The study makes efforts to analyse the concept of symbolic legislation, particularly the question of the symbolic criminal law. In the first part of the paper, the author discusses the issues of international (German) literature which relates to the problem of symbolic criminal law. The second part contains the Hungarian theoretical standpoints from which the author draws the conclusion that the concept of symbolic criminal law can be interpreted in multiple ways. Symbolic criminal law is described by some scholars as a critique of the legislature, however according to other opinions – which are the focus of this essay – the concept of symbolic criminal law has a positive meaning which includes the viewpoint that the legislator tries to turn the attention of society to the obligation of saving the general ethical values, and on the other side, it emphasizes the high-priority values set by the legislator in actual social-political situations