The Pragmatica Sanctio and the Hungarian Estates

Abstract

It can be argued that the Pragmatic Sanction should be associated with the year 1722 rather than 1723. Nevertheless, the importance of Acts 1 and 2 of 1723 for the Estates of the Kingdom of Hungary should not be underestimated. This act had a symbolic character and confirmed the appropriateness of the Habsburg policy towards Hungary, which had been initiated in 1711. This compromise restored the dualism of king and estates by granting the Diet the privilege of tax authorisation, granting tax immunity to the landowning nobility, securing the counties the monopoly of local and regional administration and providing the aristocratic elite with extensive participation in the nationwide administration and judiciary.