Hungary

• The Fundamental Law of 2011, in force from 2012, the highest law
• The Civil Code (2013, in force from 2014), the Criminal Code and other codes and statutes
• European Union law, which takes priority in its area
• Decisions of the Kúria, which are meant to give lower courts a uniform line

• The Kúria, the supreme court
• The Constitutional Court, which reviews laws and hears individual constitutional complaints
• Regional courts of appeal, courts of the county level and district courts

A law degree, a traineeship, and the legal professional exam, followed by registration with a regional bar association.

• The Kúria can issue rulings meant to unify case law.
• Individuals can bring a constitutional complaint to the Constitutional Court.
• The constitutional and judicial reforms of the 2010s have been the subject of debate in Hungary and in the European Union, so check current developments.
• Hungarian private law follows the Central European civil-law tradition, close to the Austrian and German models.

Austria, Germany, Czechia, Poland, Romania

The University of Ottawa’s JuriGlobe database lists Hungary as: Civil law. It names the systems in order of importance.

The map colours a country by the first-named system, and shows both civil-law and common-law countries as “mixed”. It is a simplification, and real systems are rarely pure.

Albania, Algeria, Angola, Argentina, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Benin, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria.

• Constitutional Court of Hungary
• The Kúria of Hungary (English pages)

Sources last reviewed: October 2026.