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• Problems of textual empiricism

  126-139

  Mátyás Bencze

  Krisztina Ficsor

  Ágnes Kovács

  Péter Sólyom

  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.

• The Effects of Anthropological Concept of the Legislator on the Interpretation of Law – The Conclusions of a Hungarian Research

  73-84

  Mátyás Bencze

  Views:

  111

  The paper tries to answer the question whether the principle of ’presumption of innocence’ is applied appropriately and consistently in the practice of Hungarian judges. In 2010 we studied the judicial activity of a chosen number of Hungarian judges by analyzing the text of roughly 300 judgements of Hungarian courts and by carrying out an on-line survey among Hungarian judges. As a primary result we could identify some major deficiencies concerning the application of the principle. The other lesson we learnt from the research is that serious principles play their part only if the legislator at the drafting of the law takes the actual knowledge and skills of the law applier into account.

• A Cutting-Edge” Criminal Procedure? : Some Reflections on the Modernization of Hungarian Criminal Procedure Law

  11-36.

  Mátyás Bencze

  Views:

  302

  The study analyses the new Hungarian Criminal Procedure Act that entered into force in the summer of 2018. One aspect of the analysis is whether certain institutions of the law fulfil the constitutional requirements of criminal procedure. The other aspect is a sociological one. The past decades have brought many new developments in the field of society, economy and technology. The study, therefore, also revolves around the question of whether the new Criminal Procedure Act provides an adequate response to these challenges. The main finding of the study is that the legislation made the first steps in the right direction, however it did not introduce all the changes that would be necessary for a fair and modern criminal procedure. Besides, the act reflects predominantly the interests of the authorities while the rights and interests of other participants of the criminal procedure are not taken into consideration with the same weight