Church-State Relations and Civil Society in Hungary: A Historical Perspective

Abstract

In the history of modern Hungary the past and the present are brought together by the endeavour to create a west European type of civil society. The reform of church-state relations in the nineteenth century was just as important a part of the endeavour to create a civil society as it is now after the collapse of Communism. In order to explain church-state relations, first a general feature of the legal system, the autocratic principle of the law is examined. The class of received religions was generated by nineteenth-century customary law; statute law took cognisance of it, and used it for its own purposes. The Communists rejected the principles of civil society, and their rejection was complete. They abolished private property as well as civil rights and did not tolerate the existence of autonomous social institutions. Political power was to be undivided. Keywords:autocratic principle; church-state relations; civil society; communism; Hungary; statute law