Recodification of the Hungarian Civil Law

Szerző: Péter Gárdos

letöltés

European Review of Private Law, 5/2007. page 702-722

4.         The Structure of the Code

If one compares the current Code with other civil codes on the Continent, one finds that its scope is surprisingly narrow. Not counting the last part of the Code, which regulates when and how the regulations of the Code enters into scope, the Code consists of five parts. The First Part contains seven paragraphs under the title of ‘Introductory provisions’. This part sets the scope and deals with the basic principles of the Code (e.g. the principle of good faith and fair dealing, obligation of cooper­ation, prohibition of chicane etc.). The Second Part (§ 8-87) embodies the provisions on natural and legal persons and the personality rights. The Third Part provides for the rules on things (§88-197): ownership, possession and limited real rights. The Fourth – and by far the longest – Part of the Code regulates the law of contract (§198-597): the general part of contract law, contracts, tort liability and unjustified enrich­ment. The Fifth Part deals with the law of succession. There are no rules on family law, employment contracts and – more importantly – company law.

The Conception stated that the intention of the drafters was to extend the scope of the new Civil Code. The goal and purpose of all codification is that a code makes the application of the rules easier as it – by regulating homogenous norms in terminological consistency – leads to shorter rules. The guideline for such extension was the following. ‘Codifying rules in one code is preferable and practicable as long as these rules are methodologically consistent and the system­atisation brings with it the advantages of codification: i.e. systematic rationality, economic and coherent structure of law, certainty of terminology and clear results’. After lengthy discussions the structure of the new Code will be the following. The Code will be divided into six books.

Book I contains the principles of civil law, i.e. principles that are equally applicable to the law of persons, family law, property law, contract law and the law of succession (e.g. the principle of good faith and fair dealing). This leads to the reduction in the number of general principles; e.g. the principle of cooperation is not stated here, but in Book V as a principle of the law of obligations.

Book II provides the rules on persons. This Book consists of six parts. Part I contains the rules on natural persons (capacity), Part II contains the general rules on legal persons, Part III regulates the rights of personality equally applicable to natural and legal persons. The last two parts embody two types of legal persons: foundation (Part IV) and association (Part V).

Book III deals with family law also in five parts: basic principles (Part I), marriage (Part II), partnership (Part III), kinship (Part IV) and tutelage (Part V).

Book IV regulates property law. Part I regulates possession, Part II ownership, Part III limited real rights, and Part IV contains the rules pertaining to land registry.

The longest of the books is Book V on the law of obligation. It consists of five parts: general rules of obligations (Part I), general part of contract law (Part II), specific contracts (Part III), rules on negotiable instruments (Part IV) and, finally, tort liability and unjust enrichment (Part V).
Book VI contains the law of succession.

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