HUNGARY Law and Practice Contributed by: Tamás Éless, Zsolt Farkas, Sarolta Szabó and Lili Bischof, Oppenheim Law Firm
7. Trials and Hearings 7.1 Trial Proceedings
7.4 Rules That Govern Admission of Evidence During the preparatory stage, the parties may submit evidence or motions for evidence at court hearings without restriction. However, in the evidentiary stage, parties are gener- ally not allowed to change their previous statements or submit further evidence. As an exception to this rule, evidence may be submit- ted later if, for example, a party becomes aware of it only after the closure of the preparatory phase. 7.5 Expert Testimony Experts may be involved either by a party (as private experts) or by court order. Experts appointed in other proceedings may also be used. There is no hierarchy between private and court-appointed experts, whose opinions have equal probative value. The CCP regulates in detail the preparation and sub- mission of private expert opinions. The opposing party must be able to participate in the process: the expert must inform them of examinations carried out, and they may submit comments, which the expert must address in the opinion. As a general rule, the court may not order expert evi- dence ex officio in civil proceedings, although it may put questions to the expert. Under Hungarian law, there is no expert witness; instead, experts testify on technical issues, while witnesses testify as to histori- cal facts, and the two functions must remain distinct. 7.6 Extent to Which Hearings Are Open to the Public As a general rule, the courts adjudicate the legal dis- pute between the parties at a public hearing, and the judgment delivered at the hearing shall be announced publicly. However, the court can exclude the public from the entire hearing or a part thereof if doing so is justified on grounds of the protection of classified data, busi- ness secrets, other protected secrets, public morals, minors, or a party’s personality rights.
In the course of the preparatory stage of the proceed- ings, after the written preparation the courts schedule a preparatory hearing. At the beginning of the prepar- atory hearing, the court summarises the statements that are significant with respect to the dispute. The court allows and usually calls upon the parties to present their preparatory statements and plead their cases. Closure of the preparatory stage has significant con- sequences: it fixes the factual framework, legal claims and evidence, which may only be amended in excep- tional circumstances during the evidentiary phase. During the evidentiary stage, the court conducts the evidentiary procedure within the framework defined in the preparatory stage and decides on the case. Accordingly, the court hears the witnesses and, in certain cases, may also hear the expert in relation to the written expert opinion. The court may also order, at any stage and ex officio, the personal hearing of a party or its statutory repre- sentative. 7.2 Case Management Hearings Under the CCP, there are no specific rules for shorter hearings or case management hearings. However, the aim of the preparatory hearings is to define the scope of the lawsuit, which in practice includes setting a general course and timetable for the proceedings, which can be modified at a later date. 7.3 Jury Trials in Civil Cases Generally, a court of first instance is composed of a single judge. In certain cases specified by law, the court of first instance shall proceed in a panel com- posed of one judge and two jurors. For example, the CCP requires the participation of jurors in labour law actions.
419 CHAMBERS.COM
Powered by FlippingBook