Fruzsina Gárdos-Orosz

Constitutional Justice under Populism

The Transformation of Constitutional Jurisprudence in Hungary since 2010


Violation of the right to privacy1

In the case before the Constitutional Court, the petitioner was listed by a private individual as one of his pets on the iWiW community page, and published posts that were damaging to his reputation, including his status as a lawyer. The Constitutional Court examined the relationship between the right to reputation and freedom of expression in the case. Referring to its previous case-law, it explained that the scope of constitutionally protected freedom of expression is broader in relation to persons exercising public authority and politicians in public office than in relation to other persons, but that the exercise of freedom of expression cannot, in principle, be directed at violating the human dignity of others, even if it is aimed solely and exclusively at discrediting the person concerned. A person acting as a lawyer cannot, however, be regarded as a person exercising public authority or as a politician acting in a public capacity by virtue of his or her status as a lawyer, and there is therefore no constitutional reason why an act which would otherwise be punishable should not be punishable on the ground of the victim’s status as a lawyer. The Constitutional Court ruled that the judicial position that the impugned expressions are not unlawful is not in accordance with the Constitution, when the above constitutional aspects are properly weighed.2

Constitutional Justice under Populism

Tartalomjegyzék


Kiadó: Akadémiai Kiadó

Online megjelenés éve: 2024

ISBN: 978 963 454 971 0

In Hungary’s 2010 parliamentary elections, Fidesz – Hungarian Civic Alliance and its coalition partner, the Christian Democratic Party won a landslide victory and the newly formed populist Orbán-government gained a two-thirds constitution-making parliamentary majority, which it has kept for four consecutive terms (so far). In the spring of 2011, the National Assembly adopted Hungary’s new Fundamental Law, which has since been amended twelve times. The transformation of the Hungarian Constitutional Court and constitutional jurisprudence has played a significant role in cementing the new regime. The changes can be followed in a chronological order in this book. The author starts with the explanation of the concept of constitutional adjudication, she then reviews the procedural-institutional developments and the critical doctrinal junctures of the past thirteen years with regard to the general assessment of the change in constitutional justice. Finally, the volume offers a reading of how the scholarly experiences and factual results of the thirteen years spent under populism compare to the ideal of constitutional-court-made constitutional justice.

Fruzsina Gárdos-Orosz is research professor at the Institute for Legal Studies, HUN-REN Centre for Social Sciences and professor of constitutional law at ELTE Law School, Budapest. She worked as law clerk at the Hungarian Constitutional Court in different positions between 2003 and 2013. She has published extensively on different aspects of constitutional law, including the practice of the Hungarian Constitutional Court, the impact of different contemporary challenges to constitutional adjudication, as well as the rule of law resilience of Hungarian legal system.

Hivatkozás: https://mersz.hu/gardos-orosz-constitutional-justice-under-populism//

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