Prierez vývojom testamentárneho práva uhorského rímsko-katolíckeho duchovenstva
An Overview of the Development of Testamentary Law of the Hungarian Roman Catholic Clergy

Summary/Abstract: The right of disposition „mortis causa“ has been exercised by the Hungarian clergy at all levels since the Middle Ages, and writing a will is still recommended to the Catholic clergy today. The development of this right in Hungary was influenced by several historical and social factors. One factor that played a fundamental role in all spheres of this power conflict was the right of patronage from the Middle Ages onwards. One of the consequences of the complicated relationship between the patron and the church was the constant effort to stabilize or codify the testamentary law of clergy, based on the interests of patrons or the monarch as representative of the state on the one hand, and the interests of the church (later Roman Catholic) or representatives of the church on the other. Other factors influencing the development of this institution were no less important, such as the enforcement of the estate principle in the basic structure of the clergy, or political and religious conflicts, such as the Ottoman threat and recatholization with all its consequences. In this contribution, we mention the development of testamentary law for the clergy from the Middle Ages to the early 20th century, but the core of our contribution is the situation in testamentary law for clergy in the 17th and 18th centuries. It is precisely during this period that a fundamental turning point can be observed in the establishment of rules governing the freedom of testamentary disposition of clergy at all levels.

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