The Doctrine of the Holy Crown in the Hungarian Historical Constitution
The Doctrine of the Holy Crown in the Hungarian Historical Constitution

Summary/Abstract: The study analyses the basic characteristics of the doctrine of the Holy Crown in Hungarian constitutional thinking from a historical perspective. The author gives an in-depth analysis on the functions and roles of the royal crown in Hungarian public law. He finds that it was not merely a coronation jewel, or a pure symbol of the royal prerogatives, but rather, it was respected as a centerpiece of the historical, ‘one-thousand-year-old’ constitution of the country. While this doctrine was a unique Hungarian constitutional theory, symbolizing the national independence, it was sufficiently flexible to serve different political ideas and ambitions. Professor Szente describes how all sovereign powers were originated from the Holy Crown. He discusses the old principle of radix omnium possessionum, using to sustain the legal claim for all historical lands and territories of the Hungarian Monarchy. The Crown always embodied the monarchical form of the Hungarian state, and its sacred nature symbolized the strong alliance of the throne and the altar, that is, the fusion of the monarchy and the Catholic Church. As a consequence of this analysis, in contrast to the revival of the constitutional significance of the Holy Crown in the contemporary Hungarian public law, Professor Szente argues that the basic elements of its doctrine are irreconcilably incompatible with the values and requirements of the modern European and Hungarian constitutionalism.

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