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Prevailing regulation of the termination of parental control under the Civil Code
12-18Views:193Being a judge practicing on the area of the law of crimes I rarely come across with the need to apply civil law. Nevertheless, a handful legal concepts may be applied also by criminal courts. One of these concepts is the termination of parental control. Before turning to relevant case analysis in my study, I focus on the principle of the "child's best interest" which is referred to under article 3 of the New York Convention on the rights of children and which has a general fundamental applicability in respect of all provisions of the Convention. This principle must apply not only in civil, but also in criminal proceedings and generally in all types of proceedings irrespective of the area of law such proceedings fall under. Special emphasis is attributed to the legal consequences of terminating parental control and to the distinction of cases where the termination of parental control by the court is mandatory and where such a decision is made in the discretion of the court. I pay separate attention to cases where the court has convicted the parent of a crime committed wilfully against the convicted person's own child and in which cases the convicted person is sentenced to prisonment and as a result of these the criminal court has competence to order the termination of parental control. I address also some issues relating to matters of proof and evidence in connection with crimes of domestic violence. Finally, I explain the nature of a child-focused jurisdiction through the presentation of the Hungarian system which ensures to respect and to give effect to the rights of children to the maximum extent possible. The ability of providing special treatment for children in court proceedings is of the utmost importance.
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Civil law dogmatic deficiencies and legislative hiatuses in a private law legislation: Short case study
49-66Views:113Based on the Government Decree 383/2023 (VIII.14.) on the ministerial approval of lease contracts of companies directly or indirectly majority-owned by the state, the article presents a case study showing that the legislation suffers from numerous "legal errors" that violate the provisions of the Legislation Act and is not in line with the fundamental doctrinal principles of civil law. The case study describes in detail the provisions of Act CXXX of 2010 on Legislation that the Government Decree does not comply with and shows how imprecise wording leads to problems of interpretation. The paper points out the private law terminus technicus which the legislator did not apply correctly (the party of the lease contract, consideration, invalidity - ineffectiveness) and the author proposes to correct the errors and to clarify certain normative provisions.
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Functions and interpretation of principles in the German contract law
Views:52To 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.
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Basic Questions of the Protection of Privacy in Private Law
Views:188Privacy has become a hot topic in personality rights protection in the 21st century all over the world. Classic personality rights did not cover all aspects of modern privacy law and the lack of an exhaustive list for personality rights also left many questions unanswered. The right to privacy is hard to define and it is even more difficult to identify the limits of this sensitive right. Our goal is to analyze various definitive attempts to privacy and synthetize them with actual judicial practice in order to get closer to what privacy law truly covers in modern jurisdictions. Even if brand new challenges arise almost every day, privacy remains a powerful instrument to provide autonomy to individuals and sometimes to legal entities.
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The evaulation of practical significance of the CISG and UPICC
21-40Views:239The main aim of the present study is to determine the real practical relevant and volume through the evaulation the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG) and the UNIDROIT Principles of International Commercial Contracts (UPICC). In order to achive the mentioned aims, the study applies the results of the available empirical studies regarding to the CISG, whilst regarding to the UPICC, the study applies the available case law abstracts. In case of the Vienna Convention, it can be obviously stated that, the volume of practical application of the CISG is rather moderate, lags behind the success that the legal literature attributes to it, whilst under the results of revision the available case law in connection with the UPICC, can be declared that, the UNIDROIT Principles mainly promotes the interpretation and completion of the national law and also the international legal instruments, the contracting partie’s intend to apply firstly the UPICC as substantial law, is rather low. Furthermore the study also pay attention the CISG and the UPICC influence to the national law legislation, and declares that, both legal instruments have a huge impact to the national law making.
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The polluter pays principle in the Hungarian civil law, with special regard to the liability for hazardous operations
89-106Views:111The polluter pays principle is one of the basic principles of international environmental law
mentioned directly firstly only in 1972, however the principle were declared in 1929 in the
well-known Trail Smelter Case. The polluter pays is an economical principle, and in the
meaning of this principle the costs of pollution shall be shared between industrial companies
and consumers. Taking into consideration that after applying this principle price of products
will be higher than before, industrial companies shall reduce their pollution in the interest of
their (and their products’) competitiveness. Seeing the development of the principle in EU
level, the polluter pays were mentioned first time in the first „programme of action of the
European Communities on the environment” adopted in 1973. However it is questionable
what polluter, pollution, obligation of polluter and costs of pollution mean exactly, and for
this reason this principle cannot be applied automatically.
In this study I try to examine how the polluter pays principle works in the Hungarian national
law, especially in the Hungarian Civil Code. For this reason I examine the applicability of
Article 345 of the Hungarian Civil Code („Damages Originating from Hazardous
Operations”), with special regard to the case-law of the Hungarian civil courts. I also try to
introduce the possibilities and obligations of the public prosecutor in environmental issues. -
The divided trial system of the New Code of Civil Procedure in the light of the Act I of 1911
88-96Views:94n my paper, I dealt with the divided trial system, because in the Conception of the New Code of Civil Procedure arised the idea, that the first-instance procedure will be regulated by the divided trial system. During my studies, I researched the trial system of the Act I of 1911, and I analyzed the sentencing practice in this era.
First, I presented the matter of the trial system, as well as the two dominant trends in Hungary relating to the creation of civil action. The difference between the two trends, that distinct mesne process creates the civil action. According to one of them, the civil action is created when the defendant gets the statement of claim, or, on the other hand, when the defendant submits countermotion.
In the next chapter, I intended to present the point of intersection of action, which legal institution separates the first-instance procedure to pre-trial hearing and the trial on the merits.
After this chapter, I reportedtheresults of sentencing practice and cametotwoconclusions. Ontheonehand, thepre-trialhearinghangedfirefor a longtimebecause of theappealproceedings. Ontheotherhand, thesentencing practice wasnotconsistent, becausethecourtsused an incorrectterminology. Thecourtsdismissedtheproceedingsbeforethesubmission ofcountermotion, butaccordingtotheAct of 1911 themesneprocess of creating a civil actionwastosubmit a countermotion.
Inconclusion, I thinkthe divided trial system of the New Code of Civil Procedure will be totally different than the divided trial system of the Act of 1911.
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Legal relations in German partnership under the Civil Code
Views:62Partnership under the civil code is a harsh institution in Hungarian legal system. Despite of this fact, most of the European countries apply this legal entity a lot as a background for other, more complicated corporate forms. In my essay I demonstrate those rules in German Civil Code (BGB), which show the importance and opportunities of these partnerships.
If we would like to describe the essentials of partnerships under the Civil Code, the most important question is the legal relations from both inner and external point of view. Internal relations mean an obligation between the parties, who form this partnership. It is natural that we can find both rights and commitments between founders. This is a contract but BGB says that all parties have equal rights and commitments in the same partnership. As a general rule of the Code, it is permissive, not cogent. BGB has basic regulation for operating such a partnership, but can be useful if founders live with this permissive opportunity and shape special rules for their partnership, which fit to their aims, functions, different financial potential of the parties.
There is a chance for founders to neglect building a whole structure and organization for their partnership, if they want to operate it as an inner partnership, without external relations, focusing only for the rights and omissions between the parties.
From all contract that establishes a partnership under the Civil Code membership rights follow. These rights cannot be transferred. A distinction can be made between administrational, common business management and financial rights. Rights to common business management can consist of right to information, right to supervision or the most important right to vote. Financial rights gather typical rights such as right to dividend or liquidity proportion. These rights are social omissions from the viewpoint of the partnership itself, as these are for the interest of the parties.
The most important omissions of the founders are financial contribution to establish the partnership. This regulation results from that partnership is to promote common aim of the founders, and to achieve this, all of them have to make available pecuniary or non-pecuniary assets. According to a special rule of BGB, over against the other corporate forms, members of the partnership have no omission to increase or complete their assets.
Management of the partnership is not only a right but an obligation too. A special omission is that all members and founders have to be loyal to the partnership. Because of the strong partnership character of this corporate form, this means that members have to keep the interest and aim of the partnership in view. They all are responsible for achieving the aim of the partnership and nobody can sit as a beneficiary. Loyal members have to keep secrets in connection with operating the partnership and of course the sudden obligation to inform the others of all events and experiences, which are in tight connection with the partnership and the interests of the parties. If any of the members breach these obligations, rules of damages can be applied in BGB.
Assets of the partnership are special, because no separated corporate assets form. Financial and non-pecuniary contribution becomes the assets of the community of members. It is undividable and common. But these common assets are strictly separated from the private assets of the parties. Rights for profit and deficit are equal, but this permissive rule allows different regulation in the contract. The only cogent sentence is the prohibition of societas leoniana, i.e. nobody can be precluded of profit and deficit.
External relations mean the representation of the partnership. In this case the most important law is the contract itself. In case of disagreement between the parties, there is a helping rule of BGB: members can act as a body. If we take into consideration the rules of liability, we can say that because of the lack of legal capacity of the partnership, individual liability has its important role. Generally this liability is unlimited, but there is a chance to agree with the creditor to limit liability. But this limitation is only valid for that legal transaction.
Rules for partnerships under the Civil Code in Germany are more detailed and nuanced than in Hungary. Partnership is the basic type of civil law partnerships, such as limited partnership or general partnership. We have to consider that building up a more coherent regulation for these partnerships can be useful to categorize atypical corporations.
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The downing of flight MH-17 over Ukraine: analysis from the perspective of the Chicago Convention on international civil aviation – Summary
Views:83This paper addresses the downing of Malaysian Airlines flight MH-17 in 2014 from the perspective of the Chicago Convention on international civil aviation. Two issues are closely examined namely the applicability of Article 3bis on prohibiting the use of force by states against civil aircraft to the specific case and States’ obligation to close the airspace to civil aviation over conflict zones.
If the assumption of the Joint Investigation Team is correct in that flight MH-17 was shot down from a territory held by separatist groups it will be a legally challenging task to prove the necessary link to Russia requried by international law to determine state responsability for the breach of Article 3bis. The fact that the International Court of Justice has never delivered a judgement on merits concerning aerial incident cases due to the lack of jurisdiction does not advance the prospect for a reassuring conclusion of the case concerning flight MH-17 from the perspective of international aviation law.
The obligation to close the airspace by the state exercising sovereignty over the airspace over conflict zones is not spellt out explicitly in the Chicago Convention. States responsible for the airspace should however close their airspace if the airspace in question is not safe for civil aviation. The critical question remains whether the state responsible for the airspace has all the relevant information at its disposal when making the complex decision about closing the airspace. In case of a non-international armed conflict non-state actors are not obliged under the Chicago Convention to share aviation safety related information with the enemy state responsible for the airspace under international law over the conflict zone.
It is hereby proposed that binding regulations should be adopted either in the field of international air law or humanitarian law to the effect that during an armed conflict non-state actors co-operate in information sharing for the sake of guaranteeing the safety of (international) air traffic.
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The Hungarian Regulation of Domestic Partnership and The Domestic Partnership Registry
29-35Views:185In 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.
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Certain private law aspects of the law on the transfer of agricultural holdings
65-97Views:88In 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.
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A new draft of classification of claims: Reinstating of Bankruptcy Rules in the Provisional Judicial Rules
66-77.Views:151After the failure of the Hungarian Independence War of 1848-1849, the neoabsolutism which was the ruling of the Franz Joseph I from 1851 to 1860 reformed the Hungarian legal system. The emperor aimed at legal unification of Austrian Empire therefore he introduced the Austrian codes to Hungary. In 1860 the Austrian emperor eased the absolutistic government attitude with the issuing of the October Diploma and restored the Hungarian jurisdiction and public administration system which functioned before 1847. He charged the Lord Chief Justice, gr. György Apponyi who was recently appointed by him with the realisation of this restitution. That’s why Apponyi summoned a meeting for the Hungarian lawyers in 1861 which called the Conference of the Lord Chief Justice. This assembly specified the material and procedural law for the Hungarian courts.
In this paper I examine the effect of this conference on the bankruptcy law, and I present the provisions of the Conference of Lord Chief Justice concerning bankruptcy law and the driving forces of the regulation based on the assembly’s records. The conference put into force the first Hungarian Bankruptcy Act (Act 22 of 1840) instead of the Austrian provisional bankruptcy procedure. The Hungarian literature typically includes about this regulation that the assembly only adjusted material and procedural rules of the Bankruptcy Act to the requirements of the civil era. I demonstrated with archival sources and views of conference’s participants that the modifications generated bigger changes in the Hungarian bankruptcy practice. In addition, the first appearance of the deed of arrangement without bankruptcy proceedings in Hungary was connected to the neoabsolutism of which the Hungarian lawyers expressed their opinions.
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Thoughts for emptying real estate – litigation or non-litigation procedure –
Views:165In many cases, owners have problems recovering their rented or arbitrarily occupied real estate. News often report difficult situations in connection with the evacuation of real estate. More instructive cases have also drawn attention to the severity of the problem. The study describes the rules for (litigation and non-litigation) court proceedings for the evacuation of real estate and does not deal with the enforcement procedures ordered by a notary.
The possibility to initiate emptying real estate non-litigation procedure - according to Vht. 183rd-184th § - is not well known widely. According to most people, almost the only possible way to reclaim the real estate is to litigate, although the possibility of initiating the non-litigation procedure has been provided for years, provided the conditions of the law are met. Emptying of real estate in non-litigious procedure is possible in the case of real estates by arbitrarily occupied real estates, fixed-term tenancy agreemens of residential premises and other non-residential premises, as well as other types of properties specifically designated by law.
The study presents the possible ways of carrying out the real estate evacuation, the enforcement procedure following the litigation procedure and the enforcement procedure initiated on the basis of a court non-litigation procedure, focusing primarily on proceedings commenced after 1. January 2018. The study deals with the legal background to the non-litigation and litigation procedure, the order for enforcement, the issuing, the service of an enforceable instrument, the possibilities provided by law in the event of non-execution, the short presentation of remedies. It also deals with some of the innovations introduced by law CXXX of 2016 on Civil Procedure Rules, suspension of enforcement, as well as the applicability of the eviction moratorium in each case. In the emptying of real estate, debtors often face criminal law. The most frequent criminal cases during the emptying of the real estate are presented in the study too (breach of seal, assault on a public official).
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The impact of inflation on private law relationships
45-72Views:237Not 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.
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Contract law effects of the Digital Single Market Strategy on the Hungarian civil law
108-120Views:147The necessity of framing contract law fulfilling the expectations of the digital era is among the main purposes of the Digital Single Market Strategy, that has been introduced by the European Committe in 2015. Within the Strategy two directive proposals have been presented: the directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on certain aspects concerning contracts for the supply of digital content and the directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on certain aspects concerning contracts for the online and other distance sales of goods. These include the concept of conformity with the contract, the meaning of which raises several questions to be answered regarding the Hungarian legal system.
My treatise focuses on the investigation of the criteria of conformity with the contract with special regard to the definiton of the directive proposals. In the first place I outline the elements of conformity with the contract, then I attempt to create a comprehensive definition of it. Thereafter I analyse the rules of the Hungarian Civil Code that are connected to the category of the conformity. Furthermore, I investigate the necessity of the integration of the conformity with the contract into the the Hungarian civil law. Finally, I present a future legislative concept that could be regarded as a possible way of adaptation of this legal category.
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Enforceability of the civil law in connection with organ donation, the lack of legal framework
Views:62Developments in the last centuries in the fields of pharmacy and surgery have had a beneficial effect on the treatment of various diseases and injuries. As a result these two areas have attracted the support and admiration both of the scientific world and the general public.
The examination of the effects of taking part by human beings has become unavoidable in the healing process. This relationship is unusually complex regards scientific opportunities and fragile in respect of people’s defencelessness.
Important legal background material is available today relating to organ transplantations. It must be recognized, however, that this legal corpus has been a long time in the making and is still taking shape even today. Although people are trying to establish suitable legal framework for medical law, there are still some weak points and „prejudices”. Nowadays it is necessary to make an attempt at reconciling medical science and law not forgetting about the fact that their approaches are different.
Medical law is not just about damages. Informing about the topic, the rights and the possibilities, preventing the trials: all of these things are more important. First of all, this is a life-saving procedure and money can not „repair” the problem in that case. Although it sounds cliché, it is true: you can not replace the unpurchasable organ by money. On the other hand, this should be a teamwork between the donors and recipients. They have to cooperate. The „job” of the law – which tries to be objective while it makes rules- should be to consider both views.
It is well-known that the waitinglists are very long. What is the reason? What kind of solution is able to make the waiting-time shorter? These are very serious questions but the efficient transplantation is the most important. Transplantation is one thing and surviving it is another. And top of all that there is the problem of the „tragedy of the transplantation”: it is often said that donors have no rights. Which should/ can be preferred : the right to live or the right to voluntarism?! Can you decide which system (opt-in or opt-out donation system) gives better solution?!
Giving a right answer is not so easy. Opt-out system may increase the level of available organs but it does not mean necessarily that there will be more organs for donation with absolute certainty. That is why you can not say simply that the „donor-licence” is a bad idea. There are lot of „ingredients” you should consider: technical developments, public education and last but not least social acceptance. According to the law in the opt-out system doctors should not ask the relatives about their opinions but it is said they usually do it. Is this an efficient system?!
In my opinion an effective „dialogue” is needed -not only between law and medical science but between the organ donation systems, too- for the sake of a „flexible” legal background which can take part actively in our everydays in the 21st century.
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Consumer insolvency in the European Union
153-163Views:119Almost all modern civil legal systems respect property rights as a privileged and fundamental right, which means the property rights of individuals cannot be restricted or taken away without due process of law. In the case of insolvency proceedings, the person's right to property is violated, as the debtor is deprived of this right, at least partially. In such situations, the property rights of the debtor and the creditor are strained against each other, even to such level that the debtor's livelihood and alimentation is threatened by the satisfaction of the creditor's demands. During insolvency proceedings, we should restore the property rights relationship that was broken on the part of the creditor as a result of the debtor's behavior at the expense of the debtor's assets, ensuring that the debtor's interests are also protected, and that the proceedings take into account the interests of both parties. National lawmakers should, therefore, take several aspects into account to create the material and procedural legislation on the basis of which property of private individuals can also be subject to insolvency proceedings. Lawmakers should act in an environment where, due to the impact of globalization, it is no longer evident that the debtor and the creditor are citizens of the same country. This is the reason it is also important to examine how the European Union regulates insolvency proceedings in the case of consumer over-indebtedness in a manner that crosses national borders and still remains inside the Union.
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The civil liability of the medical doctor
28-42Views:294The article wish to briefly cover the civil liability of the medic. The actuality of this topic is exemplified well by the fact that court trials for compensation of damages against healthcare providers show an increasing tendency year by year. It is deem important to briefly delineate the drawing of line between the civil and criminal liability during the presentation of the civil liability. After speaking about issues of drawing of line, the study is going to cover the effective liability for damages of the medic. While explaining the liability for damages of the medic, it will cover the concept of legal nature of invasive procedures, matters concerning the liability of healthcare institutions, and the basic topics of tort and contractual liability. The article is going to introduce the issues concerning illegality, the patient’s right to self-determination, his or her right to information, the obligation of medics to disclose information, in addition to matters related to the concept of the legal nature of informed consent along with the connected judicial practice in the chapter about the informed consent of the patient. As for closure, during the analysis of issues regarding evidence, it wish to cover the rules of culpability, the choice for healing methods of medics, and medical documentation, respectively.