ACTA JURIDICA - A MTA Jogtudományi Közleményei Tom. 17 (1975)

1975 / 1-2. sz. - KOVÁCS I.: A quarter of a century on the path of popular democratic constitutional development

Acta Juridica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae, Tomus 17 (1—2), pp. 1-46 (1975) A Quarter of a Century on the Path of Popular Democratic Constitutional Development (1949-1974) by Prof. I. KovÁcs Deputy Director Institute for Legal and Administrative Sciences of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences In the Hungarian People's Republic the popular democratic Constitution of August 18, 1949, is, with a number of amendments, still in force. The most important of these amendments is the one promulgated as Act I of 1972, which at the same time is a restatement of the Constitution of 1949. The present study, on reviewing constitutional development, focusses its attention on the amendments introduced by Act I of 1972, and the enforcement of these amendments. In the first part of the study the author throws a light on the circumstances which have permitted of giving expression to the changes in the field of constitutional law, changes which have been brought about by the termination of the initial phase of the socialist metamorphosis of the country. Unlike the other popular democratic countries Hungary could content herself with the amendment of her Constitution: there was no need for the introduction of a wholly new charter. In Part II the author surveys the development of the provisions of the Constitution in so far as these give expression to the fundamental institutions of the régime, i. e. the development of the provisions of the Constitu­tion on the State, the political and social mechanism of the wielding of the sovereign power, the governmental functions, etc. Part III deals with the changes in the fundamental institutions of the political organism, i. e. the development of the constitutional foundations of the Legislature, the government, the agencies of local representation and administration, the organization of the Judicature and of that of the Procurator's Office. Part IV discusses the development of constitu­tional law as far as the rights and duties of the citizens are concerned. The popular democratic Constitution of Hungary has come into being by the relatively peaceful way of transition to socialism, we may even say, by parliamentary methods. Development tending towards socialism unfolded itself by making use of the institutions of the earlier constitution, partly within the framework of this con­stitution. A peculiarity of the transition was the establishment of new solutions to the gradual exclusion of others. I.e. the new elements of constitutional law had in the first place been determined by the domestic experiences of post-war development, the example of the institutions of the friendly popular democracies, and before all of those of the socialist Soviet Union. It would, however, be an error to ignore that by the side of the parallel-running of old and new traditions of necessity exerted a strong influence on the legal form of the one or the other institution of political or constitu­tional law, and even more so on the practical operation of the new institutions, on the taking shape of their actual social role. The institutions of Hungarian constitutional law have preserved a large number of traditional traits. These partly are attached to our revolutionary tradi­tions, partly are associated with technical elements of political work and legal culture Acta Juridica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 17, 1975 l

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