For decades, the Palace of Justice has been the seat of the highest judicial forum at the main square of the country. Adjacent to the Parliament building, the ministries and the Kúria, it also symbolizes the principle of separation of powers – said dr. Tünde Handó, the president of the National Office for the Judiciary (NOJ) when opening the international conference to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the proclamation of Act IV of 1869 on the Exercise of Judicial Power.

At the event of the Court History Week, Tünde Handó elaborated: parallel to the fate of the building, we managed to return to our roots in the past 30 years, while recently we focused on the preservation of the 19th century ethos along with the creation of the 21st century judiciary. 

Judit Varga, Minister of Justice in her speech emphasized: judicial independence is the essence of the rule of law, therefore the Act IV of 1869 on Judicial Power qualifies as a cornerstone. This was the first stage in the development of the modern Hungarian state and the judicial reform that terminated the feudal era – she added. Judit Varga also praised the results of the judiciary on the EU justice scoreboard, that proves that Hungarian judges work fast and effectively. Just like our ancestors, we have the same goals today – to keep the judicial profession above politics, acknowledged and well paid, she said.

Dr. András Osztovits, director of the Hungarian Academy of Justice told that the Act IV of 1869 may help judges today as well. Judicial independence is the alpha of the modern constitutionalism, and it also made a great achievement that judicial independence was officially proclaimed by legislation. He added: judicial independence faces several challenges today, the adaptation of European norms and judicial decisions, but also the rapid development of online activity appears to be a serious task and a new type of challenge for the judges.

Participants of the conference could take a look at the new historical publications by the NOJ. The representative publication titled Matthias I and the Judiciary presents King Matthias’ role and actions as a legislator with a collection of presentations held at the court history conference organized by the NOJ and the Hungarian Academy of Justice in 2018. The book has been praised by Prof. dr. Elemér Balogh, Head of Department at the Szeged Science University.

On the second day of the international conference, lectures focused on the dilemma of precedent law and continental law, the enforcement of judicial independence and responsibility, and participants also got acquainted with the history of the past 150 years of the Polish Judiciary.