Pázmány Law Review

Historische Rahmenbedingungen der Deutschen Einigung von 1871

Hans-Christof Kraus — Fri, 01 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

The article briefly outlines the emergence of German political unity in the 19th century against the background of the collapse of the old German Empire (1806). While the rigid internal structures of the German Confederation, founded in 1815, prevented an agreement for a long time, political unity could only be established after 1856. The decisive factor for this was the „Crimean War situation”, i.e. a political situation in which the four major European powers (Russia, France, Great Britain, Austria) did not want to or could not prevent the foundation of a German empire.

Deutschlands Einigung: Diplomatisches Kunstwerk, Einfache Rechtskonstruktion

Wilhelm Brauneder — Fri, 01 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

The unification of Germany was achieved by the foundation of a federal state with a very unique struture due to the political possibilities and open to further developements. To give the impression of fullfilling a historcal mission traditional terms were used like ‚German Emperor‘ and ‚German Empire‘ for just created modern institutions. The centre of statehood, especially the judiciary and the administration, remained by the member states. Even the army consisted of their contingents. The souveranity oft he Empire was not hold by the emperor but by all the monarchs oft the member states together so to say in coownership. Despite the developement was headed by Prussia the unification was also a strong desire in all parts of Germany. The separation from Austria’s German provinces, which also belonged to the in 1866 ending German Confederation (Deutscher Bund), was taken in account.

Die Öffentlich-Rechtlichen Markmale der Deuteschen Einheit

István Szabó — Fri, 01 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

This study examines the public law aspects of German unity in 1871. It argues that German unity is achieved when the organisation of the German states is transformed from a confederation into a federal state and the new constitution is extended to all German-inhabited territories. However, the monarchical constitution of the stateimposed limits on both the organisational and the territorial conditions. The protection of the sovereignty of the rulers of the member states was a barrier to the establishment of an imperial executive, and the Germaninhabited areas of the Habsburg Empire could not be integrated into the new Germany without partitioning the territory of the empire. German unity was created along these compromises and was therefore not perfect from a dogmatic point of view. However, there was a significant shift towards a federal state compared to the former German Confederation. In addition, there were unique elements which helped to promote unity, the most interesting of which were the special prerogatives of Prussia.

Privatrechtskodifikation, Rechtseinheit und Staatliche Einheit – eine Voraussetzung, ein Mittel oder die Folge?

Judit Balogh — Fri, 01 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

The article examines the relationship between the creation of the German state and the codification of German private law and attempts to answer the question of the relationship between the creation of a private law code and the unification of law, as well as between the creation of legal unity and the establishment of state unity. By looking at the various conceptions of the essence of the private law code, it concludes that the primary role of codification is to replace customary law with state law, i.e. statuted law, which creates legal unity. In this way, it is able to eliminate the legal particularism which was still very much in evidence in German territories at the end of the 19th century. However, this is not necessarily a prerequisite for state unity, but rather a means to it. In the case of other states, the need for unity of law (and the unification of law itself) may be a consequence of state unity, but since German private law codification took place in parallel with the creation of state unity, this assessment is not relevant to the overall functioning of the German state and the development of private law. On the other hand, if a welldrafted, high quality code (such as the BGB in the German national state) can be created, it can become an effective guardian of legal certainty. So it can be an effective instrument to prevent private law (and thus legal unity) from being at the mercy of the current and everchanging political twists and turns and the unpredictable legislative activity of the legislative power.

Transformative Hope?

Jan De Groof — Fri, 01 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Education Law for the Future

Pablo Meix Cereceda , Balázs Szabolcs Gerencsér, Boróka Luca Balla — Fri, 01 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

This paper summarises the outcomes of an international scientific expert seminar titled Education Law for the Future held at the Faculty of Law and Political Sciences of the Pázmány Péter Catholic University in cooperation with the European Association for Education Law and Policy. Professors, professionals and experts were invited world-wide to share their opinion and research results. The expert seminar underlined the need for the rephrasing of international law related to the right to education as well as the importance of rethinking the relation between hard and soft law in domestic legislation.

Protecting and Promoting Children’s Education Rights

Lajos Aáry-Tamás — Fri, 01 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

The right to Education in Hungary is declared by the constitution (Fundamental Law). Act on National Public Education sets the general rules and legal circumstances of the rights and obligations about education in Hungary. The Commissioner for Educational Rights, established by this act, in one of the key defender of education rights. This article summarises the Commissioner’s experience and views on how the case law could develop the legal environment of education. Moreover it underlines the need for an open discussion on the aim of education.

Right to Education in Ukraine

Volodymyr Kovtunets, Andrii Shevtsov — Fri, 01 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

This article primarily focuses on a constitutional review of the current Ukrainian Education system. It has a strong historical approach starting from the collapse of the Soviet Union. The authors analyse the reform attempts occurred in the most recent decade in a critical way and show how and why has the attitude of the governments changed in the mid 2010s and how the Ukrainian education entered the war in 2022.

Family as a Constitutional Value

Marcin Stębelski — Fri, 01 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Numerous constitutional references to “family” raise the question of how – at this level of sources of law – we should interpret this concept and what the consequences of adopting a specific interpretation of the constitutional foundations of family law are. The constitutional model of the family is an expression of a specific axiological choice that prefers the model of social relations based on the marriage between a woman and a man, and a stable and permanent community of parents and their children. The references to the jurisprudence of the Constitutional Tribunal show that the family is perceived as an important constitutional value. Its protection is meant to take measures to strengthen mutual relations between family members and to create conditions enabling them to exercise their mutual rights and obligations. It is therefore problematic for the legislator to use such definitions of the family which, in the process of their interpretation, identify it solely on the basis of the criterion of common household or income community. The financial support of the family must take into account the principle of subsidiarity. Therefore, it cannot lead to the granting of public funds to communities in which the basic obligations of family members are not fulfilled.

The Relationship between the Concept of a Person in the Philosophical Anthropological Sense and a Legal Subject as a Holder of Personality and Human Rights

Katarina Peročević — Fri, 01 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

The legal status of human beings has been the subject of discussion by numerous theoreticians in the history of philosophy and law, from Kelsen and Fuller, to Dewey and Arendt, natural law and positive law theoreticians. Throughout history, the legal status of a person has been an interesting mixture of reality and abstraction, naturalistic and legal-technical perspectives. Different theoretical interpretations have always resulted in different practices. The paper aims to offer a more detailed picture of approaches to the legal status of a natural person as a holder of human and personality rights as well as to point out the importance and reasons for the recognition of legal subjectivity of each human being.