The Most Important Changes of the Hungarian Court System after the Transition

Abstract

Although as the dates of the transition in Hungary are mostly mentioned the year 1989 (when the Constitution made in the socialist era was amended in a democratic way) and 1990 (when the first democratic election took place), these were not the only steps towards renewing the earlier regime. Changing the local government system or amending the Business Corporations Act and even the reform of the Hungarian court system were of equal importance.

Although there are other instruments of legal protection in a democratic system, such as the Constitutional Court or the ombudsmen but as none of them are part of the Hungarian Court System, the present article will focus on reform of the Hungarian jurisdiction after the changeover and to analyze separately the challenges of and the responses to the accession to the European Union.

This story has three major parts since the “peaceful transition”. The first lasted until the reform acts of 1997 that changed the court system. The second part is the intermediate period between these acts and the accession to the European Union. The third period is since 2004. Although the past one and a half year is not wholly enough to analyze the latest changes properly, but it would be visible what the tendencies are and what we can wait from the Hungarian courts as institutions of the European Union.

Keywords: judicial independence, Hungary, judicial reforms

JEL Classification: K00