Historical differences of professors' roles The case of civil law legislation

Abstract

Traditionally, it is a generally accepted idea in the Hungarian jurisprudence that Hungarian law - like German law - is developed by legal scholars, i.e. a so-called Professorenrecht. Accordingly, law professors, i.e. the university elite, would have the greatest influence in the legislating process. This paper discusses the influence and role of law professors in the civil law legislation both from a historical (until 1989) and from a sociological point of view. Undoubtedly, the university elite of law professors has the greatest sociological chance to ensure its own interests by hiding it behind arguments, neutrality requirements or reasoning about justification and efficiency in the legal system under the guise of science. My thesis, however, is that whereas the influence of the university elite cannot be questioned, the situation is much more complex in the course of Hungarian history, not least because of the late introduction and spread of the professional university legal education in Hungary.