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British Colonial rule in India led to legal pluralism which colonial civil servants and judges had to deal with in their day-to-day duties. After a brief overview of colonial legal administration in India, this paper will illustrate how future civil servants and judges were educated and prepared for their legal duties in India and what part Roman law played in that. One focus of their legal education lay on the law of property and possession as it assumed particular practical relevance in colonial India. The paper will trace how a Roman rule of property law travelled to Haileybury College in Hertfordshire, England and to the East India Company's courts in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper deals with criminal law protection of state and national symbols in five Central European countries. It aims at reviewing the regulation of these symbols concerning the penal law level, and compare the characteristics of the legal systems analyzed. The paper concludes that there is no significant difference in the protection of state or national symbols at the level of legal regulation between the geographically eastern and western countries of Europe. The state and national symbols (flags, coats of arms or anthems) are symbols of state identity and of the unity of citizens, whose ideological role in forming identity justifies even their protection under criminal law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowadays, outer space is becoming increasingly congested, contested and competitive. Humanity's growing dependence on outer space and experiences with the new space race have necessarily turned the attention of the international community to the safety, security and sustainability of space activities. This paper focuses on space sustainability and seeks to highlight some of its most important regulatory challenges. These challenges include the establishment of an appropriate space traffic management system, the mitigation of space debris, and the utilization of space resources. Following the overview of related problems, the paper examines the urgency and the modalities of appropriate legal regulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is a common mistake of contemporary natural law scholarship to overestimate the ancient Greeks' contribution to a meaningful theory of natural law and to mistake an appeal to unwritten law with natural law's criteria for normative validity. This paper was designed to elaborate on two interrelated queries. On the one hand, it labours to reconstruct the ancient Greeks' understanding of a hierarchy of law, which is answered in the affirmative. On the other hand, the paper inquires whether there existed any meaningful sense of natural law in the Classical period, to which question the Archytean nexus of law and natural justice is offered as a palpable compromise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hungarian legal education is rarely discussed from a pedagogic perspective, especially in English. This paper would like to fill a gap in the academic literature on this topic by presenting a unique multidisciplinary co-teaching initiative, aiming to mix 'the best of two worlds': developing a legal ethics course which is an amalgam of philosophical/theoretical and legal/practical elements. Describing how a compulsory Legal Ethics course was delivered at the István Széchenyi University of Győr in a case study format, the main aim of the authors is to contribute to the international academic discourse on law school pedagogy in general, and on legal ethics education in particular. First, we provide an overview of professional ethics education in law schools, focusing on the origins of the course in the United States of America. Then, after a review of the academic literature on multidisciplinary co-teaching, the context of this Legal Ethics course is presented: the situation of legal ethics education in the Hungarian law curriculum. Then the course particulars, especially the content and the assessment, will be described in detail, based on the personal experiences and observations of the authors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Any struggles in the nomination and appointment of constitutional justices and failed renewal of the composition of the constitutional court might corrupt the perception of the independence of the guardian of constitutionality. The recent wave of impropriate renewals of constitutional courts throughout Europe leads to substantial concern. There are numerous more or less serious examples, including the well-known cases of Poland and Hungary, but alongside with them Latvia, Lithuania, the Slovak Republic, etc. In an era of democratic back-sliding more significant in some countries and less in others, it leads to wondering whether the influence of politics in power could be the critical factor distorting the composition of constitutional courts and whether this can be seen as a new virus infecting new democracies. After analyzing the recent failures to appoint constitutional justices, caused essentially by malfunction due to political actors participating in the process, the paper argues that in the selection, nomination, and appointment of constitutional justices, ensuring the depoliticization of this procedure is not the best choice, because the participation of democratically elected institutions in the formation of the constitutional courts enhances their legitimacy and credibility. The former, entrusted with the power to adopt erga omnes decisions, desperately need this legitimation. Different political cultures and contrasts in states' constitutional orders suggest that there is hardly one recipe that fits all. However, some universal and fundamental criteria stemming from the principle of the rule of law intended to ensure the independence of constitutional justice could bind the discretion of political actors participating in the nomination and appointment of constitutional judges and contribute to preventing constitutional crises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The legal conceptualisation of upcoming generations and their specific rights raises important theoretical issues and constitutes a special challenge to jurisprudence in general and legal philosophy in particular. Not even the most essential questions regarding the legal situation of unborn generations have been settled yet. Are future generations capable of being holders of rights? And if so, how can we conceptualise their rights? Can we use the conventional rights theories for that purpose? What does it mean and how is it possible to 'represent' the rights or interests of future generations? What kind of rights or interests can be attributed at all to not-yet-existing people? Can we identify the interests of future generations, and if so, how can we specify them? In this paper I will endeavour to address the questions raised above and make an attempt to offer an adequate conceptual framework for their analysis by merging two quite distinct theoretical discourses which are seldom combined: the legal theoretical discourse on the nature, scope and holders of rights, and the moral philosophical branch of the multifaceted discourse on intergenerational justice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Access to justice is a significant area of legal research, especially for Socio-Legal studies. The main research topics of this area are economic or class differences, gender inequalities, or national and ethnic differences in access to justice. However, there is a less discussed aspect of access to justice: the differences between access to legal information and the differences in user groups in terms of comprehending and processing legal information. This is an important topic because there are significant differences among people's abilities to process and understand legal texts, depending on whether we are dealing with a lawyer who is an expert in the given field, a non-expert lawyer, or a citizen with a low or zero (legal) educational level. The paper argues that unsupervised machine learning solutions can help even out these differences. It presents different unsupervised solutions, mainly clustering and topic modelling, which can help to increase access to legal information. Then we present a case study in which we examine these unsupervised tools in the processing of resolutions of the Central Bank in Hungary and anonymized court decisions. The paper argues that these tools can reveal the hidden contextual regularities in unstructured legal texts, facilitating the search for legal texts even for non-legal-experts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper explores the potential applications of Large Language Models (LLMs) like ChatGPT in the legal field, focusing on how they can enhance access to law. We begin by elucidating the fundamental workings of LLMs and their current and future general applications. The core of our study predicts the utilization of LLMs in various legal domains, especially where tasks like text retrieval, generation, labeling, and classification are prevalent. We argue that tools like ChatGPT could play a pivotal role in these areas. Additionally, we discuss the limitations and customization requirements of LLMs, particularly for legal uses. An experiment conducted by one of the authors, involving a tailored version of GPT for small law firms, serves as a practical example, but building on this, the paper also proposes ways in which LLM-based applications could democratize access to justice, making legal assistance more accessible and efficient for the broader public. This study contributes to the understanding of the intersection between AI technology and legal services, highlighting both the opportunities and challenges in this field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New technologies based on digitalization, automation, and artificial intelligence have fundamentally transformed our lives and society as a whole, in just a few decades. These technologies support human well-being and prosperity by enhancing progress and innovation, however, they also have the potential to negatively impact human rights, democracy, and the rule of law. Discrimination, the violation of privacy, increasing surveillance, the weakening of personal autonomy, disinformation and electoral interference are but a few of the many concerns. This paper examines the specific human rights implications of AI-driven systems through the lens of the most important international instruments adopted by the UN and regional human rights mechanisms. The paper shows how AI can affect the exercise of all human rights, not only a most obvious few. In line with major international organizations, the author calls on decision-makers to take a precautionary approach by adopting AI regulations that are consistent with the standards of fundamental human rights, and that balance the realization of the opportunities with the potential risks which AI presents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper deals with the publications of Elemér Pólay before and during WW2. It seeks to analyse them in their context, embedded in their contemporary political and academic environment. It focuses on one of Pólay’s early works, entitled ‘The German National Socialist Conception of Law and Roman Law’ (1938). Pólay’s paper is a valuable source on the academic situation in Hungary in the 1930s and 1940s, on the views of young scholars around Paul Koschaker in Berlin, and, indirectly, on Koschaker’s personal views concerning the National Socialist party’s manifesto. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper analyses the evolution of clauses relating to the debtor's assets in Egyptian legal papyri from Ptolemaic to Roman times. This evolution reflects the socio-economic change brought about by the replacement of a maritime economy by an agrarian one. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Years ago, John Griffiths introduced the concept of 'legal pluralism' in comparative legal research. He underlined the significance of 'the presence in a social field of more than one legal order' (1986). In the meantime, the phenomenon of legal pluralism and the pluralism of norms is widely discussed in modern societies. Decades later, Dupret seeks to sum up the development of research and ideas about the plurality of legal and social norms in our time (2007). In this paper I look at sources from the ancient world. I raise the question whether the phenomenon of legal pluralism and the plurality of social norms already existed in the Roman Empire. Traditionally, Roman law is considered as a systematized, and sophisticated system of rules. Approaching the topic from the aspect of everyday practice, one gets a different picture. A closer look at concrete legal disputes and at the reaction of leading lawyers of Rome to problems of citizens who lived in the provinces convince us of the co-existence of different legal conceptions in the Empire. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The following paper examines a text found under the title actio de in rem verso of the Digest. The Roman archetype of modern direct and indirect representation can be discovered in the short fragment — consisting of only two sentences. Africanus compares the management of the dependant and independent representative in the assessment of a specific case (borrowing for the benefit of the represented). The representatives undertook to administrate someone else's affairs with the same aim, but the legal effects of their actions show differences in several aspects. The analysis attempts to reconstruct the fact pattern and to provide a possible solution to the arising legal problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper discusses the inscriptions of two ancient artifacts, the fragment of an Egyptian wine jug (Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest), and a terra sigillata bowl made by Pacatus (Aquincum Museum, Budapest), and seeks to situate them in the history of trade signs. In ancient Egypt, signs predominantly indicated details such as the place and date of production, and the quality of the product, while in Rome trade signs conveyed information concerning the origin of the product through the craftsman or workshop. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Article 6(2) of the Convention on the Rights of the Child places an obligation on countries to ensure the survival and development of the child. The right underlines the importance of ensuring that children's rights to health, an adequate standard of living, access to basic services and education are respected in all circumstances. In addition, it requires effective national and international implementation. These provisions are included in section 4 of the Child's Right Act to ensure optimum protection for children in Nigeria. Nonetheless, children's rights have been drastically affected by the Boko-Haram insurgency. This has resulted in death, abduction, displacement of, and violence against children. Moreover, the prevalence of malnutrition, food scarcity, diseases, and lack of access to water, sanitation, health care, and education remains a challenge. Accordingly, this paper seeks to examine the efficacy of the laws and policies in place to protect children's right to survival and development in Nigeria. It argues that despite the existing legal and policy framework for protecting children's rights, there has been little focus on the best interest standard in the attainment of the rights of the child. The paper recommends a child-centric approach to adequately provide protection for children in conflict-plagued zones in Nigeria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyses an inclusive and participatory approach to regularising 'Non-Asylum Seeking Unaccompanied Migrant Minors' in Spain. The terminology is multiple; in this paper, the choice has fallen on Unaccompanied Migrant Minors with the acronym UMMs instead of UAMs, to be consistent with the doctoral thesis already defended in 2021. The term UASC, specific to unaccompanied migrant minors seeking asylum, was excluded. To fully assess the process, it is necessary to account for the following factors shaping their administrative situation: (a) how they reach adulthood, (b) whether they are in regular or irregular situations, and (c) the waiting time for obtaining regularity status and citizenship. This article reviews the gap between perspectives of legal protection, good intentions, and political restrictions. The study has been carried out considering the results of qualitative research obtained through interviews with minors, staff members at reception centres, guardians, and immigration authorities. Particular attention is devoted to the limited number of resident permits granted to the UMMs. The methodology was enriched by desk research; most sources cited in the article are legal instruments and academic papers. The different dimensions of regularization are analysed by paying attention to (i) residence permits and political rights; (ii) the role of guardianship in administrative regularization; and (iii) vulnerability related to the legal status of unaccompanied migrant minors. A comprehensive assessment is carried out based on children's rights and the social, institutional, and organizational contexts, as well as considering the policies which condition the protection milieu concerning migrant children and the practices at both general and operative levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is an obvious statement that children are disproportionately affected by changes in their environment, due to their incomplete maturity, evolving capacities, vulnerabilities derived from their age and special developmental needs. Changes in temperature, air and water quality, and access to proper nutrition are likely to have more severe and long-term impacts on children's health, development and well-being, since they basically determine the enjoyment of the right of the child to a healthy environment. The impacts of climate change clearly undermine the effective enjoyment of the rights enshrined in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (hereinafter: UN CRC) and its Optional Protocols, including the rights to life, survival and development (art. 6), to family relations and the right not to be separated from one's parents against one's will (arts. 9-10), the highest attainable standard of health (art. 24), an adequate standard of living (art. 27), education (art. 28), freedom from any form of violence or exploitation (arts. 19, 32 and 34-36), the right to recreation and play (art. 31) and the enjoyment of one's culture (art. 30). The climate crisis has been declared as child rights crisis, although children bear the least responsibility for it. The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has clearly identified climate change as one of the biggest threats to children's health and has urged States Parties to put children's health concerns at the centre of their climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies.1 Despite data and research explicitly linking environmental harm to child rights violations, increasing knowledge of environmental crises and existing numerous international agreements, the common understanding of the clear relationship between children's rights and the environment is still questionable and obscure.2 In this paper we have gathered the binding international documents which clearly show the close link between children's rights and climate change, and we also analyze the measures taken by the relevant treaty-monitoring body within the field of children's rights. The main outcome of this paper is to give an introduction and an extended overview of the relevant international norms adopted by the environmental 'crossroads' of children's rights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With special focus on free speech, as well as on classroom surveillance (proliferating in the Covid-pandemic digital learning environment), the paper aims to identify contextual dimensions for academic freedom as a matured legal concept -- and one to be assessed via a business and human rights approach, due to its peculiar position between the public and private spheres. The project is triggered by the fact that despite its widespread usage in international documents and domestic constitutions, academic freedom remains underdeveloped in terms of conceptual tools, operationalizing mechanisms, monitoring methods and benchmarking schemes. There are also competing notions on how to best conceptualize it: as an individual right, a set of requirements for autonomous institutional design, a field to be regulated for market service providers or public commodities, a tool for international policy making, or academic ranking -- not to mention the challenge of how to incorporate challenges brought by social justice movements. These considerations all require different policy tools and adjacent legal targeting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainability, as compared to the rule of law, human rights, sovereignty or democracy, is a relatively new constitutional key concept. It is mentioned explicitly more and more in constitutional discourses, and - even more importantly - it helps to reconstruct a number of current constitutional debates under one conceptual umbrella. Sustainability comprises different responses to long term social challenges which cannot efficiently be responded to via democratic mechanisms. Democratic mechanisms are based on election terms and which are, consequently, structurally short-sighted. By 'European constitutional law', I mean in this paper both the primary law of the EU and domestic constitutional documents. In the present paper I am first going to sketch the nature and the types of the sustainability challenges that contemporary societies face, with a special focus on Europe (environmental, demographic and financial). In the main part of the paper, I am going to show possible constitutional responses to these challenges. Finally, I will summarise the main argument of the paper which is a suggestion to set up an economic constitutional court consisting of economists with the power to annul laws if these contradict the principles of sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to show the importance of a correct understanding of formally undefined EU labour law norms for the successful European integration of Ukraine. The analysis focuses on legal acts of the European Union. The drawbacks of the inequality of approaches to determining the content of norms with evaluative concepts are highlighted, as is the need to use doctrinal recommendations for the application of evaluative provisions with the purpose of preventing the misconception that evaluative concepts can be interpreted as, and to whom, it pleases. This article thus demonstrates the necessity of the analysis of the case-law of the Court of Justice of the EU, which is rich in the interpretation of evaluative concepts and is considered to help clarify the meaning of many terms of labour law, which, due to their undefined formulation, may cause difficulties in implementing them in the legal system of Ukraine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2022, for the first time in some while, the public around the world was confronted with an armed conflict between states, which directly involved a nuclear facility, specifically a nuclear power plant in operation. Unfortunately, the situation following Russia's armed attack on Ukraine on 24 February 2022 and the acts of war around the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant once again draw attention to the need to protect nuclear facilities during armed conflicts. Therefore, this paper reviews the relevant rules of public international law and scrutinizes the norms that have been established through international legislation and soft law mechanisms to protect and guarantee the nuclear safety and security of nuclear installations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper aims at providing an overview of hate crimes through an interdisciplinary lens based not only on theories but also empirical research results. The paper first deals with the central components of hate crimes: prejudice and aggression. Not only the classical social-psychological theories of these phenomena are discussed but also some newer ones. As hate crimes do not occur in a vacuum, the next chapter of the paper deals with the social, political, cultural context and factors that facilitate or impede the occurrence of hate crimes. Community disorganization, urban ecology, racial balance, residential stability, economic conditions, and the role of the media and the internet are discussed in detail. The last chapter of the paper deals with the perpetrators of hate crimes, let them be lonely ones or members of organized hate groups. The paper demonstrates that the investigation of hate crimes can only occur in an interdisciplinary setting that can simultaneously take into account legal, social, cultural, and political factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper will discuss the constitutional relevance of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), i.e. the manner how the constitutional judiciary of North Macedonia enforces its provisions. It is important to stress that the ECHR does not provide for a specific way to ensure the implementation of guaranteed human rights and freedoms. It is left to each country to create its own path which, on the other hand, points to the fact that the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) cannot act as a supra-national fourth court instance, or as a supra-national Pan-European supreme court. This means that constitutional relevance and the margin of appreciation are related to, and dependent on, each other. Moreover, this paper will analyse the implementation of the ECHR's provisions by the Constitutional Court of North Macedonia as well as the objective and pragmatic need to extend the normative scope of the legal institution of a constitutional complaint, in order to advance and strengthen the constitutional-judicial protection of the rights and freedoms of citizens guaranteed by the Constitution of North Macedonia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The new European rules on securitisation entered into force in 2019 with a view to revitalising the securitisation market. By introducing public law rules, the regulation intends to avoid the re-creation of the risks that played a role in the 2008–2009 financial crisis. The regulation, however, does not contain private law rules. Consequently, the substantive rules pertaining to securitisation will remain to be formed by the national laws of the Member States of the European Union. This paper argues that the ways in which non-assignment clauses are regulated in Member States will have a significant impact on the availability of securitisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the basic principles in civil contested procedure is the principle of publicity. Our aim in this scientific paper is to address this principle from all legal points of view in order to make a concrete review of what the principle of publicity in civil contested procedure implies, and how this principle is guaranteed based on legal acts, since in order to have regular judicial process it is necessary to respect all rights and procedures that are guaranteed by legal acts, and among them the principle of publicity plays a key role. The importance of this scientific paper consists in how it addresses several comparative legal aspects regarding the principle of publicity as a constitutional category under Article 6 (1) of the European Convention on Human Rights, and in the legislations of Kosovo, Albania, and North Macedonia. We also address the principle of publicity as a fundamental principle in civil contested procedure, the violation of legal rules related to publicity, and the exclusion of the public from trial. Therefore, bearing in mind the importance of the right to a fair trial, we address the principle of publicity, with special emphasis on contentious civil proceedings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the issue of legitimate expectations in the arbitral practice of green energy cases under the Energy Charter Treaty. Before the economic crisis of 2008, several European countries provided special incentives and subsidies to investors in the field of renewable energy. However, following the crisis, some of them (e.g. Spain and Italy) abridged these benefits, which resulted in a number of arbitration proceedings under the Energy Charter Treaty. Some of these are still pending. Most of these disputes are centered on legitimate expectations, a major component of the fair and equitable treatment standard. The introductory part of the article gives a general overview of the issue of legitimate expectations in international investment law, and identifies the three types of situations which can generate legitimate expectations: specific commitments, unilateral representation or promises, and regulatory frameworks. The main part of the work analyses the most relevant green-energy cases of the Energy-Charter-Treaty-related arbitrations, with special emphasis on the issue of legitimate expectations. In the final part of the paper, conclusions are drawn based on the case law here presented, as well as other researched cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The emergence and fast proliferation of chatbot solutions have reshaped how we interact with customer services, professionals and organizations providing advisory services. Law firms and legal professionals have also been affected by chatbots, which have become an integral part of the legal market. They are used for training, discovery, legal research and various other tasks by multinational law firms and sole practitioners alike. Besides their benefits, however, chatbot solutions also face a number of limitations and their use could raise both legal and ethical concerns. Unsupervised use of such solutions can lead to serious professional responsibility issues, while their use in certain cases, such as in cases involving acting as a defense counsel or advising on sensitive matters, can also raise ethical concerns, or endanger the trust in lawyers built by generations of legal professionals. The processing of certain data or confidential information can further raise privacy or confidentiality issues, especially with respect to the need for artificial intelligence (AI) based solutions to constantly rely on huge datasets. Bearing the above in mind, the regulation of chatbots in the legal market is certainly a complex topic with many challenges. In this paper, I provide an overview of the use of chatbots in the legal market, summarize the main concerns regarding their use (especially including professional liability, privacy and ethical concerns) and also highlight the main challenges concerning AI and chatbot regulation and the potential approaches regulators could follow to prevent or minimize risks associated with the unlawful or unethical use of technology and disperse unnecessary fears by also supporting technological development and by preserving the positive effects of the use of chatbots in the legal market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores substitute and supported decision-making in the light of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). The CRPD, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2006, introduces a ‘paradigm shift’ in the regulation of legal capacity by endorsing the idea of universal legal capacity, i.e. that everyone, including persons with disabilities ‘enjoy legal capacity on an equal basis with others’. After examining the conceptual and regulatory issues surrounding substitute and supported decision- making and the requirements of the CRPD and the first General Comment of the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (GC1), the paper proceeds to examine the regulations of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (England & Wales) and the Hungarian Civil Code and their (non-)compliance with the CRPD and GC1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents, in an analytical manner, Hungary’s legal experiences with international investment arbitration, giving an in-depth overview of the country’s ICSID cases and their background. Investment disputes are notoriously complex and have several political, economic and regulatory aspects. The purpose of the paper is to present the Hungarian investment disputes in the context of their local background and the national regulatory environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the theoretical grounds of supermajority, its special relevance in parliamentary systems and the related experiences from Central and Eastern Europe, especially Hungary.In parliamentary systems, the support of the parliamentary majority is a necessity and sufficient condition for governance – there is no need for supermajoritarian decision-making in issues of daily politics. A qualified majority has a different function and is an internal institutional limit of the legislative power – protecting the minority interests against the unilateral decisions of the majority in the most important issues of the political community.The Hungarian situation from 2010–2015 demonstrates that minorities cannot influence the decisions where the supermajority represents a one-party opinion. Moreover, decisions of the supermajority can block future modifications of the future parliamentary majority as well. It will be argued in this paper that only a substantive approach to supermajority can support its basic function. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents and analyzes the rules of provisional and protective measures as laid down in the current Draft of the New Hungarian Civil Procedure. It focuses on the purposes and contents of the provisional measures and devotes a separate section to the function of the security that the applicant has to deposit if ordered by the court. The paper concludes that provisional measures have a special mixed character in the sense that they are simultaneously and tightly connected to substantive law and procedural law. The security is regulated in accordance with this mixed character. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From Transnational Principles to European Rules of Civil Procedure is a joint project of the European Law Institute (ELI) and the International Institute for the Unification of Private Law (UNIDROIT). This paper gives a systematic presentation of the progress by one of the project’s working groups tasked with the elaboration of rules on the obligations of parties, lawyers and judges using as a starting point Principle 11 of the Transnational Principles of Civil Procedure produced by the American Law Institute (ALI) and UNIDROIT. Since November 2014, progress by the Working Group has advanced, resulting in a number of draft rules dealing with procedural obligations (and sanctions for their breach) related to case management, pleading of facts, evidence and law and the efforts to achieve autonomous settlement of civil disputes. The paper describes the major achievements of this work, emphasising several important changes in comparison to the conventional approach to procedural obligations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The leveraging of market power by digital ecosystems and self-preferencing have become fashionable topics nowadays at national, European, and international levels. However, they are not novel issues. This paper argues that we can find the underlying concepts in a number of practices previously identified as abusive, such as tying and bundling, margin squeeze, and refusal to deal. This paper points out that these abuses have certain similarities with self-preferencing. This supports the claim that self-preferencing is likely to be conceivable under EU competition law as a new abuse. The investigations launched by the Commission after the adoption of the Google Shopping decision - such as against Amazon and Apple, the Amazon case of the Italian Competition Authority, as well as the various expert reports, and the legislative proposals that have been put forward in this regard also point in this direction. However, many questions remain when it comes to the legal standards that are applicable to the assessment of whether self-preferencing is abusive in a given situation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the complexity of the methodological and legislative-technical apparatus of conflict of laws has, in the eyes of its critics, created an aura of impermeability, they are, in fact, instruments through which a relationship to the foreign is conveyed and articulated. However, conflict of laws is not an immutable system of rules but rather a technique that undergoes varying degrees of development depending on the changing premises on which it is built. These are notably defined by different approaches to the values that frame the conflicts resolution. Depending on these values, the available instruments of conflict of laws are used to achieve different objectives. This results not only in a confluence of different methods but also in changes within a particular method. Against the backdrop of the value transformations of conflict of laws, this paper seeks to demonstrate that the abandonment of methodological purism of conflict of laws necessarily entails the abandonment of relational purism towards the foreign. By contrast, insofar as transformations within the dominant multilateral method are concerned, it is argued that the changes in value orientation have not led to a fundamental change in the nature of the relationship to the foreign. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay aims to compare the constitutional interpretation techniques used by the Italian Constitutional Court and the Hungarian one, facing the advancing of populist claims in Europe. After introducing the differences between the exercise of sovereignty in constitutional legal systems towards populistic regimes, the authors analyse some paradigmatic cases in which Constitutional Courts reacted to populistic waves. Through comparing the different legal instruments adopted to interpret the Constitution, this paper will therefore test the Italian and Hungarian legal system's concrete democratic evolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Case-based reasoning has high significance in constitutional adjudication. The constitutional courts of the Kelsenian model also follow their own previous decisions to develop their own case law, even if those decisions do not bind them formally. In the course of constitutional interpretation, to build coherent and predictable case law and determine constitutional principles and standards in a consistent way are also reasonable expectations of constitutional adjudication deriving from the rule of law. The paper analyses the case law of the Hungarian Constitutional Court from this perspective, regarding the criticism of public figures in defamation cases. It takes case-based reasoning as a measure of the case law of the HCC, reveals the tendencies and highlights the main problems associated with it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the unemployment policy of Central-East-European countries applying mixed methods. First, fuzzy set analysis is used to determine the efficiency of unemployment measures for reducing the poverty gap. Three causal conditions are measured: the net replacement rate of unemployment benefits, labour law regulations related to job security, and public spending on labour-market programs. This analysis reveals two possible pathways: governments may either provide a high level of job security, or spend on active and passive labour-market measures. Second, the fuzzy set analysis was completed with a comparative legal analysis covering the Visegrad countries that examined the policy choices the Visegrad countries made after the economic crisis. The paper argues that due to the different approaches to the welfare state, any potential EU initiatives for regulating unemployment benefits under the European Pillar of Social Rights might put divergent adaptation pressure on the V4 states. The differences are significant, as they would not only challenge effective social integration but also hamper the envisioned political cooperation of the V4 countries in this policy area. Building on previous literature, this paper is written to contribute to research on the European Social Model and social integration within the European Union. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article deals with a very up-to-date issue, the 'voice of the child', i.e. the implementation of the child's right to be heard in parental responsibility matters and cases. My aim is to find an answer to the question of how the Hungarian codification, judiciary and academic legal literature have changed over the last decade and how they have adapted to the modern child-focused standards. The significance of the topic emerges from the fact that both the exercise and the rendering of parental responsibilities is somehow problematic in many families and this difficulty is burdened by the requirements of child-friendly justice. The issues dealt with in this paper concern the significance of the child's right to be heard, the necessity of the child's hearing, the connection between the child's protection and child's hearing, the difficulty of determination whether the child is capable of forming his or her own views, the direct and indirect hearing of the child and the difference between the child's hearing and the child's voice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper highlights the various aspects of the electronisation of judicial and extra-judicial dispute resolution in the Slovak Republic. The author concludes that arbitration as a form of dispute settlement process may take an electronic form in Slovakia, with the exception of issuing the arbitration decisions which must always take a paper form – for the sake of legal certainty. An alternative dispute resolution in consumer disputes, taking the form of mediation is a novelty in Slovakia and was only introduced in 2016, under the respective EU Regulation. This also foresaw an electronic platform to facilitate online cross-border consumer dispute resolution. Finally, the recently introduced new rules on civil judicial procedure in Slovakia (1st July 2016) also brought about some enhancements with regard to electronisation of dispute resolution. In addition to the possibilities of filing electronic submissions, hearings can also take place with the use of electronic means; public notices must be published on a website of a court or relevant authority and the delivery of court documents was also widely electronised based on a recent Act on e-Government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The focus of this paper is on the uncertainty and controversy associated with the substantial compliance standard as part of the strict compliance principle in the letter of credit law, as well as the possibility of applying new technology to solve such problems. The letter of credit confirms a payment under international sales contracts and contains a promise from the bank to pay the seller if they can present the complying documents as required in the letter of credit. Thanks to the basic principles of a letter of credit, it is stable and trustworthy. Such basic principles as well as the practice of letters of credit are recognized in the Uniform Customs and Practice for Documentary Credit of the International Chamber of Commerce. To retain the commercial utility of the letter of credit, the strict compliance principle should be revitalized and consistently applied. However, this principle is not associated with exact standards, which leads to the scenario that courts apply different standards. Such a situation might reduce the commercial utility of letters of credit. Hence, the financial industry is trying to apply new technologies such as blockchain, smart contracts, and the Internet of Things to support the strict compliance principle, and try to reduce the uncertainty related to the substantial compliance standard. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study discusses the legal governance of historical memory through the presentation of the phenomenon of memory laws. It reflects on the appearance of these laws in the legal system, emphasizes their different definitions and classifications, at all the levels (constitutional, statutory and quasi-legal), and among various areas of legislation. The paper further points out the context and development of Hungarian memory laws, highlighting the special importance of this legislation in the current political and legal situation as well as potential lessons in the wider European context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper is devoted to the role of the head of state in initiating and implementing constitutional reforms in Senegal. This country can legitimately be regarded as one of the few examples of a relatively successful democratization process in Africa, as evidenced, among other things, by the lack of military coups leading to the loss of power by civilian governments, as well as by two democratic transfers of power (in 2000-2001 and 2012), after which the main opposition parties gained the presidency and the majority of parliamentary seats. Both these fundamental political transformations generated important constitutional changes (for example, the adoption of the current Constitution of 2001, or the constitutional modifications of 2016 and 2019) that have influenced, to a greater or lesser extent, the position of the presidency in Senegalese systems of government. The author analyses their significance for the functioning of contemporary political institutions in the broader context set by the politics of constitutional amendment which was conducted by previous presidents of this country. The main goal of the paper is to examine to what extent the constitutional modifications introduced before and after the adoption of the 2001 Constitution were designed to contribute to the beginning or consolidation of pro-democratic trends, and to what extent they were created to strengthen the position of an incumbent president himself, leading to a political imbalance and regress in the democratization process. The author argues that the constitutional modifications adopted over the years have often gone in two opposite directions, influencing the efficiency and durability of Senegalese institutional structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the system of minority protection of the League of Nations. Minority protection occupied a prominent place on the League's agenda, which developed a significant expertise in the field. The League's system of minority protection is often regarded as an experiment. With regard to both material and procedural aspects this assessment is certainly correct. In particular, minority protection based upon legally binding treaties and declarations gave rise to the question of how individual and group rights should be treated within the frame of an international political organization. The paper further examines whether at least some of the elements of the League's minority protection system still persist in the context of contemporary international human rights law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper reflects on academic literature on the international normative and institutional framework related to hate crimes. Various theoretical and pragmatic issues have been discussed by academic authors, such as the challenges coming with the obligation of states to record hate crimes or to conduct efficient investigation, the limits of the potential impact of international review mechanisms, or the aims and content of resolutions adopted by international institutions and judgments delivered by the European Court of Human Rights. However, a wide range of practical and conceptual issues related to the existing international standards and the efficiency of international review mechanisms remain to be discussed in the academic sphere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses a global trend in the approach to hate speech. It describes how the international human rights organisations are recently addressing the dynamics of hate speech and how academic thinking is stretching the framework of the justification of hate speech regulations. This work analyses the aspect of cause and effect in the light of the role of the speaker; examining the academic argument that content expressed by public figures of authority have a higher impact, in particular in the context of the digital media ecosystem, with a social media dominance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Viruses can be found everywhere, they are part of the real life of humanity. Air travel is the youngest form of geographical movement, which has become an attainable reality for everyone at the expense of extraordinarily huge efforts and sacrifices. The two realities collided at the end of 2019 and then on 11 March 2020 via the declaration of COVID-19 to be a world pandemic changing the world as known. This paper introduces these two realities and researches their legal relations. Primarily, this paper seeks answers to the question whether pursuant to the Montreal Convention (1999) regulating the liability of the air carrier for damages an event or occurrence deriving from the disease or state of health of the passenger taking place during the operations of embarkation or disembarkation or on board the aircraft is deemed to be an accident. What extent of liability does the state of health of the passenger impose on the contracting parties pursuant to the rules of the Convention and according to legal practice? An answer is provided by unfolding the conceptual elements of accident via legal cases. This introduces the significance of the internal regulations of the air carrier; the situation of passengers in need of special care; examines the existence of medical certificates and deals with the responsibility of the crew for the treatment of acute situations deriving from the state of health of the passenger (heart attack, thrombosis, virus infection etc.) The answer is logical. Pursuant to the Convention, the event or occurrence deriving from the state of health of the passenger does not qualify as accident, consequently, the air carrier shall not liable. However, if in the facts of the concrete case a cause and effect relationship exists between the occurrence of the accident and the negligent conduct of the air carrier, the liability of the air carrier for damages can be established. The study introduces the system of conditions of the liability for damages in full detail, and the causal link producing an accident. The author makes recommendations for and outlines solutions in awareness that despite all real efforts, mankind has not learnt the lesson that the virus is in a winning position. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper aims to highlight the nature and the relevance of the reference to constitutional traditions in the building of populist constitutionalism, with special regard to the Hungarian case. In Hungary the goals and effects of this reference – especially the references to the achievements of the historical constitution – must be discussed at the level of the constitutional text and with regard to the formation of the new constitutional jurisprudence and, furthermore, to the creation of the constitutional identity. Outstanding political theories have been built about the elements of national populism and all include a political emphasis on a nation's pride in its culture, history and traditions. This paper examines the normative legal consequences of this in a state where the populist political forces have consecutively gained a majority in the Parliament which enables them to adopt and amend a constitution and decide on the personal make up of the constitutional court. It examines the role of the reference to constitutional traditions in the transformation of the constitutional system. The illustrative case studies from Hungary show one element of the alternative to mainstream liberal constitutional democracy: a constitutional perception of the sovereign people with a strong common constitutional heritage, this latter to be respected by all state organs and by domestic, European and international law. The paper offers an understanding of this constitutional concept and assembles disclaimers and serious legal concerns that must be taken into account, at least in Hungary, but probably in many other national populist regimes as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Oceans and marine resources represent an invaluable source of life and well-being for humanity. Despite their contribution, oceans are constantly affected by human activities such as overfishing, shipping, and resource extraction, thus jeopardizing the viability of marine ecosystems. Periodically, a series of global initiatives led by the United Nations have sought to reverse these negative effects and safeguard sustainable ocean use. The United Nation's Law of the Sea (1982, UNCLOS) is a prominent undertaking in this direction, as it has created the legal framework for sustainable ocean governance. Norway, an ocean nation, has been a strong supporter of this international treaty, but also of the recent sustainable development goals (SDGs), which have typically complemented UNCLOS in the global quest for ocean sustainability. In this context, this paper delves into and posits the synergies and interactions between UNCLOS and SDGs and describes the related shifts in Norway's ocean governance regime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]