Importing the Law in Post-Communist Transitions

This book,one of the very first monographs on the Hungarian Constitutional Court available in English, is a unique study of the birth of a new legal system after the collapse of communism in Central and Eastern Europe. It shows that the genesis of the new legal order was determined by massive Western involvement and an unprecedented movement of export/import of law. Anchored in a detailed comparative study of German and Hungarian constitutional case law on human dignity, this book argues that law importation was a deliberate strategy carried out by the Hungarian Court in the early years of its operation. It explains how the circumstances of the transition and the background of the importers determined the choice of German case law as a model and how the Court used it to construct its own version of the right to human dignity. It highlights the Hungarian Court's instrumentalisation of imported law in order to lay the foundations of a new conception of fundamental rights. While focusing on the Hungarian experience, this book engages with international debates and provides an original theoretical framework for approaching the movement of law from the importers' perspective.

Acknowledgements; List of Tables; Table of Cases; Introduction;
Part I. IMPORTING WESTERN LAW
1. New Constitutions After Communism
2. The Importation of Law
Part II. THE STRATEGY OF IMPORTATION: THE RIGHT TO HUMAN DIGNITY IN HUNGARIAN CASE LAW,1990-98
3. Importing Human Dignity from German Law
4. Choosing the Right Model
5. Instrumentalising the Model
6. Overcoming the Communist Legacy
Part III. THE GENESIS OF A NEW LEGAL SYSTEM
7. Imported Law: Between Natural Law and Globalisation
8. Conclusion
Select Bibliography; Index

“...an excellent monograph.. Catherine Dupr makes a remarkable contribution in this field.” –  Imre Lvai, Central European Political Science Review

“Dupre's discussion of the constitutional standing and interpretation of the idea of human dignity is lucid and informative. Its reading will benefit anyone, whether professional or academic, with an interest in comparative, constitutional human rights law.” –  Spencer Zifcak, The Law and Politics Book Review