Disecting the Hungarian Judicial System

Dr. Peter Hack (a man of many professions)

So after a meeting on Wednesday with all the other JSPBers, I can now say that I have officially analyzed almost every aspect of the Hungarian Justice system. With who you ask? Dr. Peter Hack. Who is this Peter Hack I’m speaking of? He’s only a former member of the Hungarian Parliament, current member of the National Judiciary Council, Chairmen of the Committer on Constitution and Judicial Affairs, a lecturer at the Academy of Judges and finally a teacher at the Budapest Law Faculty. When I found out about this vast list of accomplishments I was, to say the least, a little nervous to be in a room with Dr. Hack for almost 2 hours; feeling as though I would be sure to embarrass myself somehow. Yet again, my suspicions were wrong  (seems to be a common theme) and Dr. Hack turned out to be an amazing person to talk to and learn from.

The conversation started off with the typical explanation of what exactly this type of legal system entailed. He mentioned how it was based off of the German/Austrian model and how it was almost polar opposite to our legal system. The Judges, for example, are not only referees making sure the play is fair; they are active in questioning and are in search of the “objective truth.” This statement made my ears perk up a little and officially captured my interest. The whole process starts when a crime is reported to the police and they have up to 3 days to decide if they want to continue with an investigation. If the police decide the investigation is not worth perusing they can decide to drop it, however the individual who initially lodged to complaint has the right to bring this matter to court. Fun fact, about 60% of cases never actually makes it to trial). If the police find the matter worth pursuing, the investigation begins and this becomes the most important part of the whole process. Once all the paperwork is done and everything has been collected, the judge receives all of this information and proceeds by learning all about the case. This is also very different from the American system where the judge knows nothing before the case starts in order to be unbiased.

After talking about pre-trial procedure we went into more depth about the actual players involved with the legal process. First off is the Chief Prosecutor who is recommended by the President and officially elected by the Parliament. This man or women is in charge of all decisions related to new hiring within the prosecutors office and also takes on the role of investigators when it comes to investigations concerning political figures, judges, other attorneys, police ect. This got me thinking about how important this Chief prosecutor is and how much power he or she actually can hold. They can decide whom to hire as a prosecutor and have the power to determine the outcome of a trial concerning a members of government offices or the police. This is kind of scary when you think about how influenced a person can become when persuaded by money or even threats (it must be the cynic coming out in me).

Constitutional Court of Hungary

Next we talked about the witnesses and what kind of protection they receive when they have to stand trial. First off I would just like to say that witnesses get a lot of protection if they want and if they’re particular situation calls for it. For example, witnesses have the right to hide personnel information from the police such as their name, birthdates, mother’s name ect and only allow the judge to see such information. On top of that they can ask to be anonymous witnesses and can even be provided with witness protection if they feel their life is in danger. Witnesses in Hungary have a number of options given to them if they don’t want to become known in the public eye as a witness in a particular case. I felt as though this was a good thing except for the fact that witnesses can choose to hide their identity if they feel as though that is the best thing for them to do. I feel as though this would make the judicial process so much harder and cause obstacles in solving a crime. At the same time I do respect the Hungarian system for protecting the people who are helping to put bad people away in jail.

Witness Protection Program!

Overall my experience with Dr. Hack was an amazing one to say the least. He was an extremely intelligent man but he presented his arguments clearly and also answered questions in a way that a normal person who hasn’t gone to Law School could understand. I am extremely interested in comparative politics and especially comparative legal systems so listening to Dr. Hack was truly an honor and a once and a lifetime experience. It actually made me consider looking farther into the true differences between different legal systems and actually consider this as a future career for myself. If it will happen, no one knows, but I do know that this was an amazing opportunity and I am so happy I was able to listen to Dr. Hack speak and engage him in questions and answers.