The Collingridge dilemma or ‘dilemma of control’ presents a problem at the intersection of law, society and technology. New technologies can still be influenced, whether by regulation or policy, in ...their early stage of development, but their impact on society remains unpredictable. In contrast, once new technologies have become embedded in society, their implications and consequences are clear, but their development can no longer be affected. Resulting in the great challenge of the pacing problem – how technological development increasingly outpaces the creation of appropriate laws and regulations. My paper examines the problematic entanglement and relationship of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and a key aspect of the rule of law, legal certainty. AI is our modern age’s fastest developing and most important technological advancement, a key driver for global socio-economic development, encompassing a broad spectrum of technologies between simple automation and autonomous decision-making. It has the potential to improve healthcare, transportation, communication and to contribute to climate change mitigation. However, its development carries an equal amount of risk, including opaque decision-making, gender-based or other kinds of discrimination, intrusion into private lives and misuse for criminal purposes. The transformative nature of AI technology impacts and challenges law and policymaking. The paper considers the impact of AI through legal certainty on the rule of law, how it may undermine its various elements, among others foreseeability, comprehensibility and clarity of norms. It does so by elaborating on AI’s potential threat brought on by its opacity (‘black box effect’), complexity, unpredictability and partially autonomous behaviour, which all can impede the effective verification of compliance with and the enforcement of new as well as already existing legal rules in international, European and national systems. My paper offers insight into a human-centric and risk-based approach towards AI, based on consideration of legal and ethical questions surrounding the topic, to help ensure transparency and legal certainty in regulatory interventions for the benefit of optimising efficiency of new technologies as well as protecting the existing safeguards of legal certainty.
Populism and Liberal Constitutionalism Szentgáli-Tóth, Boldizsár; Simonelli, Marco Antonio
Public governance, administration and finances law review (Online),
02/2023, Volume:
7, Issue:
2
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
Our paper focuses on the impact of populism on the functioning of constitutional democracy in Europe. To analyse such a complex issue, a survey has been elaborated, which tries to outline how the ...current populist tendencies influence the institutional framework of constitutional democracy and to what extent such parties aim and are able to undermine the long-term prevalence of rule of law. To achieve this goal, the survey monitors, amongst others, the use of referenda in European countries; the presence of instruments of participatory and direct democracy; which are the political programme of populist parties, and in particular what are their ambitions concerning institutional reforms; whether the status, the independence, the competence and the composition of the constitutional court and the judiciary are contested. The survey also examines whether the protection standard of the most important fundamental rights are relativized, or are intended to be relativized by the populist parties of the different countries. We approached young constitutional scholars from certain member states, at the initial stage of their academic career, and asked them to fill the survey.
This article assesses the European Court of Human Rights’ possible responses to post-COVID-19 misinformation laws. These laws are intended to protect society but may become dangerous weapons if used ...by governments wishing to silence opponents. We identify four categories of speech restrictions that appeared during the COVID-19 pandemic. We then present the recent misinformation laws from Council of Europe member states as well as various potential arguments when cases appear before the Court, and assess their potential weight. We also analyze the expected post-pandemic development of the European Convention on Human Rights’ Article 10 jurisprudence.
The Polish Constitution does not expressly postulate the term of constitutional identity, however the Constitutional Tribunal of Poland has elaborated this concept in detail in its case law. This ...framework has been used to justify internal reforms; however, it has been mostly applied as a constitutional argument for the protection of national sovereignty within the European legal space.Similarly, the Hungarian Constitutional Court has stated: The constitutional identity of Hungary does not constitute the exhaustive and closed list of values, but some of its elements may be highlighted as examples, which are identical with the recently acknowledged constitutional values: the fundamental rights; the separation of powers; the republican form of state; the freedom of religion; the rule of law; parliamentarian; equality under the law; the respect of the judicial power; and the protection of the nationalities living together with us. My study aims to make a comparison between the relevant case-law of the two constitutional courts and provide some recommendations on how constitutional identity should be reconceptualized; separated more clearly from other forms of identity; and how it could fulfil its task more efficiently at the edge of the national and European legal orders with the help of European-wide standards.
The Hungary of the West Szentgáli-Tóth, Boldizsár
DÍKÉ,
03/2021, Volume:
2020, Issue:
2
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
During the 19th century, several Irish authors looked for those smples from Europe, which might be inwoked during the targeted reconsideration of the Irish-British relationship. The Irish aim was to ...establish a dualist monarchy with Great Britain, or at least to achieve a broader autonomy within the Empire. For this purpose, Hungary was also often seen as a proper example, how a smaller nation could strenghten its position within a larger country. The Irish constitutional literature, and also the newspapers discussed the compromise between Austria and Hungary in 1867, and called for a similar agreement between Ireland and England to provide broader self-determination for Ireland. The study would outline the main arguments of these contemporary contributions, and would assess, how the real Hungarian development, and a mainly idealized image from Hungary influenced the Irish public discourse during that period. Special highlight would be given to a book published by Arthur Griffith, an important politician of that period, “The Resurrection of Hungary” which provided a detailed narrative from the Hungarian development, and used this sample as an argument in the particular Irish political context. Griffith was also one of the key figures of the negotiations in 1921, which lead finally to the agreement between Ireland and England, therefore, this Hungarian orientation had also clear practical impact. My purpose is to demonstrate this influence on the basis of the original, contemporary Irish sources.
Bár a történeti alkotmány hatályos jogi szerepének vizsgálatakor jellemzően az Alkotmánybíróság gyakorlatának elemzése kerül előtérbe, ugyanilyen fontos figyelmet fordítani az Országgyűlés ...jogalkotási tevékenységére is. Az Alaptörvény R) cikke két ponton teremti meg ennek az alapjait: a (3) bekezdésben foglalt értelmezési szabály történeti alkotmány vívmányaira utaló fordulatában, valamint a (4) bekezdésben, az állam minden szervének kötelezettségévé téve Magyarország alkotmányos önazonosságának védelmét, amely, ahogy azt a 22/2016. (XII. 5.) Alkotmánybírósági határozat is rögzíti, történeti alkotmányunkban gyökerezik. Így tehát azt láthatjuk, hogy az Alaptörvény két rendelkezése is megalapozza az Országgyűlés történeti alkotmányfejlődés vizsgálatára vonatkozó kötelezettségét. Álláspontunk szerint ez a kötelezettség tágabb, mint egyes jogszabályok önmagában vett vizsgálata, magában hordozza a teljes történeti fejlődés átfogó áttekintését, figyelemmel nem pusztán a jogszabályok tartalmára, hanem születésük körülményeire, az egyes történelmi korszakokban hordozott speciális jelentéstartalmukra, valamint arra is, hogy menynyiben hozott változást a szabályozási rendszerben, vagy adott esetben mennyire erősítette meg azt. Ezt a komplex vizsgálatot egyrészt az Alaptörvényben megállapított elemzési kötelezettség, másrészt a történeti alkotmányra való utalás által kialakult dogmatikai viszszásságok feloldása, harmadrészt pedig a történeti dimenzió elemzésével összefüggő célok kiteljesedésének elősegítése indokolja, és összhangban van az Alkotmánybíróság elmúlt években kibontakozó gyakorlatával is. Tanulmányunkban először megvizsgáljuk a történeti alkotmány vívmányaival kapcsolatos diskurzus nemzetközi kontextusát és nemzeti jogi elméleti alapvetéseit, majd azt kutatjuk, hogy az Országgyűlés jogalkotási tevékenysége során hogyan jelent meg eddig a történeti alkotmány vívmányainak koncepciója, illetve az Országgyűlés mozgástere hogyan viszonyul az Alkotmánybíróság és a rendes bíróságok mozgásteréhez ezen a területen. Úgy véljük, a történeti dimenzió folyamatban való szemléletén felül pillanatnyilag a tartalmi kérdések helyett arra érdemes inkább fókuszálni, hogy melyek azok a jogi eszközök, amelyek alkalmasak lehetnek az Országgyűlés gyakorlatában arra, hogy megjelenítsék a törvényhozó testület megközelítését a történeti alkotmány vívmányaival kapcsolatban. Megvizsgáljuk egyrészt a jogalkotási folyamat egyes elemeit (a szakbizottsági tárgyalást, a jogszabályok hatásvizsgálatát, illetve felvillantjuk a második kamara esetleges ilyen irányú perspektíváit), továbbá kitérünk a jogszabályok egyes releváns tartalmi elemeire is (preambulumok, jogalkotói indokolások, illetve az Országgyűlési határozatok jelentősége).
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