Review of Central and East European Law

Abstract The conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh, a long-standing territorial dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan, has produced severe humanitarian and legal challenges. The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has played a crucial role in addressing some of these challenges. The paper examines the Court’s evolving jurisprudence on the conflict, focusing on landmark judgments, such as Chiragov v. A…

Abstract The debate about Serbia’s defeat regarding Kosovo in 1999 is still ongoing. Questions such as whether the Kumanovo Agreement and UN Security Council Resolution 1244 formalized that defeat or not, what are the consequences of that defeat, and how it affected Kosovo’s final status, are part of everyday conversations in Serbia and beyond. These questions have a significant impact on contemp…

Abstract As of March 2025, Hungary has been under a state of danger – an emergency regime provided for in the Hungarian Fundamental Law – for five years, following its initial declaration in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and its subsequent re-declaration in May 2022 in reaction to the Russia–Ukraine war. With only a brief interruption between June and November 2020, this means that Hungary ha…

Abstract The aim of the article is to present the common features of present disputes concerning the once socially owned immovable property in Slovenia and other Ex-Yugoslav countries, and to analyze their causes originating in the old Yugoslav socialist law. First, the main characteristics of the former legal regime of social property in immovables (land and buildings) are presented, followed by…

Abstract Whilst judicial reform in a warzone must be nigh impossible, incredibly, Ukraine is working on it anyway with a hope and a view to a brighter future with membership of the European Union. Judging from judicial independence in law ( de jure ), Ukraine appears to be on-track for membership following its work with the Council of Europe’s Venice Commission. However, an analysis of the realit…

Abstract The phenomenon of systemic discrimination is complex, involving legal, sociological, psychological, historical or political dimensions. In the field of normative sciences, the concept of systemic discrimination is not yet defined in the European or international legislation. The current article discusses the concept of systemic discrimination, particularly focusing on the case of Romania…

Abstract This article examines the methodology employed by the Czech Constitutional Court in adjudicating social rights, with particular focus on the so-called rationality test. While the Court’s approach aims to balance judicial restraint with the constitutional protection of social rights, its implementation raises important theoretical and practical concerns. The article relies both on holisti…

Abstract The Hungarian government has maintained a “state of danger,” one of the constitutional states of emergency, since March 2020, when this emergency was first declared to address the Coronavirus pandemic. Although the pandemic-related “state of danger” was lifted on November 1, 2022, a new “state of danger” was declared in response to the war in Ukraine. This new emergency regime was based …

Abstract The concept of the material constitution serves as an interpretative tool to understand the foundations and characteristics of the constitutional order. This article uses comparative legal theory and a positivist method to analyze the material constitution and its application in Kosovo. Drawing on constitutionalists like Hermann Heller and Costantino Mortati, it argues that Kosovo experi…

Abstract Since 2019 in courts in Odesa and Kyiv oblasts, judges developed guidelines on how to manage cases while using their legal competences as given in the various Ukrainian codes of procedure. Procedural guidelines are arrangements of judges in which they announce how they will decide for example on self-recusals and challenges of judges and various requests for delays, and on the way the co…

Abstract The article analyzes the approach of UN bodies and the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) to “conversion therapy” – practices that aim to change sexual identity. While only the UN has previously analyzed “conversion therapy”, this article shows that the ECtHR shares a similar approach. While UN bodies do not support “conversion therapy”, they have different approaches. Although the E…

Abstract The article analyses the procedural obligation to protect the right to life in Georgia in the light to the standards established under Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights. It focuses both on the national law and practice in Georgia. For this purpose the article focuses on the elements of the procedural obligations as established under the practice of the ECtHR. Based on …

Abstract The illegal incursion of Russian forces into Ukraine in 2022 marked a pivotal moment in international security politics, prompting then German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to characterize it as a watershed moment, the so-called Zeitenwende . This paper delves into the political-legal discourse surrounding this invasion, juxtaposing it with debates preceding nato ’s intervention in Kosovo, whic…

Abstract This paper explores the transitory imaginaries in the semi-permanent constitutional polytransition in the Central and Eastern European region. It is centered on the novel concept of transitory imaginaries. This concept serves as a tool for combined socio-legal, comparative, and semiotic approach to constitutional transitions. The paper demonstrates the deep conceptual and pragmatic links…

Abstract This article argues that more than thirty years after democratic and economic transition, the legacy of authoritarian legal culture in post-socialist EU Member States limits the effectiveness of competition law enforcement. Concentrating on Croatia but mindful of the experience of other Central and East European countries that acceded to the EU in 2004 and 2007, we show examples of post-…

Abstract The emerging literature on illiberalisms offers a framework for detecting whether or not a special Hungarian illiberalism has been unfolding. Over the last 12 years, Hungary’s former liberal constitutionalist nature has been changed to illiberal constitutionalism. This transformation of the constitutional system recently culminated with the fourth consecutive electoral victory of Viktor …

Abstract This article addresses the issue of rights consciousness in the context of the Hungarian legal culture. The paper first elaborates the theoretical and conceptual framework, then it describes the research design used for the empirical investigation. The empirical section of the article presents the findings about the Hungarian empirical analysis on rights consciousness with some comparati…

Abstract Hungary Post-2010 has been ruled by Viktor Orbán and his right-wing Fidesz party and is generally regarded as a typical case of populist governance. Reforming the Penal Code was one of the first major policy changes initiated by Fidesz shortly after winning the 2010 elections. It introduced the ‘three-strikes’ principle into Hungarian penal policy which is considered a prime example of p…