2023. évfolyam

In January 2021 the Hungarian Constitutional Court launched an ambitious project with the aim to encourage the use of foreign jurisprudence in constitutional adjudication by setting up an English-language database of European constitutional court decisions. The European Constitutional Communication Network, ECCN in short, stands for both an online database as well as an international collaboration of eight European constitutional courts, dedicated to contribute to the European transjudicial dialogue.

he balance between security and freedom is not permanent: the more you feel your security endangered, the more you are willing to sacrifice freedom. In the latest times this statement was verified; during the pandemic people gave up such a great part of their freedom they would not have believed earlier. How long should security last and where is the point where freedom becomes emphasised again?

The right to peaceful assembly is one of the most important fundamental rights in a democratic constitutional state. It is through the exercise of this right that (among other things) freedom of expression and control of power can be exercised over the leadership of a country.

The Hungarian Constitutional Court considers the freedom of speech and the freedom of press as “particularly precious”, which can only be restricted in particularly justified cases and under strict conditions. The present study first provides an overview of the earlier case-law of the Constitutional Court concerning freedom of expression, as well as its robust findings (still relevant and referenced today), both in general terms (with a general outline of the constitutional aspects related to freedom of expression) and regarding public figures, public affairs and those exercising public authority.

The protection of health takes on particular importance in times of epidemics, when the individual rights of patients are opposed to the protection of public health, and in particular, the health of especially vulnerable groups to epidemics.

The COVID-19 pandemic, and the subsequent war between Russia and Ukraine, brought unprecedented changes not only to everyday life, but also to the Hungarian legal system. In Hungary, first because of the COVID-19 pandemic and then because of the war between Russia and Ukraine, a special legal order has been in place from March 2020 onwards, essentially continuously (except for a short period from 18 June 2020 to 3 November 2020).