HUNGARY Law and Practice Contributed by: István Varga and Viktor Előd Cserép, PROVARIS Varga & Partners
PROVARIS Varga & Partners Central Palace 5th Floor 9 Károlyi utca H-1053 Budapest Hungary Tel: +36 70 605 1000 Email: info@provaris.hu Web: www.provaris.hu/en/home/
1. General 1.1 General Characteristics of the Legal System Civil Law Tradition The Hungarian legal system is rooted in the civil law tradition. Legal provisions are included in acts and statutory instruments. As of April 2020, a so-called “limited law of precedent” has been introduced, in which courts generally cannot derogate from the decisions of the Kúria (the supreme court) published from 1 January 2012 on. Adversarial Procedure With Inquisitorial Elements The Hungarian law of civil procedure follows an adversarial model and is based on the prin- ciple of party disposition, complemented by inquisitorial features. The judge is in charge of the conduct of proceedings and may also pro- vide guidance for the parties as to, inter alia, the substantive scope of the proceedings. The process is conducted primarily through written submissions. It is obligatory to hold at least one (by default) public hearing in the first instance.
1.2 Court System The Court System: Four Levels of Courts The Hungarian court system is made up of four levels: local courts, district courts, higher region- al courts and the Kúria . General subject matter jurisdiction is vested in the 20 district courts, which thus function as general courts of first instance and to whose proceedings the Code of Civil Procedure’s (CCP) regime is designed. Local courts proceed in the first instance only if the amount in dispute does not exceed HUF30 million (approximately EUR75,000) and in cer- tain designated subject matters, such as per- sonal status claims and enforcement remedial proceedings. Even in cases with minor subject matter value (ie, below HUF30 million), where these have special qualified subject matter (such as in certain IP and corporate law mat- ters, damages claims related to the exercise of public authority, actions brought in the public interest, international transport of goods, com- petition law claims, and arbitration award setting aside actions) the district courts have subject matter jurisdiction. District courts are courts of mixed functional jurisdiction, meaning that they function as appellate courts for local court deci- sions, whereas district court decisions taken in first instance can be appealed to the higher regional courts.
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