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Editorial
7-8Views:204In the preface, the content of the given issue is described by the editor in the form of 5-6 line article descriptions (annotations). In addition to the latest changes to the journal, here is the explanation of the Latin phrase on the back cover.
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The Beneficium Novorum in the Light of the Hungarian Procedural Reform Movements of the 19th and 20th Centuries
28-44Views:143The study examines the historical development of the beneficium novorum in the 19th and 20th century. This legal institution means the right of the parties to make such submissions that had not been made in first instance proceedings. Act I of 1911 (the first Hungarian code of civil procedure) made it possible without any boundaries based on the appellatio of Roman law. Act 1930 of XXXIV, however, restricted the freedom of submission in time with the enforcement of the principle of contingent cumulation. The study has a practical approach since it examines the question through archive sources and high court decisions. It argues that the application of the principle of contingent cumulation in the appeal proceedings was a successful legislative move which led to their shortening.
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Legal Theory Bases and the Place of Corporate Tax in Tax Policy
153-179Views:262Corporate tax is basically aimed at taxing the income from the business activities of companies (and other enterprises, legal entities). The general characteristics of this type of tax, legal theories of its application, political and economic approaches, as well as the main legislative and enforcement problems can be examined. Each country has different regulations and approaches, but the main features are the same. Accordingly, the study discusses the place, role and general characteristics of corporate tax in tax policy, primarily from a legal point of view, also addressing some economic issues and the relationship between dividend tax and corporate tax.
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Harmonization of Arbitration Laws in some Asian and European Countries
68-77Views:186The present paper studies the relationship between domestic and international arbitration laws and the harmonization factor amongst some Asian and European jurisdictions. During the last decades, there has been a significant change and globalization in the world and with the expansion of businesses and trade a better dispute resolution mechanism is required in order to maintain the harmony in international trade. It has become a necessity to balance the domestic arbitration laws with the international ones. This brief paper identifies and comments on some of the areas where differences remain including differences in recognition and enforcement of arbitral awards in various jurisdictions over the public policy defence, and where further examination and research to reach and solve disputes amicably might be useful.
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The Financial Supervisory Agencies of the European Union and the Question of the European Administrative Procedure
Views:230The agency-type organs have a history of several decades in the European Union. In the last few years there were two different tendencies leading towards the establishment of regulatory (or decentralised) agencies with strong powers, especially in the field of financial supervision. The first of these tendencies was the fall of the neoliberal dogma of the self-regulating market – as a consequence of the 2008 financial-economic crisis – which led to the priorities of the decision-makers being reset in favour of a stricter regulation than that of the New Public Management era. The other tendency was that the debate about a European administrative law started to live. The European Supervisory Authorities of the financial sector, which were established after the crisis, are regulatory agencies with strong powers. However, some of their competences are so strong, that it poses questions regarding the legal protection of the participants of the market. Moreover, the case-law related to their function seems to overwrite the accepted norms of delegation of competences within the institutional framework of the European Union.
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Technology in Legal Regulation’s Service? Efforts in the Field of Data Protection
33-45Views:211The interaction between technology and data protection is quite well-known and widely accepted in the legal literature concerning privacy protection. This essay tries to sum up the efforts to line up the technology itself to defend one’s privacy, often threated by technological development. The essay first shows the relevance of the Privacy Enhancing Technologies (PETs), and the basic concept of the Privacy by Design principle, and then analyses both the current and the proposed European legal regulation focusing on these issues.
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On the Nature of Political Corruption
87-97Views:118This article summerize the essay of Samuel Issacharoff (Harvard Law Review , 124. 1/2010. (November), 119-142.)
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Dark Waters? The Place of Environmental Liability in the Environmental Policy Toolkit (Issues of Regulatory Methodology and Environmental Principles)
42-66Views:334The starting point of the study is that environmental liability is not only a tool of ex-post sanctioning and remediation, but also helps to enforce the principles of prevention and precaution. It examines the rules on liability for environmental damage in a broader context and links the various instruments of environmental policy by presenting their relationship to the environmental policy principles and typifying the policy instruments of environmental protection.
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Cognitive Sciences and Judicial Decision-Making
109-132Views:480Nowadays, judges are expected not just to administer justice, but to have skills and abilities to realize and be aware of standards and laws which can be discovered and analysed by the so- called cognitive sciences. In case we accept that “judges are human beings as well”, we must also assume that their minds and decision-making processes are subject to generally accepted scientific facts. However, cognitive sciences are less known in Hungary, and by using their fruitful results in legal procedures (e. g. in court trials) a greater level of objectivity can be achieved in adjudication which can lead to more accurate judicial decisions.
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The New Hungarian Act on Irrigation in the Light of a Landscape-Orientated and Land-Use-Based Water Management
42-66Views:419The present article relates to water governance, and within that a specific Hungarian problem, namely, the cumulative water-related damage occurring in the Great Plain (floods, droughts and inland water) and the ambiguous situation of environmental services. Due to the complexity of the problem, the solution itself can only be systematic and can therefore only be solved in the context of integrated and adaptive water management. In Hungarian, this water management is defined as landscape-oriented water management by a research group connected to the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. The possible implementation of landscape-oriented water management has recently emerged in connection with the development of agricultural irrigation. The novelty of this study is the assessment of the new Hungarian Act concerning the irrigation taking into account the different aspects of hydrology, pedology and jurisprudence.
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Deepfake: a Blessing or a Curse? Legal Regulatory Aspects
157-178Views:373A deepfake is a video, audio or other content (e.g. image) that is completely or partially fabricated or created by manipulating existing, real content. Just as fake news calls into question the authenticity of real news, deepfake also calls into question the authenticity of real content. At the same time, deepfake has many advantages in addition to its often mentioned dangers. Following a historical overview of deepfake, the study describes these benefits and dangers, and then discusses possible legal responses after presenting tools for detecting deepfake.
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The framework for budgetary expenditure of local governments between 1993–2010 and after 2010
79-97Views:528The present study is an analysis of the budgetary expenditures of the Hungarian local governments between 1993 and 2010. One of its main objectives is the presentation of the most significant local public functions. The problem of borrowing and debt management of local governments cannot be ignored in this study. Based on the results of the study it is clear that the operational expenditures were pre-dominant meanwhile the local governments could not dedicate more money to the investment in different domains. The most important failures of the previous system were the unfavourable allocation of duties and the decreasing central support. After the adoption of the new Municipal Law, important financial changes put in place. As a tendency of the past few years it can be stated that the scope of local public tasks is narrowing (e.g. the primary education and the social security system were centralized) whilst the budgetary expenditures of local governments are decreasing. As a main conclusion the author states that the local financial autonomy was reduced during the last years.
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The Regulation of Screening of Foreign Direct Investments in the European Union
9-24Views:263This paper examines the framework and cooperation mechanisms set up by Regulation (EU) 2019/452 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 March 2019 establishing a framework for the screening of foreign direct investments into the Union. The Regulation merely gives a framework for the coordination of national legislation, and member states can still decide if they want to set up screening mechanisms and to screen foreign direct investments. The pandemic has accelerated these processes, and more and more European Union member states enacted legislation relating to the screening of foreign direct investments in strategic branches of the economy. The Commission has also issued a Guidance at the end of March 2020, in which it warns about the risk that the Coronavirus related economic shock might have on strategic industries, especially on healthcare related industries. At the same time, recognizing the importance of foreign direct investments for the economy, it pointed out in the Guidance the necessity to find a balance between the need for foreign capital and the protection of European Union strategic industries using appropriate screening tools.
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Opinion or statement of fact?
48-68Views:273Press correction is a special way to defend personality rights on the basis of civil law. Its main objective is that if someone states or rumours a false fact or makes a fact appear untrue about a person in a given publication, the affected person has the right to submit his claim – as soon as possible – in order to have a rectifying communication be given out in the particular publication showing which part of the injurious publication states false, unfounded facts or makes a fact appear untrue and what is the reality. If the publisher does not satisfy its duty to correct the injurious publication voluntarily, the affected person – in a short period – has the right to enforce his claim for press correction in an accelerated judicial procedure which allows only restricted production of evidence.
The most frequent question of the press correctional lawsuits is whether the content of the publication turns out to be a statement of fact or an opinion. The opinion, assessment, critique and debates about society, politics or art cannot serve as a basis for press correction. The statement of fact is a declaration about a given momentum of reality, the assertion or rumour that something has happened in a certain way or that something really exists. In opposition to the statement of fact, the opinion expresses a value judgement or critique, and false facts cannot be concluded from it even indirectly. It is hard to define on an objective basis if a declaration is a statement of fact or an opinion. As life creates a wide range of various situations, the developing legal interpretation by the judicial practice has a great impact especially as regards the distinction between a statement of fact and an opinion, the interpretation of the publication or the determination of the content and form of the press correction.
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Quantum Mechanics and Law. What Does the Failure of Environmental Regulation Teach Us?
60-82Views:245The article first of all holds that environmental regulation has failed. This is because it is too weak to prevent the overstepping of ecological boundaries by humanity. This legal regulation reflects that human behavior is psychopathological. This collective mental illness may originate from false self-identification. Therefore, the author reviews the outcomes of modern natural sciences, such as quantum physics, cosmology, and non-local consciousness research. These results give sufficient support to argue, despite the traditional paradigm of materialism, that some aspects of consciousness are not limited by the space-time continuum. Moreover, all consciousness, regardless of its physical manifestations, is part of the universal Consciousness. From these scientific results, in line with ancient scriptures, an Eternal Order has evolved, which can be described at least by four fundamental and universal truths. This Eternal Order should be taken into account by positive law, if humanity wants to reach fulfillment within the ecological limits of the Earth. -
Collection of Annotated Bibliographies (2016. Nr. 2)
113-146Views:213An annotated bibliography of recent Hungarian legal science books is published regularly (twice a year) in our journal. The annotation is a short, factual description of the usefulness of the book, which, in addition to bibliographic information, defines the genre and briefly outlines the subject matter and the results presented. The authors of the annotations are members of the Faculty of Law of the University of Debrecen (lecturers, PhD students or gradual students). The current issue presents the second part of the book descriptions of books published in 2016.
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Collision of Judicial Opinions in the Practice of the Curia
Views:75This article examines the 2/2022 PJE Unity Decision of the Curia from the perspective of divergent theoretical and dogmatical views expressed in minority opinions. The case study compares the dissenting opinions and the majority opinion of the judges and aims at demonstrating the fact that theoretical disagreement between judges has a huge impact on legal practice and on the issue of how judges decide cases. The hypothesis of the article is that – in hard legal cases – the reason for the differing opinions is the different theoretical convictions of judges. It seems evident that two legal practitioners, who have different views on cardinal issues of law, such as the concept or the purpose of law, interpret legal norms differently. Using the method of qualitative case analysis, the article analyses the arguments appearing in the justification of the decision.
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Editorial Preface
7-8Views:126The twenty-fifth issue of our journal is now in the hands of the esteemed reader. Already at the beginning of Pro Futuro, our editorial board set the goal of publishing issues in English from time to time. In 2019, we finally had the opportunity to do so, and we issued a call to the Hungarian professional audience to submit manuscripts in English. In 2021, we can now publish our third issue in English. We selected eight of the works received and edited them in the fourth issue of the journal in 2020.
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The Right to Maintain Contact within the Context of Fundamental and Personality Rights
Views:682It is self-evident that parents play an irreplaceable role in the lives of their children, influencing the child's physical, mental, and emotional well-being and behavior. It is therefore necessary that children maintain personal relations and direct contact with each parent, even if the marriage of his/her parents is permanently and irreparably damaged. The right to contact, which has a strong legal foundation in international conventions, is traditionally described as a right of the child, despite the fact that contact between parent and child is both a right and obligation of mothers, fathers and children. The right to contact is a Janus-faced, complex legal institution: although it is largely based on the fundamental right to private and family life guaranteed by constitutional norms, it plays a significant role in private law disputes as well. The aim of this article is to present the place of the right to contact within the Hungarian legal regime, emphasizing the enforcement of this right in the field of protection of basic and personality rights.
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Minority Rights and the European Court of Human Rights
138-160Views:192This paper aims to present the case law of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) regarding minorities’ rights. Even though minority rights as such are not listed in the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), the ECtHR has developed an evolving minority rights protection under it. This paper describes the concrete cases of minority rights protection and shows how the case law evolved throughout the years. The ECtHR recognized the right to self-identification, the right to culture, the right to use minority languages, the right of assembly and the freedom of expression regarding minorities. This paper argues that there might be a shift towards a greater diversity protection in the future under the ECHR.
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The Observation, Review, and Possible Modification of the EU Environmental Liability Directive in Hungary
29-41Views:200The main secondary legal source of environmental liability in the European Union is the Directive 2004/35/CE of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 April 2004 on environmental liability with regard to the prevention and remedying of environmental damage. Even though it was modified several times since then, it still remains the basic norm in the environmental field by establishing the regulatory frames by means of the polluter pays principle and the principle of prevention. The present study makes an overview of recent and potential further legislative steps in Hungary with regards to its implementation.
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Editorial
Views:209In the preface, the content of the given issue is described by the editor in the form of 5-6 line article descriptions (annotations). In addition to the latest changes to the journal, here is the explanation of the Latin phrase on the back cover.
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The New Hungarian regulation of Working Time, Rest Periods and Paid Leave in the Light of the Workers’ Interests
31-47Views:477The paper consists of three parts. The first part introduces the multiple changes – mostly in the favour of employers – in regulation in Hungarian labour law based on the Working Time Directive. The newest idea is also connected to these changes because the reference period may be significantly extended in Hungarian law even a longer period is planned than in the directive. In the second part I analyse the relevant regulation from a critical point of view pointing out the lack of some clear concepts in the Hungarian regulation. The paper highlights the following: at several employers the workplace and the employees’ place of residence were near to each other but nowadays these workplaces are changed and the employees need to take much more time-consuming trips to the actual workplace. the third part examines the relevant case-law of the CJEU.
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Book Review: Sipka Péter: Employer’s Liability in Theory and Practice
171-178Views:97Péter Sipka’s book was published in 2021 by HVG-ORAC under the title “Employer’s Liability in Theory and Practice”. On the one hand the author analyses the system of liability in depth, on the other hand the author widely describes the court decisions. Thanks to the monograph the reader can get to know the legal institution of employer’s liability for damage to employee’s health in its complexity. In addition to the examination of labor law, the connections between occupational safety and social security are also described.
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Environmental Liability Law: Environmental Civil Experts’ view
86-112Views:155Environmental liability legislation, both the ELD in Europe and CERCLA in US, is burdened with significant compromises, but even if so, they are too leniently implemented. Moreover, rather scarce data are available on the liability cases and on the status of polluted sites, therefore the system is unable to amend itself. There is no reason to be surprised: expenses of protection or remedy of the polluted sites are enormous, the concerned industries would get into a poor competition position in the market if faced with too stringent liability. In the exceptional cases when their deeds are revealed and enforcement actions start, they still might retreat behind the bastions of limited responsibility of their companies. In such situations public participation is a vital element of any progressive outcomes. In the present study we examine the efforts of J&E, a network of public interest environmental lawyers to contribute to moving out the European environmental liability systems from their stalemate position and enhance their effectiveness.