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.
-
Re-Reading Hugo Grotius Reflections to Thoughts of „Father of International Law” in International Law of 21th Century
Views:71There are several theories when the birth date of international law was. Hugo Grotius (1583-1645) was the first who systematized these specific rules and raised it to a scientific level. In this essay I examine how Grotius thought about important institutions of international law and what kind of impact these considerations have to our modern age.
War cannot be seen only as an unlawful act, because most of the original human instincts can be recognized in fighting to each other. This point of view proclaims that international law does not denounce war generally. Existence of international law is important to determine the rules of warfare. To suit to the criterions of lawful war, a war should perform two requirements: opposite parties have to be main authorities in their state and both of them have to keep special formal rules during their fight. Main supremacy means that this power is absolute in its territory, so there are no other relevant human factors to limit it. In our age we have to mention that this criterion is no longer applicable without reservation, because the attack against USA on 11th September 2001 demonstrated that not only states can fight to each other.
Grotius gives importance to the reasons of war too. Three reasons exist: defence, regain possession and punishment. Defence means self-defence, which is a right for everybody to protect himself against unlawful injuries, but this solution has to be the last one. Self-defence can be applicable only if it is necessary, sudden and proportional. After the attack against USA a question was born: is it possible to protect before the real attack, when the enemy is in the period of planning an injury. This preventive self-defence is supported by USA, but UN appreciates the right to self-defence only if there is an armed attack against the state. According to Grotius reasons of war can be pretexts or real reasons. Fear of uncertainty can be a pretext for example, because it is not the most proportional instrument to avoid conflict.
Grotius examines not only ius ad bellum but ius in bellum, rights during a war. These regulations are formal obligations, which give frame to the lawful war and show direction to the opposite parties. Grotius says that there are regulations strictly from the law of nature. A great example is that every instrument can be applicable if it is necessary to reach the major aim of war. It is obvious that today this sentence is intolerable, because technical revolution created such weapons that have power to destroy a whole country suddenly. That is why certain prohibited weapons and methods of warfare exist in international treaties. Grotius deals with the problem of traitors, who support the enemy. There is a slight distinction between the nature of dispatched goods. If these goods can be used for fighting, i.e. weapons, traders are enemies too. If these goods are luxury ones, no traitors can be found. The third situation is more problematic, because if these goods can be used in and outside a war too, the exact situation has to examine to judge the intention of the party.
Groitus has interesting thoughts about prisoners. All prisoners and their descendants become slaves. It means the enemy can do anything against prisoners. By now we have certain rules how to treat with prisoners and it is a general regulation that torture and murder against prisoners is strictly prohibited.
An interesting question is in connection with the law of contracts. Hostages and pledge can be typical securities to strengthen a contract. Grotius says that killing a hostage can be lawful, but inner morals order that killing is lawful only if hostage is culpable too.
Grotius deals with the question of ministers, arranging debates. Looking through this huge work of Grotius we can say statement that he is the father of international law is not without basic and well structured reasons. Before the birth of his book, there were only rules and commentaries for national laws. Grotius extended them to a larger perspective, up to an international level.
-
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.
-
Thoughts about the new directions of European contract law
Views:50On the field of contract law the European Union started a wide legislative effect at the end of the 20th Century. Despite of the originally economic and public legal goals of the Communities recently the competence of the EC institutions conquest a major field in the area of private law. To ensure the fast and non-problematic acceptance of these directives concerning to contract law EC chose two important solutions. Most of the directives focus on the neglected area of the so-called atypical contracts (hawk contracts, e-commerce contracts, leasing contracts, factoring contracts, etc.). As these contractual forms were born in the hands of business actors, most of the European civil codes do not deal with them in an explicit way. As a gap of law this area is the best approach to create unified legal institutions in all Member States’ legislation. The other relevant factor is the law of consumer protection. This is not only a fashionable topic in Europe but a rather underdeveloped issue in – especially – the new Member States. Almost all legal institutions in the EC directives in connection with contract law contain a strong link to protecting customers. As and indirect effect, these new institutions (such as consumer’s right to withdrawal) found their ways in the national codes to be flagships applicable for all consumer contracts. This essay contains thoughts about these relevant changes in approaching contract law from the rather unique EC perspective.
-
Lex-Mercatoria Principles: A keystone in International Commercial Arbitration
5-27Views:78The international Commercial Arbitration is a dispute resolution mechanism; thus, it allows the parties to a dispute to settle their affair outside the national courts. On the other hand, lex mercatoria can be defined as a body of rules that encompasses usages and customs that were used by the merchants in the medieval ages, thus the English nomination “merchant law’. After globalization, more specifically in the twentieth century, both above-mentioned concepts have been developed and adopted by most of the legal systems around the world. This paper aims to define lex mercatoria by exploring its’ history, its’ development, and by tackling all its’ elements to study the impact of lex mercatoria’s principles on international commercial arbitration proceedings.
-
Fragmentation and changes in Hungarian succession law
81-103Views:226The right to inherit is recognized in the Fundamental Law, the detailed substantive legal rules are laid down in the Seventh Book of the Civil Code. In recent years, the legislator has formulated rules of substantive succession in other legislation beyond our private law code (the Civil Code). According to the Registered Partnership Act, the rules applicable to the spouse apply mutatis mutandis to the registered partner, which means that the registered partner is also a legal heir. The special rules for the acquisition of ownership of agricultural and forestry land by succession by will are laid down in the Land Traffic Act (Act CXXII of 2013). On 1 January 2023, a new law will enter into force (Act CXLIII of 2021), which will supplement the succession law provisions of the Civil Code in the case of joint legal intestate succession of undivided common ownership of agricultural land by several heirs. The designation of a public body to represent the State in succession matters is provided for in a separate ministerial decree. The present article analyzes how all these complex, fragmented regulations make it difficult to enforce the law and the extent to which it hinders the speedy execution of probate proceedings. The present article criticizes the fragmented regulation and proposes the integration of the rules of the separate laws into the Civil Code, as this could contribute to a more efficient application of the law.
-
Considerations on legal remedies in Romanian civil proceedings
Views:75In the system of the Romanian Code of Civil Procedure the legal remedies that can be exercised against judgements are: the appeal, the second appeal, the appeal for legal contest in annulment and review. The appeal is the only ordinary remedy, while all the others are classified as extraordinary remedies.
The reasons for which the legal remedies may be exercised vary depending on this qualification, which means that the appeal is applicable for any dissatisfaction of the parties, whereas the second appeal, the legal contest in annulment and the review may be exercised only for reasons explicitly defined by the law.
The extraordinary legal remedies cannot be exercised as long as one may lodge an appeal.
A legal remedy can be exercised against one judgement only once, if the law provides the same term of exercising the legal remedies for all existing grounds on the date of declaring that specific remedy.
The judgement is subject only to the remedies provided by the law, under the respective terms and conditions, regardless of the particulars of its statement of reasons.
-
The new civil law regulation on associations in the mirror of Constitutional Court Rulings
Views:90After the creation of the Basic Law of Hungary, and following a drawn discussion Act CLXXV of 2011 on the Right of Association and the Operation and Funding of Civil Society organizations has come into force (hereinafter referred to as Civil Act). The Civil Act repealed a lot former provitions, thus the Act II. of 1989 on the Right of Association, the law concerning non-profit status, and the provitions related to association of the previous Civil Code. The new Act V of 2013 in the Civil Code has also brought significant changes according to associations.
The base of the rules has changed considerabely, as the permissive legislation, and the freedom of the parties has become the main line.
At present to association the Civil Act, the new regulations about the court registration of associations – such as Act CLXXXI of 2011 –, and the provisions concerning legal persons and associations of the new Civil Code should be applied.
Since the relevant legal regulation has changed, the previous judicial practice is not applicable, courts have to answer the questions among the new legal circumstances as well. However it is sure that the basis of association is the right of association which is a constitutional fundamental right. Due to these significant changes in this paper I have examined those important Constitutional Court Rulings which can be connected with the right of association, and I have tried to compare the decisions of the Constitutional Court with the new present regulation.
-
A munkaviszony megszűnésének és megszüntetésének új szabályai a korábbi szabályozás tükrében
24-34Views:124From the 1st of July 2012, Act XXII of 1992 on the Labour Code, which was effective from the 1st of July 1992, had given place Act I of 2012 on the Labour Code (New Code). The New Code has brought a lot of changes concerning the cessation and termination of the employment. The univoque aim of the legislator, near reducing the number of the labour suits, was resolving the inconsistency of the practice, corresponding to the changing social and economic relations, furthermore harmonising the Hungarian law to the law of the European Union. The rules concerning the termination of the employment have not substantially changed. The New Code broadens the list of cases regulated previously. Concerning the termination of the employment, the New Code determines the ordinary dismissal as dismissal, whereas the extraordinary dismissals as dismissal with prompt effect.
At the same time, it is a new rule, that the parties could terminate the definite term employment with dismissal, if the conditions determined by the New Code emerge. The New Code has brought substantial changes concerning the rules of the dismissal protection. It constricts the number of cases when the dismissal protection could be applicable and respecting the application of the dismissal protection, it considers authoritative the moment of the notification of the dismissal. For example an expectant mother could refer to the dismissal protection, if she had notified the employer about the pregnancy before the notification of dismissal.
According to subsection 3 of section 65, there are cases, when the dismissal should not be communicated, whereas according to subsection 2 of section 68, the dismissal could be communicated, but the termination period would start earliest after the last day determined by the New Code.
The New Code, contrary to the old one, determines 6 months as the longest term of the dismissal period. The rules of the acquittal and the severance pay have not changed substantially. Regarding the dismissal with prompt effect, the legislator makes a distinction between the termination with motivation and the termination without motivation. It is a substantial modification regarding the unlawful termination of the employment, that according to the rules of the New Code, the employee could claim for damages as arrears of salary, which could not exceeds the 12 months amount of the absence fee. The restoration of the employment could be executed only in the few cases determined by section 83 and only if the employee requests for it. -
Assessing of company shares in marital property sharing lawsuits
Views:121New types of assets has appeared in property lawsuits in the past 25 years, such as company shares (one of the most important kind of valuable rights). This fact made forensic experts - who deal with evaluation of these assets - to obtain additional comprehensive knowledge. The Kuria quoted that "the expert opinion is an underlying proof for the court judgment, an objective and precise means of proof, which usually affects directly the decisions of the court," and I think the date of the completion of the trial can be affected significantly.
The author of the study and writing of the addition was designed to court pointed out weaknesses in the analyzed case by case decisions perceived peer involvement draws the attention of the interested public on the company's assessment of literature on the importance of knowledge. To that aim the light of the experience gained from the analysis of the case law, above all, the study seeks to publish the company's fundamental valuation basic concepts summarize the literature on the same value in generally accepted and applied definitions and outline the applicable assessment methods. It is certain that the regulation of property relations in the new Code requires the renewal of judicial regulation of professional activity as well.
-
The special requirements applicable to the management of national assets, with a special respect to the requirement of transparency
85-96.Views:156The Fundamental Law of Hungary states that the property of the Hungarian State and of municipal governments shall be considered national assets. National assets shall be managed and protected for the purpose of serving the public interest, satisfying common needs and preserving natural resources, taking also into account the needs of future generations. Economic operators – such as companies - owned by the State or municipal governments shall conduct business prudently and independently, in accordance with the relevant legislation, under the requirements of legality, efficiency and effectiveness. The special requirements regarding the management and safeguarding are laid down in Act CXCVI of 2011 on National Assets (hereinafter: National Assets Act) and Act CVI of 2007 on State Property (hereinafter: State Property Act) also contains a few requirements in its preamble.
Based on the above, national assets shall be managed and protected in a special way, compared to privately owned assets. Publicly owned enterprises play a very important role in the national economy, since they provide a significant amount of GDP, they employ numerous people, they usually provide public services and last but not least they manage public funds. As a consequence, these companies shall also manage their assets with respect to the special requirements. In our article, we introduce these requirements by examining their content and also their relationship towards each other.
One of the most important requirements is transparency, since these enterprises manage public funds and according to the Fundamental Law, every organization managing public funds shall publicly account for the management of those funds. Public funds and national assets shall be managed according to the principles of transparency and of corruption-free public life. Data relating to public funds or to national assets shall be recognized as data of public interest. We lay a special emphasis on transparency by introducing the relating regulation and also by summarizing the most prominent statements of court decisions from the last few years. In their judgements the courts interpreted the requirement of transparency in connection with state-owned enterprises and the relationship between transparency and the protection of business secrets and business interests of the companies.
-
Collisions of fundamental rights in the legislative background of criminal procedure particularly regarding the sector-specific confidentiality
Views:100The right to a fair trial by an independent and impartial tribunal is a fundamental right everybody is entitled to. Through such right, transparency and publicity becomes an important guarantee of the administration of justice, in a broader sense, and as a procedural principle of different court proceedings as well. The collision between the requirements of privacy protection and transparency impose challenges on the legislator, the legal practitioners and on the judicial practice as well, from many aspects. Beyond issues of data protection, these requirements influence the publicity of the courtroom, the publicity of proceedings to the press, and the protection of personality rights.
In the general interpretation publicity is a safeguard which guarantees the indecency and impartiality of the court and it is also a significant instrument of social control. The study distinguishes between the different level of publicity in a criminal procedures such as “socially publicity”, “courtroom publicity” and “client publicity” and examines practicable problems like online-streaming during the criminal court proceeding.
In order to ensure the transparency of courts, the information stored must be provided to the parties, other authorities, and the media, taking into account applicable legal provisions.
When it comes to the operation of courts, one of the biggest problems with regard to the constitutionality of data processing is when the qualification of a particular data is changed several times in different procedural stages, and is – consequently – subject to different legal protection. Needless to say that the same data cannot be considered as both public and protected at the same time in the same procedure. However, this issue arises regularly, which is quite frankly a legal nonsense requiring an immediate and comprehensive solution.
Finally the study mentions some de lege ferenda recommendations as well.