The Birth and Youth of the Modern Hungarian Private Law

1848 was a turning point in Hungary in all senses of legal development. It is not only the emblematic year of beginning of the constitutional monarchy based on separation of powers, popular sovereignty, governmental responsibility and civil liberties 1848 was a turning point in Hungary in all senses of legal development. It is not only the emblematic year of beginning of the constitutional monarchy based on separation of powers, popular sovereignty, governmental responsibility and civil liberties, but in general, 1848 can be considered as the start year of modern Hungary. From the point of view of private law, the abolition of seigneurial relationship between landlords and peasants and the abrogation of traditional legal institutions of property and inheritance law hindering the free disposition on goods has to be mentioned. After the fall of the 1848 revolution, the introduction of the Austrian civil law also catalysed the process of modernisation, and finally, after 1861, the modern Hungarian private law was born, without the adoption of a civil code, strongly based on the jurisdiction of the courts.