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The right to take collective action in EU law based on the European Pillar of Social Rights and the recent case law of the CJEU
9-24Views:237This paper is built around the workers’ fundamental right to take collective action and collective bargaining. Although, this right is firmly embedded in the majority of labour law systems in the social policy (meaning labour law, too) of the European Union, it is worth analysing it separately with an independent meaning. We can approach this right from the fundamental rights, the fundamental treaties or from certain directives, so we can find several questions that are difficult to answer properly. These problems are mostly catalysed by the necessary collision between the need for socially motivated legal protection and the fundamental economic freedoms. In my research, I analyse this right – along with some other connected ones – with the help of the recent case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union and the European Pillar of Social Rights because the latter highlights the holistic approach in the current reforms of EU social policy.
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Multilevel System of Fundamental Rights Protection in Practice, in the Light of the Dismissal of Government Officials without Justification
120-141Views:148Today, in the European multi-level and cooperative constitutional area the European Convention on Human Rights, the constitutional value provisions of the EU Treaties together with the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU, as well as the constitutions of the member states of the EU function as parallel constitutions. The legal remedies offered by international forums by nature are subsidiary, because it is desirable that legal issues of human rights be solved by the states at national level. The obligation of the exhaustion of domestic legal remedies as a procedural precon- dition is needed in order that the national level should have the chance to remedy the violation of human rights within its own legal system.
The present paper focuses on Art. 8 para. (1) of Act LVIII of 2010 on the legal status of government officials, which states that the employer has the right to terminate the contract of goverment officials by two months’ notice period without any justification. The research is of considerable interest because the dismissed officials – who, in my opinion, de facto suffered injury by violation of human rights – were forced to turn to international forums because of the fact that the Hungarian legal system was not able to grant them adequate reparation. Therefore, the examination also evaluates the current level of fundamental rights arbitration and the jurisdiction using fundamental principles in Hungary.
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Human Rights as Fundamental Sources of Patients’ Rights in Light of the Development of Hungarian and German Laws
157-168Views:267Medical practice affects human life and health, which are not just some of the key social values, but actually express the existence of a human being. Therefore, it is a requirement to set the legal standards to guarantee the preservation and respect of human rights during medical treatment. Patients’ rights provide specific types of human rights in the area of patient care. The German legal system grants the preservation of these rights in a contractual framework that cannot be breached. In Hungary, patients’ rights are listed in the Public Health Act. Despite the diverse methods in regulating patients’ rights, the underlying public policy considerations are the same in both systems. The goal of this study is to provide a comparative analysis on the development of the German and the Hungarian regulation of patients’ rights focusing on the consideration of human rights.
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The Protection of Fundamental Rights of People with Disabilities and Reduced Capacity to Work Using Social Farm Services
83-100Views:189The present study examines the fundamental rights of disabled people using the service of social farms – especially people with disabilities and with reduced capacity to work. These rights are essential for these people in order to ensure their employment. These people are often cut off from the labour market, moreover, they cannot be present there. Therefore, fundamental rights ensured within the Fundamental Law of Hungary play a significant role for treating and employing them equally. Labour law and social law protection confirms this constitutional protection.
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Balancing Work and Life: New Developments in the Field of Legal Protection of Workers
25-44Views:188The present study deals with the current labour law questions of balancing work and private life. The topicality of the study is supported by Directive (EU) 2019/1158 which, built on the existing legislative basis, brings several novelties in this regulative area refreshing the key elements of the criteria of equal employment referring to the employees raising children. The researched regulation fits into the high level, socially motivated; worker-protection Directive designated by the European Pillar of Social Rights, consequently, this aspect also plays a role in elaboration. In my analysis, I concentrate on the regulative background, subject of the new Directive, as well as its connection to fundamental social rights and the new norms describing the potentially strengthening legal protection of workers. I draw conclusions based on their synthesis about the predictable future effects of the new regulation.
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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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A New Admissibility Criteria – the „Significant Disadvantage” in the Case-law of the European Court of Human Rights
131-138Views:132Since its adoption in 1950, the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms has established one of the best mechanism for the international protection of human rights. Because of the continuous increase of the European Court of Human Rights’ workload, the modification of the Court’s procedure was needed. During this reform, a new admissibility requirement is inserted in Article 35 of the Convention, which empowers the Court to declare inadmissible applications where the applicant has not suffered a significant disadvantage. This new admissibility criteria is applicable since 1 June 2010 (when Protocol No. 14. entered into force). The study examines the travaux preparatoires and the current text of the Protocol, and analyzes the case-law of the Court concerning this new criteria.
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Likeness of Police Officers: Freedom of the Press and the Right to Facial Likeness at the Crossroads of Civil and Fundamental Rights
110-128Views:186The Constitutional Court of Hungary, proceeding in its new competence regarding the „real” constitutional complaint obtained from 1 January 2012, is allowed to adjudicate the motions initiated against concrete judicial decisions which are deemed to be contrary to the Fundamental Law of Hungary. Within this procedure the Constitutional Court places the protection of the freedom of expression and freedom of the press above the protection of personality rights. The Court consistently annuls judicial decisions that declare infringement of personality rights on grounds that a press agency published recognizable facial likeness of police officers being on duty during demonstrations. The present paper analyses the course during which the Constitutional Court does enforce the constitutional requirements elaborated in its former practice and, thereby, repeals the ordinary courts’ decisions if those favour the personality rights of police officers over the freedom of the press.
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Social Dumping in the Face of Cross-border Collective Agreements and Actions: A Dilemma of the European Legal Practice on the Edge of Law and Economy in the Light of the Framework of International Standards
180-202Views:171In this paper I outline the objectives of the ILO, the conventions relevant to collective bargaining and action, and furthermore the pronouncements of the ILO supervisory bodies. After describing social dumping I examine the jurisprudence of the European Union regarding the collision of fundamental freedoms and collective labour rights in the light of international labour standards. My observation is that the hierarchical relationship between fundamental freedoms and labour rights in favour of the former cannot be maintained even based on EU law.
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The Intergenerational justice at the Constitutional Level
48-64Views:169The debates about the rights of the future generations have risen significantly in the last decade. The more attention we give to the question, the larger the number of new issues which emerge. As an example, the right to a healthy environment or the rights of the unborn can be mentioned. The aim of the study is to examine this question in connection with constitutions. The constitutional level could significantly affect the possibilities of the future generations. The theory of intergenerational justice is examined in relation to the main topic. The analysis of the population pyramid of the Brexit voters is mentioned as an example of a possible intergenerational injustice.
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The Effect of the Jurisprudence of the ECHR on the Hungarian Criminal Procedure Act
128-150Views:308The case law of the European Court of Human Rights and the European Convention on Human rights set the minimum level for the protection of fundamental rights that has to be guaranteed by all contracting parties, although national laws can establish higher standards. Point II of the general explanations of Bill No. T/13972 on the new Act on Criminal Procedure states that “meeting the requirements of the Fundamental Law of Hungary and the obligations of international law and EU law obviously mean a safeguarding minimum.” In Hungary the case law of the ECHR is reflected more and more both in the judgements of Hungarian courts and in the guidelines of higher courts but the difficulties of establishing interpretations in harmony with ECHR case law are common. The paper analyses the judgments of the ECHR in Hungarian cases between 2013 and 2016 related to pretrial detention, effective defence and the circumstances of restraint.
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Comparison of Enforcement Systems for the Violation of Fundamental Rights of Detainees Stemming from the Condition of Detention in Penitentiaries and the Right to a Fair and Public Hearing within a Reasonable Time
90-110Views:148The violation of fundamental rights of detainees stemming from the conditions of detention in penitentiaries and the right to a fair and public hearing within a reasonable time raise complex concerns, because in such cases the applicants have to submit a procedure under the Hungarian Prison Act or a lawsuit concerning the violation of certain rights relating to personality under the Hungarian Code of Civil Procedure or the Civil Code. The legal protection is uncertain, because the rules relating to prison conditions meet with rules of civil procedure and civil code rules. Court decisions do not help to find the way out of this incoherency. The questions mentioned in the present article raise serious dogmatic debates, casting doubt on the efficiency of the remedies.
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Sustainability in Copyright Law
40-61Views:193The aim of the paper is to give an overview of the pathfinding process of the copyright law, and of the European and Hungarian endeavors in favour of the sustainability of the copyright law via the copyright specific aspects of sustainability. It then aims to summarize the achievements of the harmonization process and draw attention to the goals to be achieved. The topic is approached from a cultural economic perspective. The main topic is described via historical and current aspects of the balance search of copyright law. the paper reviews the background of the development and current situation of copyright law from the point of view of philosophy and fundamental rights. With the analysis of the dynamism of economic and moral rights the paper outlines the necessity of parallelism of the two parts of copyright law. The examination of competitiveness of copyright law tends to highlight the inseparability of competitiveness and sustainability and emphasizes their development as being interlinked.
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Luxembourg v Strasbourg – Legal Impediments in the Process of the Accession of the EU to the ECHR
101-119Views:149The accession of the European Union (EU) to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) has been on the agenda of the EU for long. Although the Lisbon Treaty settles this question in theory by obliging the EU to accede, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) resorted to its rights laid down in the Treaties and published its Opinion 2/13 on the matter by the full Court. This opinion scrutinizes the draft document concerning accession. According to the opinion the EU cannot accede to the ECHR in the present form because the draft document is not in compliance with the special characteristics and features of EU law, therefore it would require the amendment or reorganisation of the whole EU legal system. By this judgement the ECJ outlines the legal impediments in the way of the accession. The main objective of our article – after summarizing the brief history and legal framework of the accession – is to present and evaluate the critical elements of accession determined by the ECJ and predict the decision’s possible consequences.
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Ethical and legal issues of the commercial and industrial use of foetuses and human embryos
55-69Views:341In 1986 the Council of Europe adopted a recommendation on the use of human embryos and foetuses for diagnostic, therapeutic, scientific, industrial and commercial purposes [Parliamentary Assembly Recommendation 1046 (1986)]. At the time, biotechnology was less advanced than today, however, its main challenges were already apparent. In its recommendation, the Council of Europe called upon the Member States to restrict the industrial use of human embryos to therapeutic purposes benefiting the health of the respective embryos, while the tissues of dead foetuses may only be used for strictly medical, scientific purposes. The commercial, profit-oriented use of embryos or fetal tissue is prohibited, with special regard to human dignity. Today, we are faced with the growing risk of encountering products manufactured on the basis of experiments conducted with, or base material including human embryonic cell lines. Such commercial and industrial uses of human embryos and foetuses give rise to concerns related to the religious freedom and the freedom of conscience, fundamental rights protected by both national constitutions and the Charter of Fundamental rights.
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effects of Labour Law regulation on the employment Relations Based on the Connection between Social Rights and Labour Market
26-40Views:215In the world of employment we can find several aspects that have effect on the labour market. Labour market cannot be independent from the legal regulation of employment; moreover – according to the tendencies – labour market processes basically define the role of labour law. A fundamental difference can be observed between the approach of Anglo-Saxon countries and researchers and the viewpoint of the continental law systems. In this paper the emphasized question is analyzed through these two different approaches according to the following premise: the Anglo-Saxon legal thinking defining the current development of labour law bears significant differences related to the labour law regulation – which means the direct regulation of labour market – and to the legal guarantees behind employment as well. From the viewpoint of the labour market two main questions are examined in this paper: on the one hand, the expected and necessary level and method of public intervention in connection with social rights, and on the other hand the deepness of the intervention of labour law into the social relations driven by the market.
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Problems of textual empiricism
126-139Views:134In 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.
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Limits of Environmental Liability: Summary of the Guest Editor
189-198Views:207This summary is an attempt to demonstrate that despite all the differences in how limits of environmental liability are perceived by the authors of this special issue due to different approaches to environmental liability, a common framework can nevertheless be drawn encompassing them all. Each article of the special issue elaborates some of the aspects of the concept of environmental liability. Despite the differences in the evaluation and assessment by the authors of the role of stakeholders and of the facts having an impact on the concept of environmental liability, it is shown that all of them are analysing the very same subject. The apparent differences are due to the different contexts in which environmental liability is examined and evaluated. Thus, the summary underlines that there is a need for system thinking related to environmental liability.
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Regulatory Proposal of the Ombudsman for Future Generations
10-28Views:235The most important provisions of environmental liability are available, but the effective enforcement still requires the regulation of several legal conditions. The ombudsman for future generations, following a wide professional and social coordination issued a complex regulatory proposal. The proposal is based upon the EU Environmental Liability Directive within the framework of the existing liability scheme, with a broader understanding of liability, and with the most inclusive approach of the polluter pays principle. Among other elements it covers the financial guarantees, the formation of the financial coverage of state intervention, the implementation of environmental liability attached to the real estates, the availability of and access to the environmental information, the more effective enforcement of environmental liability, and also the setting of conditions of implementation within public administration. The main objective is to promote responsible environmental behaviour.
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Customary Law Obligations and Dispute Resolution Methods under International Law relating to Conflicts over the Shared Use of Transboundary Aquifers
23-48Views:217Our paper aims at analyzing the current stance of public international law concerning the utilization and management of transboundary aquifers. 97% of the Earth’s drinking-water supplies are locked up in aquifers placing the question in the spotlight as to, which ways States should utilize and apportion them in a manner consistent with public international law? The paper argues that bilateral and regional agreements ensure most effectively States’ mutual cooperation regarding transboundary aquifers, and they are also essential in providing for clear dispute resolution mechanisms. The paper addresses the obligations of States under international law and examines the efficiency of the possible international dispute resolution methods regarding international water conflicts. The paper also provides an overview of all existing bi- and multilateral aquifer agreements and draws some comparative remarks.
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Risks and Adverse Effects: Decisions of the Italian Constitutional Court on the Compulsory COVID-19 Vaccination
102-127Views:227In recent years, several judicial and constitutional court decisions have been handed down worldwide on the legality and constitutionality of the fundamental rights restrictive measures (including compulsory vaccination) imposed during the pandemic. Aside from Austria, Italy has imposed compulsory vaccination more widely than any other European country; moreover, the lack of vaccination has made it impossible for citizens to live their daily lives to such an extent that some scholars have even written of de facto compulsory vaccination. In December 2022, the Italian Constitutional Court ruled in three judgments against the petitions related to compulsory vaccination. After outlining the legal context and the scholars’ positions on mandatory Covid vaccination, this paper examines these decisions, focusing on the arguments on which the Court saw justification for compulsory vaccination.