Customary Law in Hungary

Zusatztext This book benefits from Radys extensive knowledge not only on the Hungarian and Latin languages but also his commitment to central European history and his long-standing research interests into customary law. ... Not only is it a welcomed addition to the scholarship of Hungarian, but also legal, feudal and central European histories. Informationen zum Autor Martyn Rady has taught at the UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies since 1990, where he is Professor of Central European History. He was a Leverhulme Trust research fellow in 2010-12 and he has an honorary doctorate from the Károli Gáspár University of the Reformed Church in Budapest. He was for ten years part of the team that edited and translated the corpus of the laws of medieval Hungary and is General Editor of the Slavonic and East European Review. His previous books include Medieval Buda (1985), and Nobility, Land and Service in Medieval Hungary (2000). He has also edited and translated several of the leading Hungarian and Czech medieval chronicles. Klappentext The first comprehensive treatment in any language on the history of customary law in Hungary, starting with Stephen Werboczy's customary law code, the Tripartitum. This code influenced the composition, structure, and procedures of the courts and retained authority even when a parliamentary government was established in the nineteenth century. Zusammenfassung This is the first comprehensive treatment in any language of the history of customary law in Hungary, from the thirteenth to the twentieth centuries. Hungary's customary law was described by Stephen Werboczy in 1517 in the extensive law code known as the Tripartitum. As Werboczy explained, Hungarian law derived from the interplay of Romano-canonical law, statute, written instruments, and court judgments. It was also responsive, however, to popular conceptions of the law's content and application, as communicated through the lay membership of the kingdom's courts. Publication of the Tripartitum was intended to make the law more certain by fixing it in writing. Nevertheless, its text was customized by actual use, in the same way as the statute laws of the kingdom were adjusted as a consequence of court practice and of errors in their transmission.The reputation attaching to the Tripartitum and Hungary's insulation from the Roman Law Reception meant that the Tripartitum continued to retain authority until well into the nineteenth century. Attempts to replace it foundered and it was the principal text on which the courts and the schools relied, not only in Habsburg Hungary but also in Transylvania. Courts, nevertheless, continued to modify its provisions in the interests of rendering judgments that they deemed either to be right or in conformity with developing practices. Even after the establishment of a parliamentary form of government in the nineteenth century, a strong customary element attached to Hungarian law, which was amplified by the association of customary law with national traditions. The consequence was that Hungary maintained aspects of a customary law regime until the Communist period. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1: The Legal Landscape 2: Customary Law and the Tripartitum 3: Customary Law, Legislation, and Letters 4: Customary Law and Medieval Courts 5: King and Nobility 6: The Nobleman and His Land 7: Crime and Prosecution 8: Medieval Procedure and Judicial Decision Making 9: Early Modern Legal Institutions 10: Codification after the Tripartitum 11: Courts and the Law in the Long Eighteenth Century 12: Custom and Law in the Modern Period Conclusion: Customary Law in Hungary ...

Auteur
Martyn Rady has taught at the UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies since 1990, where he is Professor of Central European History. He was a Leverhulme Trust research fellow in 2010-12 and he has an honorary doctorate from the Károli Gáspár University of the Reformed Church in Budapest. He was for ten years part of the team that edited and translated the corpus of the laws of medieval Hungary and is General Editor of the Slavonic and East European Review. His previous books include Medieval Buda (1985), and Nobility, Land and Service in Medieval Hungary (2000). He has also edited and translated several of the leading Hungarian and Czech medieval chronicles.

Texte du rabat

The first comprehensive treatment in any language on the history of customary law in Hungary, starting with Stephen Werboczy's customary law code, the Tripartitum. This code influenced the composition, structure, and procedures of the courts and retained authority even when a parliamentary government was established in the nineteenth century.

Résumé
This is the first comprehensive treatment in any language of the history of customary law in Hungary, from the thirteenth to the twentieth centuries. Hungary's customary law was described by Stephen Werboczy in 1517 in the extensive law code known as the Tripartitum. As Werboczy explained, Hungarian law derived from the interplay of Romano-canonical law, statute, written instruments, and court judgments. It was also responsive, however, to popular conceptions of the law's content and application, as communicated through the lay membership of the kingdom's courts. Publication of the Tripartitum was intended to make the law more certain by fixing it in writing. Nevertheless, its text was customized by actual use, in the same way as the statute laws of the kingdom were adjusted as a consequence of court practice and of errors in their transmission. The reputation attaching to the Tripartitum and Hungary's insulation from the Roman Law Reception meant that the Tripartitum continued to retain authority until well into the nineteenth century. Attempts to replace it foundered and it was the principal text on which the courts and the schools relied, not only in Habsburg Hungary but also in Transylvania. Courts, nevertheless, continued to modify its provisions in the interests of rendering judgments that they deemed either to be right or in conformity with developing practices. Even after the establishment of a parliamentary form of government in the nineteenth century, a strong customary element attached to Hungarian law, which was amplified by the association of customary law with national traditions. The consequence was that Hungary maintained aspects of a customary law regime until the Communist period.

Contenu

• 1: The Legal Landscape

• 2: Customary Law and the Tripartitum

• 3: Customary Law, Legislation, and Letters

• 4: Customary Law and Medieval Courts

• 5: King and Nobility

• 6: The Nobleman and His Land

• 7: Crime and Prosecution

• 8: Medieval Procedure and Judicial Decision Making

• 9: Early Modern Legal Institutions

• 10: Codification after the Tripartitum

• 11: Courts and the Law in the Long Eighteenth Century

• 12: Custom and Law in the Modern Period

• Conclusion: Customary Law in Hungary