The Law as Legitimacy - The Change in the Function of Law in the Hungarian Regime Changes

Abstract

In our study, we would like to present the changing functions of law as a social subsystem from
the perspective of the Hungarian regime change. We will examine the foundations of validitylegitimacy
in the Rákosi era and late-Kadarism and the role of law in the legitimation process.
While during the totalitarianism politics instrumentalised law entirely, after 1956, its political
pragmatisation allowed the legal subsystem to establish relative autonomy. In this way, law
paradoxically became a legitimating factor on the one hand, but also weakened the
monopolistic exercise of power and contributed to a peaceful and compromised regime change.