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Indigenous Peoples in Europe? Questions of Current Interest Regarding the Jurisprudence of the European Human Rights Mechanism
32-44Views:51The 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.
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Peter Goodrich and the Satirical Legal Studies
Views:40Satirical 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.
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Benedikt Carpzov's two works in Debrecen archives
1-11.Views:116The Saxon Benedikt Carpzov was considered one of the most illustrious jurisprudents in the early modern period. In the 17th century, Carpzov gained high prestige and authority across Europe, serving as a general reference point for criminal jurisprudence and legal practice. His works – primarily that focused on criminal law – were also applied and referred to by Hungarian courts in the 18th century. The research of Carpzov’s influence on 18th-century Hungarian criminal law as a legal historical phenomenon has not been a fully revealed area. This brief paper tries to make an interesting cultural-historical contribution to the research of the “Carpzovian-effect” in the criminal practice of the Debrecen Magistrates. Fortunately, we can find Carpzov’s two works in good condition in the National Archives of Hungary-Archives of Hajdú-Bihar County. This circumstance provides us unique opportunity to examine these jurisprudential works more profoundly. The Saxon author’s works functioned as “cultural transfers” transmitted foreign legal impacts to Hungarian praxis. The notes, text underlines, and the other types of text highlightings found in these books can enrich and make the research results of analyzing the archival documents of Debrecen criminal procedures more nuanced. This paper is preliminary research, and it establishes the dissection of the notes made in Carpzov’s works. The final goal is to understand how Hungarian judges, prosecutors and advocates interpreted (adapted) the Saxon jurisprudent’s opinions.
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Atypical Contracts in Hungary and Serbia
1-16Views:88The paper analyzes the notion and types of atypical contracts, primarily in the Hungarian and
Serbian law, but also in wider, European perspective. The analysis sheds light on the different
terms used in different legal systems to denominate contracts that do not fit explicitly into the
range of nominate contracts, that is into the range of contract-types envisaged by the civil
code or code of obligations, respectively. According to the Hungarian legal literature, all civil
law contracts are divided into two main groups: nominate and innominate contracts. The
former group is further divided into the categories of typical and atypical contracts, while the
latter into the categories of mixed contracts and de facto innominate contracts.
The authors conclude that there is a tendency in Europe, both in the jurisprudence, the
legislation and the application of law, to create a unified and coherent law of contracts, which
affects the range of atypical contracts as well. Most notably, the Draft Common Frame of
Reference, the normative proposal of the Study Group on a European Civil Code and the
Research Group on EC Private Law (Acquis Group), contains model rules on franchise, timesharing,
commercial agency and treatment contracts, just as rules on electronic commerce, on
the one hand. The legislation of the European Union, on the other, aims at the highest possible
level of harmonisation of laws which, from the aspect of protection of consumers and
competition law, affects the range and statutory content of atypical contracts. Finally, the
paper refers to a series of decisions of the Court of Justice of the European Union that tackle
certain features of the atypical contracts, whereby the Court in the determination of issues of
contract law applies a rather functional approach. -
Agents and Insiders – The Relationship Between Agency Costs and Insider Trading
54-64Views:173This paper examines insider trading regulation regulations from the viewpoint of agency costs. An overview is given regarding the different definitions of insider trading in jurisprudence which helps establishing the essence of this behaviour. The author also aims to give an insight to the agency problem and agency costs which arise in a business organisation with separate ownership and management. Only through that can be the effects of insider trading demonstrated on agency costs. The article aims to give a balanced overview by enumerating reasons whether insider trading increases or decreases agency costs. If it raises agency costs then prohibition is justified. If it decreases agency costs, e.g. it serves as a more efficient compensation mechanism, then allowing insider trading might be more beneficial.
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Az élethez való jog néhány jogelméleti kérdéséről
65-73Views:109Nowadays in vitro fertilisation raises relevant controversies at the point of view of jurisprudence as well. The distinct approximations of in vitro embryos, such as to be considered as personae or objects, are also resources of several theoretical and pragmatical questions. It is essential to give a compendious summary about what kind of jurisprudental environment had been contributed to the intrumental comprehension of human embryos too, otherwise it is difficult to understand the scientific quandaries connected to the subject correctly. Merely thereafter the international and the Hungarian regulation of in vitro embryo’s status seems to able to be dissected, in particular the case-law of the Hungarian Constitutional Court related to the right to life and the constitutional funds of the oncurrent re-regulation in our country.
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The evolutive interpretation of the Strasbourg Court and the European consensus
32-39Views:44The European Convention on Human Rightsin collaboration with the European Court of Human Rights created a jurisprudence which is simply the most effective system in international human rightsprotection. Based on the Convention’s Preamble, European countries intend to create a common European legal system and develop the cooperation between the “likeminded European countries” through the common heritage of democracy and the rule of law. Keep pace with the needs of present-day society would be difficult for the Court, but using the principles of interpretation of the Convention, the court seems to be able to maintain a balance between development and stability.With the use of evolutive interpretation, the Convention is a so-called living instrument which means that the Court interpret the document according to the present-day conditions. Based on this assumption, I wish to examine the principle of evolutive interpretation adopted by the Strasbourg Court, which has a major role in the so-called European consensus. In the first part of the essay, I discuss the types of consensus-analyzes using by the Strasbourg court, and later I scrutinize the historical aspects of the evolutive interpretation and its practical relevance in the Court’s case-law. After that, I analyze the justification of the principle and I mention the criticisms formulated against the evolutive interpretation. Finally, I consider that the purposes about the closer union among the European countries established by the Preamble and the effective protection of human rights could not occur without the implementation of evolutive interpretation
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Előreláthatósági klauzula a szerződések jogában
Views:57The essay is about the clause of foreseeability in connection with damages for breach of a contract. This seems to be a constant problem throughout the history of law how and when it is reasonably to limit the amount of damages in case of breach.
The general principle of full compensation originates in the main purpose of private law, restoring the violated financial situation. At the same time in business relations it often happens that damages occurred as consequences of breach highly exceed the contractual interest of the party and generate indirect damages independent from the violator’s influence. This is considered to be the starting point of the dilemma about restricting the damages availably for compensation.
Full compensation and its relation to breach of a contract occurred in the Hungarian jurisprudence many times. Miklós Világhy suggested the reconsideration of full compensation in contract law in 1971. Attila Harmathy also suggested the implementation of foreseeability clause in the rules of contract law as the ‘best possible way to treat business relations between the parties’.
Due to the historic and social differences various forms of foreseeability are known in the legal systems.
The study examines the development of foreseeability, its first codification in the French Napoleonic Code Civil, its application in the law of the USA and some significant sentences of English courts. The first application of foreseeability was in the infamous Hadley v. Baxendale case, in which an English court worked out the meaning of contemplation rules. In the case of Victoria Laundry Ld. v. Newman Industries Ld. (1949) the court defined the meaning of foreseeability. According to the sentence of the case damages are limited to those that were foreseeable for the party at the time of entering a contract. The study also analyzes the German model of restricting damages of breach. The German theory ensures the possibility of exoneration for the violator if the other party failed to give proper information about the unusual danger of breach in the particular case. If the entitled party acted intentionally, the German law accepts exoneration. The essay demonstrates the adequate causality conception of the German law. This theory states that an act can only be the probable cause if – due to the normal and reasonable procession – it is able to cause such consequence. In our opinion foreseeability gives a stricter and much better solution of restricting damages with a more objective measurement for the obliged party on how to calculate his behavior in a certain contractual relation. The amount of risk can be predicted if the rules of damages for breach are based on foreseeability rather than adequate causality.
The new Hungarian Civil Code plans to establish objective liability in contract law. The only exoneration can be the successful reference to unavoidable external cause. Beside this stricter liability the new Civil Code also introduce the possibility of limitation in damages, the application of foreseeability clause. This seems to be a significant preference for the obliged party. As in the Hungarian legal history foreseeability clause was never used, it is an essential question how judicature will interpret the rule in practice. In our opinion for an adequate application of the new clause it is necessary to take a closer look at the United Nations Convention on the International Sale of Goods (CISG), the Principles of European Contract Law (PECL) and the interpretation in the American and English case law. This study tries to give some help for it.
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Lack of Balance In Contract Law: the State as Contractual Party
Views:257Contractual relations mean balanced cooperation between the parties. Right and obligations on both sides are equal. This seems to be a classic essential of contracts. As of many among the terms and condition in contract law, special situations clam for a different perspective. This essay is about a unique problem in contract law that origins from the ancient dilemma about the role of the state in private law relations.
State as a sovereign has original power and hierarchic connection to citizens. In the field of constitutional law, public administration law, criminal law it is necessary to transfer certain right to the state and allow it determining one-sided obligations that cannot be changed in a particular relation. The theory of state immunity failed in the 20th century in private law. Since jurisprudence makes a difference between the role of the state as a merchant and a sovereign, we cannot maintain the old immunity rights of the state anymore.
In the essay we examine three specific questions in connection with state participation in contracts. The first part of our study analyzes the strange legal arguments in a famous Hungarian case, called the Subway case. In this case the reasoning of the Supreme Court denied the balanced elements in a private contract and accepted a redefined theory of state immunity in private relations. Although there is a strong political content in the story and right after the criticized decision the Hungarian Civil Code was modified to clear the facts, we want to prove that even today state participation can cause interferences in the coherent theory of contracts.
A specific contract type is examined in the second chapter of the essay, the concession agreement. This contract is far from the balanced theory of party positions due to its unique nature and content. We emphasize many different aspects in mixing private and public law nature of provisions and rules. Concession agreement is an excellent example to demonstrate extra-rights on the side of the state.
Finally we spare some words on authority contracts in which state authorities can manage debates in public administration procedures with using the private law nature of contracts.
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Academic freedom in the jurisprudence of the Hungarian Constitutional Court
Views:44The change of political regime in Hungary has also brought about a democratic commitment to the constitutional guarantee of human rights and fundamental freedoms. Among other freedoms, academic freedom was redefined in positive constitutional law, and the stage for judicial interpretation was set. The Hungarian Constitutional Court has been in operation and delivering rulings for almost two decades now, also shaping the contents und guarantees of the fundamental right inherent in academic freedom. In the Court’s case law, academic freedom has been reflected upon chiefly in two aspects: first, from the viewpoint of the freedom of scientific research and the access to historic archives, bearing a great potential for the post-communist society in facing its burdensome history and dealing with past grievances and, second, as the guarantee of the autonomy of institutions of higher education, gaining relevance in the last few years in the light of the reformed Act on Higher Education. However, academic freedom has remained a neglected field of study of constitutional law scholars, and a detailed elaboration of this fundamental freedom has yet to be undertaken.The present article offers a brief insight into the jurisprudence of the Hungarian Constitutional Court related to the concept and scope of academic freedom. As an illustration, the recent case law related to the autonomy of institutions of higher education is introduced, with an attempt to sketch the judicially set guarantees and limits of this fundamental freedom.
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Legislative Processes and ICT
Views:108In the first part of our work, we described the judgment of quality legislation in Hungary. Based on the standpoint of outstanding practitioners of domestic jurisprudence, we presented the conceptual definitions of quality legislation together with their content elements, stating that quality legislation is a constantly changing "legal category", the periodic review of which is justified.
In the second part of our work, we gave an overview of the general role of ICT in the human community, which similarly to quality legislation, constantly changes, and permanently increases and evolves.
In the final part of the study, we briefly outlined the role of ICT in legislation (including some examples of foreign states) and the most recently applied system in Hungary, i.e. IJR.
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Judicial review of company decisions in the view of jurisprudence
29-48.Views:77The study presents in detail and in a systematic way the legal rules of judicial review of decisions of companies in the light of case law.
The study describes when a review of a decision can be requested, who the parties are, how the time limit for bringing an action is set, what kind of decision the court can issue, groups and describes typical infringement decisions, and then distinguishes the legal institution from the judicial oversight.
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Questions around prescription by title
81-89Views:384In this paper I am willing to introduce different aspects of the new institution of the Hungarian civil law, the so-called prescription by title. This young way of acquiring property was a novelty in the field of law and jurisprudence, and a novelty for entities as well. The law of property contains the most important and fundamental rules of private law, this is the reason why it is always ultimately important that the legislator and the exact purpose of the legislation has to be as clearly defined as possible, since this is what ensures the security of property transactions and guarantees the freedom and protection of one of the most ancient social institutions, property. By its unique nature, prescription has always been the subject of legal disputes, thus the arguments above are cumulative.
The aim of this paper is to present the regulation of prescription by title, its dogmatic features, draw parallels with its ancestor in Hungarian legal history and an unusual foreign example, examine some relevant aspects of judicial practice and finally attempt to compose a possible alternative regulatory technique.
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The Appearance, Development, and Reception of Danger to Society in Hungarian Criminal Law
105-120Views:153The concept of danger to society is perhaps the most controversial element of the Criminal Code's definition of crime. This concept plays a prominent role in the determination of criminal liability in domestic criminal law. In the 20th century, its necessity in our Criminal Code, which was in force at the time, was the subject of debate among jurists of repute in the field of criminal law.
In the socialist criminal law of the pre-communist era, the concept of danger to society was used to express the 'class nature' of criminal law. After the 1990s, this concept - in the science of criminal law, in legislation and in the application of law as well - was cleared of the content elements adopted from Soviet law to serve the aims of party-state policy. Nowadays, the definition of danger to society is so devoid of ideological, party-political connotations that it is regarded by a significant number of legal scholars in the field of criminal law and even by case law as the conceptual equivalent of material illegality, taken from German legal theory (ÚJVÁRI, 2003).
In this paper, I will present the emergence and reception of the concept of danger to society in Hungarian criminal law and criminal jurisprudence, from the preceding period – which applied formal illegality – to the Criminal Code of legal force.