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  • The Transformation of Labour Law Litigation
    162-176
    Views:
    279

    From the outset of labor litigation, both theoreticians and practitioners have been preoccupied with the question of what specific regulation this area of law – which has essentially additional elements of private law – requires in order to ensure fair treatment and proceedings for all participants. The aim of the present study is to show how labor litigation is evolving today, outlining the phenomena that have arisen due to the new labor and civil procedure codes.

  • The recruitment of Law Students and Some elements of their Image of Profession
    11-37
    Views:
    168

    In our treatise we have undertaken to characterize the speciality of strain of law students and some elements of their image of profession. The legalists traditionally occupy a middle-class position in the modern societies. Their high state and prestige succeed also profession-order characters that frequently go hand in hand with “natality order” procurer prestige.

    From the possible components of the image of profession we examined three main topics. Firstly the motives of profession-selection, secondly the patterns of finding a job, and thirdly the main expectations on legal teaching. Generally, law students and graduates also have a strong linkage to 
    the fact that, not only the diploma, but the profession itself has a powerful charm. The patterns of finding a job show that graduates frequently occupy lower positions, than they expected.

  • Protection of Marriage and Family in Central Europe
    7-31
    Views:
    270

    It is no exaggeration to say that family plays a prominent role in our daily lives. This study therefore examines the constitutional and family law foundations of family protection in seven Central European countries. The study describes, among other things, the nature of family law legislation, the conceptual approach to family and marriage, the legal protection and solution of extramarital partnerships, such as de facto partnerships and registered partnerships, and the status of children in the countries studied.

  • Rule of Law – Active State: Reconstructing the Conception of the Rule of Law in Zoltán Magyary’s Theory
    9-26
    Views:
    194

    Zoltán Magyary was an internationally recognised Hungarian professor of law who carried out research in modern theories of administration and state theories. Defending the values of the rule of law and taking action against the anomalies of legal formalism were among his major scientific goals. According to him, one of the most important functions of a legal system is the protection of human rights, therefore he accepted the view that courts must have the authority to review administrative decisions. At the same time, he stated that the effective and productive functioning of administrative institutions and the executive power is a priority in a legal system. Due to the fact that he did not provide a complete analysis of the correlation between the rule of law and the effective functioning of administrative institutions, he opened the possibility for posterity to give various and different interpretations of the issue.

  • Opportunities and Boundaries for Criminal Law in a Risk Society : Changes in the regulatory role of criminal law in a postmodern age
    99-112
    Views:
    131

    In the last few decades of the 20th century, the modernization of our world started to accelerate. This tendency means a transition to a second modernization. Risk society has posed new and previously unknown challenges for the decision makers of the world. As a result of it, criminal law, with its traditional instruments, often fails to provide the right response to the new types of criminal acts seriously threatening society. Therefore, there is a need for a change of paradigm. The task to be performed among the prevailing circumstances of risk society is to select those acts the frequency of which can still be effectively influenced by criminal law through the analysis of advantages/disadvantages and cost/benefit. Instruments different to those of criminal law are to be used against serious threats that cannot be influenced by criminal law – threats the seriousness of which are not yet known to a large extent.

  • Foreign Loan: Cross-border temporary agency work in Hungary, with special regard to the employment of third-country nationals
    43-60
    Views:
    308

    The special feature of temporary agency work is that the employee does not work for the agency which concludes the employment contract with them, but for a third party, the user company, with which the agency enters into a civil law contract for the remunerated transfer of workforce. The article summarises how an international element can appear in this tripartite employment relationship. It covers the rules under which an agency may conclude an employment contract with a foreign employee and also the cases where the agency and the user company are established in different states. Although Hungarian law generally prohibits third-country nationals to work in Hungary as agency workers, this is made possible by an expanding range of exceptions. The article explores the labour law and social security law situation of third-country agency workers in Hungary.

  • Fiscal Conditionality in EU Law
    143-156
    Views:
    108

    This paper analyses the evolution, objectives, and instruments of fiscal conditionality legislation of the European Union. The author provides a detailed analysis of the relevant elements of the existing legislation, as well as the recent judgments of the Court of Justice of the European Union on the subject. The paper demonstrates that the Financial Conditionality Regulation is not an instrument for protecting the rule of law in general, but its general purpose is to protect the EU budget by enforcing the fundamental requirements deriving from the rule of law.

  • Change of Legal Relations: Consequences for Labour Law of the Restructuring of Public Services
    81-103
    Views:
    232

    Changes in the organization of public services often have the consequence of changing the employment relationship of those employed among them. The change is often caused by the transformation of civil service legal relations into private employment law. In the background of changes are usually the legislature's intention to maintain legal relations with the successor employers. This intention is realized in Hungarian labor law and civil service law by various legal and technical methods. The paper reviews these in different areas of public services.

  • Collective Agreement’s Status in Law
    Views:
    581

    The collective agreement is a Janus-faced legal phenomenon. From one side it has the nature of a contractual relationship where the parties have the right to determine the content of the contract, also including the choice itself, whether they establish it or not. On the other hand, the collective agreement acts as a legal norm as well. From this aspect its regulations are also obligatory for those persons  who were not involved during the set-up process, or even for those who disagrees with some parts of the document. Therefore it is a crucial question in labour law as to how these contracts are handled by law. The Hungarian Labour Code came into force in 2012 contained an approach in which the legislator wanted to empower the legal status of collective agreement. To achieve this goal, in some parts the Act gives the parties the possibility to deviate from the law and to customize the norms in order to make it fit their current relationship. In this paper I examine the nature of the Collective Agreement and show its specialities in the Hungarian legal environment.

  • Symbolic Legislation in Criminal Law
    173-189
    Views:
    278

    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

  • The assertion of fundamental principles relating to civil law notaries in the 21st century with special focus on Hungary
    25-45
    Views:
    187

    In our present paper, we tried to introduce the principles of notaries through the Hungarian notary's glasses. We did this through the challenges of the 21st century. Prior to the detailed description of the principles, we introduced the position of the Hungarian notary, where we also discussed the provisions of the Hungarian Constitution. Subsequently, more important legislation on Hungarian notary was mentioned and we discussed the diverse notarial procedures. In this connection, it is important to note that not only the notarial deeds are found in the Hungarian notary's procedures, but also the keeping of notarial registers. The paper deals with the responsibility of notary, the notary's and advertising relationships, the emergence of electronization and digitization. The paper presents the most important principles of notaries, including the principle of independence, impartiality and public authenticity.

  • Knowledge of Law in the Hungarian Population Today and a Half Century Ago – A Comparative Analysis based on Kálmán Kulcsár’s Empirical Survey of 1965
    11-28
    Views:
    248

    Knowledge of law is certainly one component of legal culture. Due to the support of the Hungarian Research Funds (OTKA) the authors of this paper carried out a comprehensive empirical analysis of this issue in Hungary. In doing so they strongly relied on Kálmán Kulcsár’s findings and insights stemming from his pathbreaking studies half a century ago.

    The empirical study was carried out by the Szonda Ipsos Market and Opinion Research Institute in the framework of an omnibus questionnaire survey with a random sample of 1000 people in 2013. Thirteen questions essentially similar to certain questions used by Kulcsár in 1965 (for instance: Have you ever read a bill or an act? Have you ever participated in a judicial process? Who or which body enacts a bill in Hungary?) were posed in order to provide a possibility for the comparison of the actual results and those of Kulcsár.

    We found that the general level of knowledge of law had increased substantially in the past decades. Knowledge related to constitutional law is the prominent example of this growth and it can definitely be coupled with the functioning of the democratic political system in the last 25 years. However, except from constitutional law, the growth of legal knowledge is due almost solely to the increased level of education and not a generally improved legal consciousness of the society.

  • Effective and Actual? Analysis of Employment-Related Directives in the Legal Practice of the Curia of Hungary Regarding the Enforcement of Workers’ Rights
    193-216
    Views:
    247

    In view of the special nature of the employment relationship, subordination of the parties results in a weaker legal position on the employees’ side. Certain guarantees of protection are absolutely necessary to compensate for this asymmetry, thus, among other things, the effectiveness of employees’ enforcement plays a key role. This is why our research seeks to answer the question whether some crucial employment-related directives of the European Union, as well as the broader European Union legal corpus also including legal practice. Furthermore we try to find the answer to the question that, how do these legal sources appear in the domestic legal practice, primarily in the relevant judgments of the Curia of Hungary, and the extent to which these references facilitate the effective enforcement of the workers’ rights.

  • The Importance of the Wage Guarantee Fund in the Framework of Labour Law Protection
    177-192
    Views:
    216

    Act LXVI of 1994 on the Wage Guarantee Fund and the guarantee system regulated by it, is especially topical nowadays, as more and more employers in Hungary have become insolvent in connection with the crisis caused by the coronavirus epidemic. In many cases, the employers subject to the procedure are not able to meet their wage obligations to their employees, so the state must guarantee the values ​​that can be expressed in exact monetary terms – the work performed and its  financial compensation – and at the same time the social security of employees. In the present study, we examine the applicability of the Wage Guarantee Fund, which serves to cover the wages to be paid by insolvent employers, from the perspective of the social security and the enforcement of employees’ claims.

  • The One Who Wanted Online Courts Before the Coronavirus: Review of Richard Susskind's New Book "Online Courts and the Future of Justice"
    192-200
    Views:
    330

    In November 2019 Richard Susskind, who is relatively known and popular in Hungary as well, published his new book “Online courts and the future of justice” issued by Oxford University Press. The author argued rather radically for the necessity of the change of legal services in his previous books before and he has maintained this approach. This time Susskind argues for the transformation of the century-old court systems giving alternative ideas about what sort of methods and ways in which we should transform our courts in order to make judicial services available for every person indeed. As the title suggests, the core concept of the book is the realization of online courts, which has slowly become a reality amid the pandemic caused by the coronavirus. Thus, the concept of Susskind may be called even fatidical from this perspective.

  • Organic laws and the principle of democracy in France and Spain
    62-74
    Views:
    147

    During the last decades, several countries have entrenched a special subcategory of law, which is adopted by stricter procedural rules than that of the ordinary legislative process. These laws are enacted by qualified majority, by the consent of the two chambers of the legislature, and they are subject to mandatory constitutional review before their promulgation, or additional safeguards are implemented in the ordinary legislative process. In this study, I compare the experiences of two crucial legal systems, France and Spain, which provide two different frameworks of qualified law. My aim is to identify the most contested issues from the legal nature of qualified laws, and to seek the proper solutions of these issues, as well as an ideal model of qualified law. My contribution focuses on the relationship between qualified laws and the principle of democracy, and aims to open up new perspectives in this regard.

  • Problems of textual empiricism
    126-139
    Views:
    134

    In this paper the authors make some critical comments on Blutman László’s legal methodology. They argue for the claim that legal cases cannot be solved by applying the methods of natural sciences. Law is an interpretive social practice, therefore legal texts can have more than one equally justifiable interpretation which can be in conflict with each other. Correct legal decisions, especially in hard cases, are the result of resorting to the justifying principles and purposes of law and cannot be achieved by using ‘textual empiricism’ as a legal methodology.

  • Alternative Solutions to the Problems Posed by the Coronavirus Pandemic in the Field of Social Law (An International Outlook)
    124-144
    Views:
    286

    The 2020 coronavirus pandemic is forcing such political, economic and social responses from the leaders of the nations of the world which in many cases have never been seen before. Excellent new concepts have been formed through the work of professionals, and there have been initiatives that have proven in the short term to be not well-founded. The present study was created in order not to miss the chance to examine the established practices, taking advantage of the opportunity provided by the crisis, as this year can offer many lessons for decision-makers for the future.

  • Circumstances Affecting the Degree of Restitution in the Jurisprudence of Labour Law
    192-208
    Views:
    108

    The study examines the dogmatics of the legal institution of restitution applicable in the case of infringements of personality rights in labour law, as well as looking at the functions determining the sanctions in the international and domestic legal environment. It classifies states based on the effect wished to be triggered with the legal institution as well as regarding the circumstances to be considered. It determines the governing factual elements and circumstances with regards to the degree of the institution of restitution. It projects the standpoints of special literature to the practice. It analyses and classifies trivial cases in the light of judicial case law.

  • EU Case Law Guidelines on Registering Three-Dimensional (Shape) EUTM in the Light of the Trademark Reform
    128-142
    Views:
    101

    The case-law developed by the European Court of Justice aims to ensure consistency and legal certainty in the registration of EU three-dimensional trademarks. It interacts closely with the legislative amendments introduced by the trademark reform, which aim to make the registration procedure for EU trademarks more flexible and transparent, thanks to the European Court of Justice's work in interpreting and developing the law. The problem of the definition and registration procedure of three-dimensional marks is an important issue in EU trademark case law, as this category of marks is the most popular of the non-traditional marks for which the trademark reform provides a legal framework, but also overlaps with other forms of intellectual property protection.

  • Questions of divisions of powers in the 21st century after the adoption of the new Fundamental Law of Hungary
    24-37
    Views:
    341

    The question of division of state powers is a crucial part of constitutional law determining how state organs work (or should work) in theory and in practice. After the adoption of the new Fundamental Law of Hungary, there are some modifications in the Hungarian constitutional system, including the division of powers as well. In this study we examine the original model of “3 branches of power – 1-1 function” as a starting point, and the other factors and branches which can modify the original model. In the study we try to focus to the examples of the former and present Hungarian legal system as certain proves of our theory about the new frameworks of division of powers in Hungary. In the end of this study we also examine, as an indirect argumentation, the opposite side of the separation of powers, i.e. concentration of powers.

  • Issues of Public Social Responsibility in Great Britain and Hungary
    122-136
    Views:
    370

    Social responsibility has undergone significant development in recent years. The concept has spread into every aspect of life: personal life, the economic sphere and finally the public sector. It is proven that currently many states are struggling with various problems in the public sector. We believe that public social responsibility is one of the guidelines that is able to help, for example, in the realization of a comprehensive public administration reform. This paper examines public social responsibility in Great Britain and Hungary. Even though we have the example of the United Kingdom to follow, their way of practicing PSR may not be suitable for the rest of the European countries because of the fundamental differences in our legal systems and mindsets.

  • Sustainability – Law and Public Choice
    239-246
    Views:
    103

    Book review on Bándi Gyula–Szabó Marcel–Szalai Ákos: Sustainability: Law and Public Choice. (Europa Law Publishing, Groningen, 2014.)

  • Constitutional Foundations of EU Membership in Hungary Before and After the new Fundamental Law
    29-47
    Views:
    225

    The paper examines the Hungarian constitutional framework which determines the relationship between domestic and EU law. The constitutional foundations changed in 2011 when the new constitution, the Fundamental Law was adopted. The former 1989 Constitution contained in Article 2/A the so-called ’European clause’ adopted before EU accession, which was referred to as the main constitutional basis of Hungary’s EU membership by the Constitutional Court. The new Fundamental Law contains a seemingly similar ’European clause’ in Article E. The paper scrutinizes the question whether the former and the new clauses are truly similar and concludes that opposite to the Constitutional Court’s point of view the new European clause should be interpreted differently from the former, which might lead to a different, less Europe-friendly approach towards EU membership.

  • The Problem of Defining Criminal Norms Precisely. The „Clarity of Norms” Doctrine in the Decisions of the Hungarian Constitutional Court and in Judicial Practice
    37-59
    Views:
    357

    The principles of legality in criminal law determine numerous requirements both for the legislator creating criminal statutes and for judges as well who decide criminal cases. One of the most important demands of legality is the principle of maximum certainty according to which the state must establish a system of criminal law in which the wording of the statutes are clear, precise and understandable for the citizens; and judges are able to interpret criminal rules without making arbitrary decisions. In the Hungarian legal system the demands of maximum certainty are represented by the principle of nullum crimen sine lege. This principle is called the „clarity of norms” doctrine in the practice of the Constitutional Court of Hungary (HCC) which is entitled to strike down criminal statutes which do not meet its requirements. The aim of this paper is to argue for the claim that the „clarity of norms doctrine” and the concept of certainty in criminal law is based mostly on considerations about the plain meaning of words and texts and lack a coherent theoretical background in the decisions of the HCC and in judicial practice as well. The author offers a more complex and coherent conception of certainty stating that its requirements relate not only to linguistic considerations but also to thinking over the moral and political values of criminal law as well.