On the Nature of Law in Communism

Central European Political Science Review 12 (Spring 2011), No. 43, 19–48

25 Pages Posted: 3 Feb 2014

See all articles by Csaba Varga

Csaba Varga

Hungarian Academy of Sciences Institute for Legal Studies; Pázmány Péter Catholic University Department of Legal Philosophy

Date Written: January 1, 2011

Abstract

Ever since the collapse of Communist party-ruled dictatorships either in the Soviet Union or in the vast Central European field spanning from the German Democratic Republic to Albania, one of the underlying issues to assess the nature of the dictatorships themselves has been the nature of law in so-called Communist societies. The examples of — taken as empirical tests for — the present paper are drawn mostly from Hungary’s recent past history while the philosophical framework of generalisation and analysis is forwarded by basic tenets of legal ontology, rooting in the late „Zur Ontologie des gesellschaftlichen Seins" posthumously published by George Lukács. Investigation starts by the dilemma of unlawfulness and lawfulness exemplified by questions like unlawfulness or law in action and negation of law or a separate order, and followed by examining the pathologies of legal mediation with special regards to instrumentalisation, reduction to a one-face, one-direction medium as well as to loss of contents, in order to arrive at outlining the law’s conceptual minimum and drawing the conclusion. It is ironical an outcome to realise that the legal superstructure erected in the name of Marxism could not even qualify to be labelled as legal, according to standards set by the same Marxism.

Keywords: ontology of law, legal criticism, corruption of Socialism

JEL Classification: B31, K00, K40

Suggested Citation

Varga, Csaba, On the Nature of Law in Communism (January 1, 2011). Central European Political Science Review 12 (Spring 2011), No. 43, 19–48, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2388420

Csaba Varga (Contact Author)

Hungarian Academy of Sciences Institute for Legal Studies ( email )

Budapest
Hungary

Pázmány Péter Catholic University Department of Legal Philosophy ( email )

Szentkirályi u. 28
Budapest, 1088
Hungary

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