules concerning employment policy instruments
Views:41The aim of the present essay is to give an overview of the means of the employment policy through the analysis and construction of the relevant statutory intruments and legal rules.
During the treatment of the means of the employment policy this essay tooks the classification accepted by the scientific literature as a basis therefore it deals with these instruments divided into two big groups.
Among the active types of the means of the employment policy the direct and also the indirect kinds of benefits of the jobless and unemployed are treated here.
Among the passive types of means those instruments are presented which are to succeed the unemployment benefit and the unemployment allowance such as jobsearch benefit and jobsearch allowance.
The definition of ‘employment policy’ is widely construed that is why this definition comprises the classical instruments of Labour Law and in a separate subsection the subsidy of the atypical legal relations of employment are also presented.
-
Specialities of public works in criminal law as a punishment
Views:57In Hungary there are two types of punishments: principal punishments and supplementary punishments. I examined the labour in the public interest, which is one of the principal punishments. Judges use this punishment barely than imprisonment, fine. Difficult to use this punishment, because it needs many preliminary works. I examined the labour in the public interest’s ruling from the 1950.:II. Criminal Code of General Part to nowadays.
In Hungary a person sentenced to labor in the public interest is obligated to perform the work defined for him in the court sentence. Only such work may be ordered as work in the public interest which the convict, in light of his health condition and education, is presumed to be capable of performing. There are many problems in rule of the labour in the public interest, for example one day of work in the public. As rule of the Criminal Code punishment shall be six hours of work, but other rule is, punishment shall be 4-8 hours of work for one day.
Other interesting rule is, the imprisonment substituting labour in the public interest or the remaining part thereof shall be established in such a way that one day of labour in the public interest shall correspond to one day of imprisonment. In my opinion it would be better, if the imprisonment substituting labour in the public interest or the remaining part thereof shall be established in fine.
On the other hand I suggested to use this punishment if a person younger than 18 years old. I think if a person is 16 years old, this punishment can be more effective than other punishments.
I found many differences, and many similarities between Hungarian and international Criminal Codes, Propositions, and finally I wrote some important, new point to change the rules.
-
Társadalmi szervezetek, alapítványok a közhasznúság tükrében
15-30Views:118The Constitution of the Republic of Hungary declares that under the right of association everyone has the right to found organisations – for purposes not prohibited by law – respectively join to them.
More and more citizens and legal entities have utilized the possibilities guaranteed by the constitution since the regime change thus, the number of the associations and trusts has been increasing annually.
The purpose of this essay is to present the past, the present and the possible future of trusts and non-govermental organizations with a special focusing on the condition of registration of the public benefit of organisations (PBO), and the rules of the management, operation, economic advantages and supervisions of these PBOs.
-
Medical expert procedure in criminal proceedings
95-113Views:61The Criminal Procedure Act significantly changed the rules of expert evidence, so e.g. in order to prevent the prolongation of the procedures, it tries to direct the process of appointing experts and evaluating expert opinions into a reasonable channel in order to make a considered and timely decision. The time that has passed since the entry into force of the law already allows us to examine the practice of law enforcement. I believe that the biggest change comes from the regulation of the private expert opinion, which allows the defendant and his defense to have similar rights in the criminal proceedings, which also follow from the principle of equality of arms. And all of this strengthens the fairness of the procedure in general, which can be a guarantee of the birth of judicial verdicts that are also close to the material truth.
-
Functional Analysis of Damage Charges
97-117.Views:201Replacing the legal institution for non-pecuniary damages burdensome by previous theoretical and practical contradictions, Act V of 2013 (Civil Code) introduces damage charges as a separate sanction for violation of personal rights, which has dual functions: on the one hand, it aims for the person being injured in its personal rights receive a monetary allowance that approximates or compensates for the non-material damage suffered. On the other hand, it can also be considered as a punishment under private law for the prevention of similar infringements, as a deterrent.
According to the intended interpretation, the damage charge can only be applied if it is able to fulfill its function, i.e. if no non-pecuniary damage can be detected for which the damage charge is intended for proportional compensation (primarily), it has no place at all since in the case of infringements leaving the personality untouched, only the punitive function would be exercised, which is completely incompatible with the inherently remedial, corrective nature of private law. According to the unanimous opinion of the legal literature, the compensatory function should have priority and private punishment only take precedence of a secondary nature. On the basis of my work, it is noticeable that judges also consider damage charges as a legal instrument to repair the immaterial injuries suffered and to compensate for the lost pleasures of life, and to not order it upon preventive reasons solely, but in the plurality of cases, preventive function is being evaluated as a factor enhancing the amount of the damage. In my study, I wish to analyze from several aspects, how the dual function of the damage charge is assessed by the courts concerning present cases, by highlighting which nature is protruding concerning the amount or the legal basis. As the research is basically empirical, I will examine through as many judgments as possible, what aspects the courts evaluate in the framework of the compensational (e.g.: physical injuries, mental changes, age, family life of the victim, change in lifestyle, etc.) and of the preventive function (e.g. the gravity of the infringement, its protracted nature, etc.). Finally, I would like to answer the central question of my thesis: what function does practice attribute to the payment of damage charges.
-
Does the Ebktv. provide adequate protection on the labor market for child-raising? Equal employment of pregnant women and parents in Hungary
47-60.Views:232In the recent years, there were several government programs in Hungary aiming to boost the number of childbirths, mainly through direct financial support for parents. But undertaking the commitment to raise a child is not just a financial issue for parents, and especially women. The work – life balance is just as important for many, especially for college-educated ones.
My paper aims to examine the legal framework of the equal treatment focused on the abovementioned situation, about how it can prevent the discrimination of pregnant women and parents in the workforce. I briefly look at the legal development of the area in the European Union, and the most relevant issues and procedural questions in the Hungarian Act CXXV of 2003 on equal treatment and the promotion of equal opportunities. For the main part of the paper, I focus on the case law of the Equal Treatment Authority, on how certain conducts (direct or indirect discrimination, harassment, victimization) surface in relation to childbearing and child raising, how did the Authority decide in these cases, and how do these decisions affect the practice of this field. The Kúria is also a substantial actor in this area, as the highest court in the country, its binding uniformity decisions hold significant weight for the law of equal treatment, therefore I examine some of its important decisions.
In the end, I summarize my findings. In today’s labor market, pregnant women and parents face discrimination, this is especially true for pregnant women on probationary period. Employers feel burdened if an employee gets pregnant, and in some cases, they still try to lay off women who do not put their career ahead of family. Overall, I conclude that the legal framework is satisfactory, but several underlying social issues will continue to generate obstacles if the employers’ and society’s view about motherhood and roles in the family will not change.
-
The Right to Information Self-Determination after the General Data Protection Regulation
Views:301Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC (General Data Protection Regulation), became effective on 25 May 2018. With the regulatory form the legislator raised the regulation of the right to the protection of personal data within the European Union to a higher level. The legislative act has a fundamental impact on the legal systems of the member states showing various differences from each other. Further, it can be stated as a general experience that the right to the protection of personal data and the nature of such right are less known either to those affected or to the data controllers. The new legislative act and the penalties with increased amounts [Article 84 of the GDPR] demand the elaboration of a study understandable for laics, too. Finally, as a result of the General Data Protection Regulation, the institution system ensuring the protection of personal data has fundamentally changed, so, therefore, it is also necessary to examine the authorities of the member states and the Union, as well.
The study primarily approaches the occurring problems from the practice side. Accordingly, the examination conducted by the Commission nationale de l’informatique et des libertés (CNIL) against Google is described, as the first significant penalty imposed based on the General Data Protection Regulation.
The first part of the study is intended to present the right to the general protection of personal data. The historical part addresses in details the major elements of the historical development of data protection and the development of its contents, with particular regard to the appearance of the right to information self-determination based on the so-called “census-judgement” of 1983 of the BVerfG (Federal Constitutional Court of Germany). Finally, this part touches upon the theories defined in connection with the historical generations of the right to the protection of personal data. After the historical part the study addresses the peculiarities of the right to the protection of personal data, paying particular attention to separation from the neighbouring legal areas.
The second part is intended to present the prevalence of the right to information self-determination according to the GDPR. It is the institution system protecting personal data that has undergone the most significant change. The Work Group under Article 29 has been replaced by the Data Protection Agency set up based on the GDPR. Setting up the Agency, enlarging its scope of authority and its stronger independence from the executive powers of the Union can, by all means, be evaluated positively. As regards the security of personal data, the practice, major directives and opinions of the Work Group under Article 29 have been examined. It is a significant step forward that the GDPR has made the sphere of special personal data more specific, promoting by this the increase of the extent of protection. It is important that, as a general rule, the Regulation forbids controlling special personal data. The definition of the concept of personal data is an essential condition for understanding the regulation. In addition to the principles of controlling personal data, the legal fundaments of data control have particular significance, with special regard to the consent and the data control necessary for performing the contract. In my view, the consent is a legal fundament of auxiliary nature for data control, which is also supported by the opinions of the Work Group, too. Granting the consent and the individual excluding circumstances occurring in connection with this, were examined on a case-by-case basis. In my opinion, the automated decision making process and the regulation of profile creation are one of the most cardinal issues of the GDPR. The way in which profiles are created, their use and the permissibility of such use are discussed in details. In my view, the regulation of the GDPR is deficient as regards the automated decision making process and the profile creation. The decision making necessary for performing the contract is not separated sharply enough, and it is not necessary for this. In my opinion, in respect of this latter sphere of cases the GDPR is not strict enough and may easily serve as a basis for misuse on the part of data controllers. In my view, granting the consent should be made stricter in respect of creating profiles and the introduction of the (contradictable) legal presumption of refusal would also be desirous.
-
Specialities in the Hungarian and international regulation of biotechnical inventions
Views:56In my study I say about that change, which became at the area of biotechnology. The revolution of DNS technology contain a lot of chance, but it has more danger. We need select from the modes.
My column I checked what happens with the species the biotechnology invention flag. The first observation that the changes faster than other territories, and these changes are complex and interrelated. The post control and correction are also important. It’s got to be introducing the health nutrition compliance. The new products will not harmful for the human and animal health. The legal condition shall prescribe the human defense of human and animal body. One of the most important international convention in that question the European Union Council about the biomedicine. It said need consent of the persons concerned for the biotechnological research. Create new human species, and cloning of human beings, human body use for commercial is prohibited by this convention.
In my opinion that need promoting the knowledge and biotechnical awareness of consumers. Must be regulated the relations between public order and public morality and biotechnical inventions. It is also necessary to ensure the patentability of biological matter. „Biological material” means any material containing genetic information and capable of reproducing itself or being reproduced in a biological system. Inventions which concern plants or animals shall be patentable if the technical feasibility of the invention is not confined to a particular plant or animal variety. The discussion on the patentability of sequences or partial sequences of genes is controversial. The 98/44/EK Directive, the granting of a patent for inventions which concern such sequences or partial sequences should be subject to the same criteria of patentability as in all other areas of technology: novelty, inventive step and industrial application. Whereas the industrial application of a sequence or partial sequence must be disclosed in the patent application as filed.
The biotechnical patent need particular importance in the legislation. The Hungarian rules are conforms to the European Union legislation. However, certain additional rules should be laid down. Have to think about the control test in the patent process. The expert can see the applicability just on the test.
-
Indigenous Peoples in Europe? Questions of Current Interest Regarding the Jurisprudence of the European Human Rights Mechanism
32-44Views:52The aim of the current study is to examine the jurisprudence of the European Human Rights Mechanism (hereafter: EHRM), focusing on the three most common issues that indigenous peoples living on the European Continent has to face. First, the modern economic activities, which affect their traditional livelihoods. Second, the difficulties of proving their land claims due to the unwritten nature of their culture. Finally, the threat of relocation, which causes severe problems considering their close links to the traditionally occupied lands. Regarding the first issue the author examines how the EHRM developed its jurisprudence from the initial negative attitude of the European Commission on Human Rights (hereafter: ECHR) – which ceased to exist in 1998 – to the more receptive attitude of the European Court of Human Right (hereafter: ECtHR). The main question regarding the second issue is the ability of the EHRM to accept the laws and traditions of a significantly different society as equal. Until the recent times, the ECtHR – and former ECHR – only accepted written proof as authentic. Last, but not least the author introduces three cases in which indigenous peoples had been removed from their ancient lands, and have not been allowed to return ever since. Considering their close relation with their lands – which serves as basis of cultural identity for them – the result is devastating.
Having regard to the above mentioned jurisprudence, three questions arise. First, has the jurisprudence of the EHRM evolved over the years; second – which forecasts the answer for the first question – why does granting effective protection for indigenous peoples still cause problems to the ECtHR? Third, are there any signs of change in the jurisdiction? The answer is complex: the jurisprudence of the ECtHR is definitely evolved; however it still does not reach the level of protection offered by the Inter-American System, which acts as a pioneer on the field of protecting indigenous rights, closely followed by the African System. The attitude of the EHRM is mainly attributable to historical and social reasons creating serious obstacles for the ECtHR. Considering the example of the Inter-American and the African Systems the main question is whether the judges of the ECtHR and the policy makers have the determination to exceed these barriers.