Start page Department for the Study of the Domestic Implementation of International and European Law

Department for the Study of the Domestic Implementation of International and European Law

Historical background | The Department for the Study of the Domestic Implementation of International Law and European Law has a long and rich history. The principal fields of research within the purview of the department had already carried particular weight in the activities of the institute prior to the reformulation of its research priorities. Numerous results of the previous generations of researchers had a lasting impact on and made a significant contribution to the domestic and international scientific discourse of their time. The exceptional wealth and widespread recognition of knowledge that had been accumulated in the decades past are clearly demonstrated by the fact that several researchers affiliated to various precursors of the department were later elected to become members of international arbitral tribunals and judicial organs, including the International Court of Justice. From September 2013, the department continues to function, in keeping with its finest traditions, with renewed human resources and research objectives.

Research staff | The Department for the Study of the Domestic Implementation of International Law and European Law is currently composed of twenty researchers, owing to which it is the largest organizational unit of the institute. Nearly all researchers hold an academic degree; members of the staff, who have yet to obtain such a degree, are expected to achieve that in the near future. Remarkably, both researchers of the institute, who have become members of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, conduct their work within the framework of the department. Detailed information on the professional activities of individual researchers is available on the personal datasheets.

Fields of research | The Department for the Study of the Domestic Implementation of International Law and European Law is responsible, in proportion to its size, for covering a wide range of research topics. From these topics, as the reformulated research priorities of the institute and the name of the department suggest, the emphasis is placed on the traditional dogmatic and practice-oriented research of the relationship of international law, the law of the European Union and domestic law, which transcends a multitude of fields of law. This complex relationship is known be a problematic issue in Hungarian constitutionalism, and hence requires permanent scientific scrutiny. The rapid development of selected areas of international law, the acceleration of European integration, and the recently commenced and presently ongoing restructuring of the domestic normative environment further increase the timeliness of these investigations.

In addition to the fulfilment of their primary research objective, members of the department delve into other topics as well. Research in these specific topics is either inseparably intertwined with the previously outlined main research effort, or effectively supplements and reinforces that. In the field of international law, such additional research activities focus on the legal aspects of international peace and security, the functioning and reform of international organizations, such as the United Nations and the World Trade Organization, the judicial settlement of international disputes, the creation and succession of states, the international protection of human rights and minorities, international criminal law, transitional justice, the fight against corruption, the theoretical and practical issues of nationality and statelessness, international environmental law, nuclear law, and the sources and history of international law.

In the field of the law of the European Union and private international law, members of the department conduct extensive investigations into the legal personality of the European Union, the interaction of accelerating integration, member state sovereignty and national interests, the federative elements in the system of European public law, the protection of fundamental rights and asylum policy, the role of the European ombudsman, the broadly understood competition law, the economic and financial, and budgetary and environmental policies, commercial law, the law of civil procedure and the rules on conflict of laws of the European Union, the normative bases of European co-operation in criminal matters, the regulation of public services and new technologies, and certain theoretical questions of the European legal order.

It should be noted that researchers of the department attach utmost importance to the application of the comparative method as appropriate, which also involves the consideration of the experiences of Central and Eastern European states. This approach substantially facilitates the justification of scientific findings concerning the domestic legal system, and offers a means to enhance the social and economic utility of research results.

Research groups and projects | Researchers of the Department for the Study of the Domestic Implementation of International Law and European Law strive to perform their tasks within the framework of research groups, established either within the department or with the co-operation of other departments or institutions, and actively seek domestic and international research grants. Detailed information on the professional activities of research groups and selected research projects is available on the respective pages of such groups and projects.

Involvement in academic life and expert advice | Researchers of the Department for the Study of the Domestic Implementation of International Law and European Law are respected participants of academic life, both at home and abroad. They are members or officials of several domestic and international professional organizations, make use of their expertise in the editorial staffs or editorial boards of a variety of scientific journals, and regularly provide expert advice upon domestic and international, governmental and non-governmental requests. The recognition of their activities is well attested by the large number of academic awards and honours they have received.

Research groups |  Members of the Department take part in the following research groups:

Larger projects, grants | Through its researchers, the Department is involved in the following research projects within the Institute:

Through its researchers, the Department is involved in the following research projects within the Centre:

Members of the Department also take part in the following external research activities:

 

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Head of Department

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