Debates in Articles (Positions in the Legal Literature on the Possibilities of Private Law Codification, 1866-1900)
Debates in Articles (Positions in the Legal Literature on the Possibilities of Private Law Codification, 1866-1900)

Summary/Abstract: Hungarian private law codification proceeded very slowly and with difficulties also by European comparison. The work of codification in Hungary started in the second third of the 19th century. Slowly, but steadily, in the professional articles of the legal journals started to outline the Hungarian opportunity for private law codification, followed by discussions of the possible directions, purposes, methods, successes and effects of the same. In the ‘reception versus codification’ debate, it was eventually the notion of creating an independent code that prevailed, work on which finally commenced in 1876. The process of codification in Hungary was determined (unfortunately) by the attitudes of the ministers of justice, following each other in quick succession, towards private law and the notion of codification. The issue of the general part was raised and became accepted on the basis of the German model. The notion, however, that a code of law would require a part containing the basic principles that would be applicable to the entire code would not take roots in Hungarian legal thinking. The journal Jogtudományi Közlöny, in its first few decades, was a specialized journal dedicated to the issue of legal development, featuring a wide range of opinions and not classifiable as belonging to a single school. It provided an overview of the efforts of the age, the most results of legislation, as well as the wide range of professional debates, in which professors and scholars of law, as well as legal practitioners also participated with the intention of facilitating the creation of the Hungarian code of private law.

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