The Organizational and Architectural Characteristics of the Application of Law in Hungary in the Era of Dualism

Abstract

The study is based on an examination of the organisational and architectural characteristics of the application of law in Hungary during the dualism period, focusing on the material conditions of the modernisation of the legal system and the need for architectural space. This research also sheds light on the specificities of Hungarian solutions that can (also) be interpreted in a European context.

The modernisation of the state organisation and the resulting increase in the volume of central and local tasks brought with it the need to develop infrastructure, and therefore a number of new legal (administrative and judicial) buildings had to be constructed during the period.

With the separation of powers, administrative and judicial buildings developed separately. This development was determined by the use of models, the application of specific Hungarian solutions, tradition and modernisation. The study will focus on the so-called “major solutions” based on foreign models and on the so-called “minor solutions” based on Hungarian developments. On this basis, it can be concluded that the modernisation of the state organisation and the legal system in the dualist era produced Hungarian solutions (structural, codification, architectural) that are well integrated into the European context.