The Beginnings

The Department of Private International Law became an individual department in 1996. Prior to this, the private international law education belonged to the Department of Civil and Civil Procedure Law for about 30 years. In this period the courses were held by Professor Dr. Gábor Bánrévy and Professor Dr. Imre Bérczi.

In 1996 the Department was founded by 3 colleagues: Dr. János Martonyi, than even as associate professor, later senior professor, head of the Department since its establishment until 2010, Dr. Mátyás Császár senior lecturer and Mrs. Sándor Kávássy administrator. Dr. Egon Dienes-Oehm as invited lecturer helped in education and examinations for several years. The work at the Department had started in modest infrastructural circumstances at the Rákóczi Square building in room No. 316. and in the common room of lecturer library that was shared with other departments. As time passed, the educational tasks, the number of rooms, the technical terms expanded continuously and the members of Department as well. Additional excellent researchers and outstanding experts joined to the Department, such as Dr. István Csongor Nagy Ph.D., LL.M., S.J.D., than even senior lecturer, now already associate professor and head of the Department, Ödön Harka research fellow, attorney at law, former senior lecturer, as appointed lecturer Dr. Zoltán Víg LL.M., S.J.D., associate professor, vice dean of  Singidunum University Faculty of European Legal and Political Studies and furthermore Benedek Tóth assistant research fellow, former Ph.D. candidate of the Department. Important member and colleague of the Department Kitti Kelemen department secretary.

The Lecturers, Researchers and Colleagues of the Department

Dr. István Csongor Nagy associate professor, head of the Department, LL.M., Ph.D., S.J.D. has outstanding educational, scientific research and publication activities. He graduated at the Faculty of Law, Eötvös Lóránt University in Budapest, where he successfully defended his PhD thesis as well. He earned master (LL.M) and S.J.D (American doctor of law) degree in the Central European University (CEU) in Budapest. In 2004 he graduated in the “Course on World Law” joint programme of the World Law Institute and the CEU, and in 2005 in the “Advanced European Union Legal Practice” programme of the CEU. He studied and researched in Rotterdam, Heidelberg, New York, Vienna, Munich and The Hague. He is associate professor and head of our Department at the University of Szeged since 2011. He is lecturer at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics and Mathias Corvinus Collegium, workgroup teacher in College of Istvan Bibo, researcher at the Competition Law Research Centre. He is member of the Budapest Bar Association. From 2008 until 2010 he was Eurojus legal adviser in the European Commission Representation in Hungary. Previously he was lecturer at Faculty of Law, Eötvös Lóránt University (Budapest), at Business School of Central European University (Budapest), the Corvinus University of Budapest and at the International Business School (Budapest). Fluent in German and English, speaks conversational Romanian. His main research areas are private international law, international civil procedural law, international business law, competition law and competition in network industries.

Prof. Dr. János Martonyi academic professor, habil., Ph.D., academic candidate in legal and political sciences was the head of the Department over 15 years, since it was established until 2010. He earned his law degree in Szeged at the Faculty of Law of József Attila University, where he graduated summa cum laude in 1967. In 1969 he made the bar exams and in 1971 the foreign trade legal expert exam. He worked from 1968 as legal advisor, then from 1979 as commercial secretary at Commercial Agency of Hungary in Brussels. From 1984 he was lawyer at the Ministry of Foreign Trade and the Ministry of Commerce, later vice minister and governmental commissioner. From 1990 until 1994 he was secretary of state, from 1998 until 2002 the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Hungary. He was attorney at law from 1994 until 2008, since 2010 he is the Minister of Foreign Affairs again. In 1979 he got candidate grade in sciences of law and state, senior professor since 2000. From 1988 until 2000 he taught at the Faculty of Law of Eötvös Lóránt University in Budapest, he was invited professor at European University in Brugge and Natolin (Warsaw) from 1994 until 1998 and at the Central European University (CEU) in Budapest from 1996 until 1997. From 1996 he was establishing associate professor at the Department of Private International Law at Faculty of Law, University of Szeged, since 2000 he is academic professor, from 1996 until 2010 he was the head of the Department. He is fluent in English, in German and in French. In his scientific research he focuses on international economic law, European law and the law of globalisation.

Dr. Mátyás Császár Ph.D. is establishing member of our Department. He studied law at the Faculty of Law of József Attila University in Szeged and graduated summa cum laude in 1995. He took the bar exams in 1998, he is attorney at law since june of 1998. He made scientific researches with researcher scholarships at the Faculty of Law, University of Florence in summer of 1997 and in Faculty of Law, University of Warwick in December of 1998 and October of 1999 . He is fluent in Italian and in English. In his researches he focuses on the sources of European law, private international law and the private international law of the EU.

Ödön Harka earned his summa cum laude law degree at the József Attila University Faculty of Law in 1997. From 1998 until 2000 he participated in the joint German Business Law Magistrate Programme of University of Szeged and Universität Potsdam. He took his bar exams in 2000. Lecturer of the Department since 2001. Since 2002 he is attorney at law. He is fluent in English and in German. In his researches he focuses on the law of mergers and acquisitions, issues of international credit insurance and international contract law.

Benedek Tóth earned his law degree in 2006 at the University of Szeged Faculty of Law and Political Sciences. He started his law career in a law office as attorney. Later he worked as a lawyer at the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour, and then in law office again. He began his doctoral studies in 2009 at the Department and the Graduate School of the Faculty of Law within the field of global trade regulations. He is lecturer at the Department since 2012. He is fluent in English and speaks conversational in German. In his researches he focuses on the fields of private and public regulations of global trade, and within this framework, particularly on the global legal system of World Trade Organization.

It is a unique speciality of our Department that its members are honored personalities of public affairs and successful attorneys besides their academic activities. Our work is characterized by this conversely and productive mix of theory and practice.

Kitti Kelemen is indispensable member of the Department departmental administrator who expertly managing the administrative affairs of the Department.

Scientitfic activity, publications

Dr. István Csongor Nagy associate professor, head of the Department, LL.M., Ph.D., S.J.D. outstands with his very rich and productive history in research and teaching. He published more than 120 works in Hungarian, English and German in significant legal periodicals: European Competition Law Review, European Law Review, Journal of Private International Law, London Law Review, Wirtschaft und Wettbewerb, Acta Juridica Hungarica and other high-rated international and Hungarian law journals. Editor of the „Verseny és Szabályozás” („Competition and Regulation”) yearbook (Hungarian Scientific Academy, Institute of Economics). Within his publications should be marked: “Az Európai Unió Nemzetközi Magánjoga” ("Private International Law of the European Union” - monography, HVG-Orac, Budapest, 2006.) and the “Kartelljogi Kézikönyv” (“Antitrust Law Handbook" - monography, HVG-Orac, Budapest, 2008). He is one of the Hungarian edition’s translators of Richard Whish: Competition Law (HVG-Orac, Budapest, 2010). His ”Nemzetközi Magánjog” ("International Private Law" HVG-ORAC, Budapest) textbook was published in 2011.

Prof. Dr. János Martonyi academic professor, habil., Ph.D., academic candidate in legal and political sciences is the author of more than 60 scientific publications in 5 languages. During his rich and fruitful academic work he wrote 50 articles and studies in Hungarian, 12 in English, 2-2 in German and French and 1 in Spanish. In the 1970s he published particularly in the field of transportation law, than in the 1980s his focus turned to the EC law, European integration, and the company and competition law. In the 1990s, especially in the second half, he published in the fields of Hungarian private law, EU law and global law relations. Some of his works in English: World Trading System and Socialist Countries of Eastern Europe (Background study prepared for the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, June 1986), Helping and Hindering Hungarian Reforms: A Choice to Be Made (The Hungarian Economy, November 1987), Barter and Countertrade (Economic Background, Legal Structure and Problems to Overcome), Doing Business between the EEC and the Comecon (Seminar Services Int., Budapest, November 1987), Eastern European Countries and GATT (The Political and Legal Framework of Trade Relations between the European Community and Eastern Europe, 1989, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht), Privatisation in Hungary; International Privatisation, Global Trends, Policies, Processes, Experiences (Canada, May 1990), Some Issues of Capital Market Regulations in Hungary ("Round Table Discussion" EBRD, 1995), Competition in Hungary (European Counsel Direct 1996, with Zoltán Barakonyi).

Dr. Mátyás Császár Ph.D. focuses in his researches on the topics of the sources of the European law and private international law. His first publications came out between 1998 and 2001 in the thema of European law sources: The Direct Effect of Directives (Acta Juridica et Politica, Szeged, 1998.), The System of Sources in European Union's Law (Studies About the EU Institutions and the Legal Harmonisation, József Attila University, Faculty of Law, Department of International Law, Szeged, 1998.), Hierarchy in the Sources of European Union’s Law (Acta Juridica et Politica, Szeged, 2001). After a long period he published a study in 2008 in Hungarian: Conflict of Law in non-contractual obligations: Rome II. EC regulation vs. Hungarian Code (Európai jog (European Law), 2008), that followed by new articles: The conflict laws in non-contractual obligations: community law vs. Hungarian Code (In: Európai kollíziós kötelmi jog (European regulation on conflict of laws in obligations), edited by: Dr. Imre Vörös - Dr. Gábor Palásti, KRÍM Bt., Budapest 2009.), The regulation of cross-border dental services in the European Union (Jogtudományi Közlöny (Hungarian Journal of Legal Sciences) 2010/6., Budapest), Legal Acts of the European Union’s Institutions after the Treaty of Lisbon (Európai Jog (European Law), 2011/1., Budapest), The Institutional Legal Acts of European Police and Judicial Cooperation in Criminal Matters before and after the Treaty of Lisbon (De Iurisprudentia Et Iure Publico, 2011/3., www.dieip.com).

Ödön Harka’s most significant publication in English is: „Mergers and Acquisitions: Theoretical and Practical Aspects” (Acta Universitatis Segediensis, 2005.).

Benedek Tóth in his researches focuses on the fields of private and public regulations of global trade, and within this framework, particularly on the global legal system of World Trade Organization. In these fields he held lectures in many national and international scientific conferences. Among his publications, the study titled Core Labor Standards in Global Trade Law published in Hungarian in Európai Jog (European Law) 2011/4., The Fundamental Act of Hungary and the International Sources of Law is under edition (expected release: In: The New Hungarian Constitution and Reforms in Legal Life. University of Szeged Faculty of Law, Szeged, 2012.), a study with title of The Changing Relations of Law and Economy is under preparation.

Our goals and plans

The Department aims to develop a private international law and international economic law "research group", where theory and practice assisting each other in a symbiosistic interaction. We are proud, that the members of our Department are not only exellent researchers, but also recognised experts in the advanced law profession and public affairs. However, all members of the Department seek a broad publishing activity in national and international forums and also summarize these academic results for university education in order that our students step out and stand once as lawyers and other professionals with a well-founded knowledge in the globalizing and rapidly changing world. We hope, that we also take our part by the scientific cultivation of these rapidly developing fields of law in shaping the sphere of law, economics and - in a broader framework - in processes of the whole society.

Beyond to transfer stable, up-to-date and useful knowledge to the students within the compulsory university education we consider important to provide options and also to encourage the students interested in private international law and international trade and business law to expand their knowledge with further and deeper theoretical and practical details. To achieve this goal, we launched the Scientific Student Group on Private International and International Economic Law (PIIEL SSG) and the Department prepares student teams for several years - now already within the Scientific Student Group - on the international WTO Moot Court Competition (WTO MCC) organised by the European Law Studens’ Association (ELSA), in which regional rounds our teams represented the Hungarian colours on several occasions. We are proud, that the students and teams trained by our Department are successful participants also on the most prestigious and most traditional national student competition, on the National Scientific Student Conference. By our intentions students and teams prepared within the Department and the Scientific Student Group will be constant and successful participants on other most prestigious international and national educational competitions as well. In addition, the Department itself also organizes competitions within the compulsory university education.

The Department has wide-range tasks in the education of lawyers and other professionals, but in today's globalized world the pressure of constant renewal particularly actual, so the main task of university education is not only the empowerment of students to the latest and widest range of scientific and practical knowledge, but also to enrich the knowledge of practitioners. Our Department and the fields of private international law and international trade and business law join to the Law School’s well recognized and high quality postgraduate education over the Graduate School.

The history of Faculty of Law and Political Sciences

The history of University of Szeged