Judicial Activism of the Constitutional Court in Hungary: With Special focus upon the Role of the Court in the Establishment of the Principle of the Rule of Law

Hungary was not an exception to this inexperienced constitutionalism and in thiscircumstance, the newly established Constitutional Court was placed in an unenviableposition in the matter of establishing the value of Rechtsstaat in its own judicialsystem and legal culture. As will be seen in chapter 2.3, in dealing with the anti‐Communist legislation, the role of the Constitutional Court in Hungary wasexemplirary of how the Court interpreted the principle of equality by adhering to thespirit of the Constitution. With this in mind, the article is laid out as follow. Thefirst chapter examines the actual process of establishing the Constitutional Court. Thisallows us to present an essential historical background on the specific political contextin which the Constitutional Court in Hungary was originated. This follows a detailedanalysis on the jurisprudence of the Constitutional Court, and an in‐depth study onthe caseload in which the Constitutional Court brought its decision. Ultimately, thearticle probes the significance of the Court’s activism in the transition to democracyin Hungary.