ABSTRACT

In 2021, a research group consisting of researchers from six Central and Eastern European countries was formed to explore the methods of constitutional interpretation and constitutional reasoning applied in these countries in the framework of an empirical comparative legal research. The research also required to establish a methodological classification, which provided a good opportunity to attempt to classify the methods by which constitutional interpretation and constitutional reasoning can be realized at all. In the second stage, based on a uniform research methodology, we assessed which of thesemethods occur in the examined legal systems and in what proportion, and how often they appear in the decisions of the respective constitutional courts. On the one hand, the present study undertakes to elaborate these methods and to present the peculiarities of constitutional reasoning, including constitutional interpretation, compared to the general methods of statutory interpretation and legal reasoning. On the other hand, it reviews, on a legal sociological basis, to what extent these methods actually appear in the practice of the Hungarian Constitutional Court and the other Central and Eastern European constitutional courts.

KEYWORDS

constitutional interpretation | legal reasoning | Central Europe | legal methodology

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Atiyah, P. S. – Summers, Robert S. (1987): Form and Substance in Anglo-American Law. A Comparative Study of Legal Reasoning, Legal Theory, and Legal Institutions. Clarendon Press, Oxford.

Flander, Benjamin (2021): Interpretation of Fundamental Rights in Slovenia. In: Tóth J., Zoltán (ed.): Constitutional Reasoning and Constitutional Interpretation: Analysis on Certain Central European Countries. Ferenc Mádl Institute of Comparative Law – Central European Academic Publishing, Budapest–Miskolc. (Elérhető: http://real.mtak.hu/134538/7/Constitutional%20Reasoning%20and%20Constitutional%20Interpretation%20-%20Full%20book.pdf. Letöltés ideje: 2023. május 3.).

Gamper, Anna (2013): Austria: Non-cosmopolitan, but Europe-friendly – The Constitutional Court’s Comparative Aaproach. In: Groppi, Tania – Ponthoreau, Marie-Claire (eds.): The Use of Foreign Precedents by Constitutional Judges. Hart Publishing, Oxford–Portland (Oregon).

Goldsworthy, Jeffrey (2006a): Conclusions. In: Goldsworthy, Jeffrey (ed.): Interpreting Constitutions. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199226474.001.0001.

Goldsworthy, Jeffrey (2006b): Introduction. In: Goldsworthy, Jeffrey (ed.): Interpreting Constitutions. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199226474.001.0001.

Goodrich, Peter (1986): Reading the Law. Basil Blackwell, Oxford.

Grey, Thomas C. (1999): The New Formalism. In: Stanford Law School Working Paper. Vol. 4/1999.

Groppi, Tania – Ponthoreau, Marie-Claire (2013): The Use of Foreign Precedents by Constitutional Judges: A Limited Practice, An Uncertain Future. In: Groppi, Tania – Ponthoreau, Marie-Claire (eds.): The Use of Foreign Precedents by Constitutional Judges. Hart Publishing, Oxford–Portland (Oregon).

Hirschl, Ran (2019): Comparative Methodologies. In: Masterman, Roger – Schütze, Robert (eds.): The Cambridge Companion to Comparative Constitutional Law. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316716731.002.

Jakab, András (2013): Judicial Reasoning in Constitutional Courts: A European Perspective. In: German Law Journal. 2013/8. sz.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S207183220000225X.

Kalinowski, Georges (1959): Y a-t-il une logique juridique? In: Logique et Analyse. Vol.  5/1959.

Köblös, Adél (2021): Interpretation of Fundamental Rights in Hungary. In: Tóth J., Zoltán (ed.): Constitutional Reasoning and Constitutional Interpretation: Analysis on Certain Central European Countries. Ferenc Mádl Institute of Comparative Law – Central European Academic Publishing, Budapest–Miskolc. (Elérhető: http://real.mtak.hu/134538/7/Constitutional%20Reasoning%20and%20Constitutional%20Interpretation%20-%20Full%20book.pdf. Letöltés ideje: 2023. május 3.).

Larenz, Karl – Canaris, Claus-Wilhelm (1995): Methodenlehre der Rechtswissenschaft. Dritte, neu bearbeitete Auflage. Springer Verlag, Berlin–Heidelberg.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-08709-1.

Limbach, Jutta (2001): The Concept of the Supremacy of the Constitution. In: The Modern Law Review. Vol. 1/2001. 
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-2230.00306.

MacCormick, Neil D. – Summers, Robert S. (eds.) (1991): Interpreting Statutes: A Comparative Study. Dartmouth Publishing Company, Aldershot.

Mostowik, Piotr (2021): Interpretation of Fundamental Rights in Poland. In: Tóth J., Zoltán (ed.): Constitutional Reasoning and Constitutional Interpretation: Analysis on Certain Central European Countries. Ferenc Mádl Institute of Comparative Law – Central European Academic Publishing, Budapest–Miskolc. (Elérhető: http://real.mtak.hu/134538/7/Constitutional%20Reasoning%20and%20Constitutional%20Interpretation%20-%20Full%20book.pdf. Letöltés ideje: 2023. május 3.).

Orlović, Slobodan (2021): Interpretation of Fundamental Rights in Serbia. In: Tóth J., Zoltán (ed.): Constitutional Reasoning and Constitutional Interpretation: Analysis on Certain Central European Countries. Ferenc Mádl Institute of Comparative Law – Central European Academic Publishing, Budapest–Miskolc. (Elérhető: http://real.mtak.hu/134538/7/Constitutional%20Reasoning%20and%20Constitutional%20Interpretation%20-%20Full%20book.pdf. Letöltés ideje: 2023. május 3.).

Perelman, Chaïm (1968): What Is Legal Logic? In: Israel Law Review. 1968/1. sz.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0021223700017404.

Samuels, Alec (1984): The Eiusdem Generis Rule in Statutory Interpretation. In: Statute Law Review. 1984/1. sz.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/slr/5.1.180.

Scalia, Antonin – Garner, Bryan A. (2012): Reading Law: The Interpretation of Legal Texts. Thomson/West, St. Paul, Minnesota.

Sehnálek, David (2021): Interpretation of Fundamental Rights in the Czech Republic. In: Tóth J., Zoltán (ed.): Constitutional Reasoning and Constitutional Interpretation: Analysis on Certain Central European Countries. Ferenc Mádl Institute of Comparative Law – Central European Academic Publishing, Budapest–Miskolc. (Elérhető: http://real.mtak.hu/134538/7/Constitutional%20Reasoning%20and%20Constitutional%20Interpretation%20-%20Full%20book.pdf. Letöltés ideje: 2023. május 3.).

Skubiszewski, Krzysztof (1989): Implied Powers of International Organizations. In: Dinstein, Yoram – Tabory, Mala: International Law at a Time of Perplexity. Essays in Honour of Shabtai Rosenne. Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, Dordrecht, The Netherlands.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004633704_049.

Šmigová, Katarína (2021): Interpretation of Fundamental Rights in Slovakia. In: Tóth J., Zoltán (ed.): Constitutional Reasoning and Constitutional Interpretation: Analysis on Certain Central European Countries. Ferenc Mádl Institute of Comparative Law – Central European Academic Publishing, Budapest–Miskolc. (Elérhető: http://real.mtak.hu/134538/7/Constitutional%20Reasoning%20and%20Constitutional%20Interpretation%20-%20Full%20book.pdf. Letöltés ideje: 2023. május 3.).

Szabó Miklós (1999): A jogdogmatika előkérdéseiről. Bíbor Kiadó, Miskolc.

Szente, Zoltán (2013): Hungary: Unsystematic and Incoherent Borrowing of Law. The Use of Foreign Judicial Precedents in the Jurisprudence of the Constitutional Court, 1999–2010. In: Groppi, Tania – Ponthoreau, Marie-Claire (eds.): The Use of Foreign Precedents by Constitutional Judges. Hart Publishing, Oxford–Portland (Oregon).

Toth J., Zoltan (2016): The Methods of Statutory Interpretation in the Practice of the High Courts of Hungary. In: Annales Universitatis Mariae Curie-Skłodowska. Sectio M Balcaniensis et Carpathiensis, Lublin, Polonia.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.17951/bc.2016.1.173.

Tóth J., Zoltán (2021a): Interpretation of Fundamental Rights in Central and Eastern Europe: Methodology and Summary. In: Zoltán J. Tóth (ed.): Constitutional Reasoning and Constitutional Interpretation: Analysis on Certain Central European Countries. Ferenc Mádl Institute of Comparative Law – Central European Academic Publishing, Budapest – Miskolc.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.54237/profnet.2021.zjtcrci_1.

Tóth J., Zoltán (2021b) (ed.): Constitutional Reasoning and Constitutional Interpretation – Analysis on Certain Central European Countries. Studies of the Central European Professors Network. Budapest–Miskolc. (Elérhető: http://real.mtak.hu/134538/7/Constitutional%20Reasoning%20and%20Constitutional%20Interpretation%20-%20Full%20book.pdf. Letöltés ideje: 2023. május 3.).

Tóth J. Zoltán (2022): A strasbourgi bíróság jogértelmező tevékenységéről. In: Jogtudományi Közlöny. 2022/5. sz.

Zegrean, Augustin – Costinescu, Mihaela Senia (eds.) (2016): The Role of Assistant-Magistrates in the Jurisdiction of Constitutional Courts. Universul Juridic, Bucureşti.

Ződi Zsolt (2021): „Precedens”. In: Jakab András – Könczöl Miklós – Menyhárd Attila – Sulyok Gábor (szerk.) (2021): IJOTEN. (Elérhető: http://ijoten.hu/szocikk/precedens. Letöltés időpontja: 2023. december 5.).