Beiträge zur Rechtsgeschichte Österreichs 2 / 2013, pp. 439-446, 2014/01/30
recht [durch] setzen - Making Things Legal.
Gesetzgebung und prozessuale Wirklichkeit in den europäischen Rechtstraditionen
In 1848, during the initial phase of the Hungarian Revolution, the Parliament approved a reform package called “April Laws” thereby transforming the feudal-representative monarchy into a constitutional one. The aim of this legislation was to reform the entire legal system, and to make all necessary changes for the new economic and political system. Following the suppression of the Revolution in 1849, the Habsburgs established an absolutistic regime that lasted until 1860. The Hungarian historical constitution was suspended, and the entire country was divided into 5 provinces treated as territories of the Austrian Empire, and because of that, step-by-step the entire Austrian legal system was introduced in Hungary. As the international political crisis deepened in the late 1850s, Emperor Franz Joseph decided to restore Hungary’s constitutionality. The question was inevitable: which legal norms were in force? Were these the ones in use before the Revolution, the Acts made by the legislation in 1848, or the Austrian legal system as a whole?
