Changes in the Legal System: A Comparative Essay Based on the Hungarian Experience

This article is an attempt to understand the development of law, more particularly the civil law, in a country under constant changes, addressing history, sociology, economics, political science, lan-guages, literature, arts, and, most importantly, civil law itself. The country’s history starts from the foundation of the Hungar-ian state in the 11th century, in the middle of Europe, trying to be independent between strong Western kingdoms and the Byzantine Empire, and creating legal rules based on Christian values. This aim was pursued under the domination of different empires: Tatar, Turk, Austrian, Russian, and German. Political history helps understand the slow economic and social development, the special importance of public (constitutional) law, the importance of cultural development. Over the centuries, the de-velopment of civil law was connected with legal development in other countries of Europe, yet without a formal “reception” of Ro-man law. Attempts were made to codify civil law on basis of the classical civil codes but for different (mainly political) reasons with-out success. Consequently, although special important laws were enacted, Hungary had no written Constitution until 1949 and no Civil Code until 1959. Hungarian civil law was to a great extent judge-made law, with published decisions of the Supreme Court (the Curia) since the early 19th century, having binding force under con-ditions specified by Acts of Parliament. After World War II a politically controlled and centrally di-rected planned economic system prevailed. Nevertheless, the Civil Code of 1959 reflected the previous Hungarian civil law. As a result of a slow political détente, the importance of comparative law kept growing and civil law could develop, to contribute to the profound changes in the political framework leading to a new political system in 1990. Since that time, the Hungarian civil law developed within the framework of European harmonization and Hungary became a member of the European Union in 2004. The Civil Code of 2013 was drafted in this context

Development of a creep-free stress-strain law for fire analysis of steel structures

© 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.This paper presents a practical procedure for obtaining creep-free stress-strain laws for steel exposed to fire, on the basis of codified stress-strain laws that consider creep implicitly. The applicability of the proposed procedure has been tested on two commonly used stress-strain laws for steel at elevated temperature, the Eurocode 3 law and a Ramberg-Osgood model, both of which have implicit consideration of creep. The simulation of two published steel coupon experiments on steel of grades S275 and S355 shows that both the Eurocode and Ramberg-Osgood stress-strain laws produce inaccurate predictions of creep in fire at elevated temperatures. The proposed procedure was thereby used to extract the implicit creep according to the heating rates of the transient coupon tests and to derive the creep-free stress-strain laws. It has been shown that, by combining the creep-free stress strain law obtained by the proposed methodology with an explicit creep model, a more realistic prediction of steel behaviour in the selected coupon test studies can be achieved

Building Design and the Fire Hazard

Building codes cover only the minimum requirements for fire safety and leave ample room for the expertise and conscience of the building designer. Providing life safety starts with securing conditions under which sufficient time is left for the occupants to escape from an incipient fire. It also involves measures that reduce the probability of exposure of the occupants to smoke and ensure their evacuation from the fire-stricken area. The safety of both life and property is served by ensuring the structural integrity of all key elements of the building even in spreading fires, but at the same time employing all available techniques to confine the fire to its place of origin

Nők az abortusz előtt : Tények és adatok a terhességmegszakítást kérõ nõk szociális körülményeirõl, védekezési szokásairól = WOMEN BEFORE ABORTION Facts and Data about the Social Circumstances and Contraception Methods of Women Requesting Abortion

Az abortusz kérdése gyakran kerül előtérbe mind tudományos, mind társadalmi körökben. Mégis kevés az olyan statisztikai felmérés, amely kimondottan a terhességmegszakítást kérő nőkkel foglalkozik. Kutatócsoportunk egy részletes - szociális adatokra, szexuális magatartásra, védekezési szokásokra, az abortusz indokára és a szociális kapcsolatokra kiterjedő - kérdőívet szerkesztett. Budapest négy kerületéből 117 abortuszt kérő nő válaszait dolgoztuk fel. A feleletek megoszlását először a teljes felmért populációban, majd korosztályok és kerületek szerinti bontásban ismertetjük. Eredményeink között szignifikáns eltéréseket találtunk a védekezési szokások, az abortusz oka, az anyagi helyzet és az eddigi abortuszok száma tekintetében. Külön vizsgáltuk a fiatalabb korosztályok szokásait, amelyek több szempontból is eltérnek a többi korosztálytól. A védekezési szokások szintén különböznek az iskolai végzettség függvényében. Az abortusz okának legtöbben az „anyagi helyzetet” jelölték meg, amit más kérdések tükrében részletesebben megvizsgáltunk. Adatainkat országos felmérésekkel is összehasonlítottuk

A Bálint-mozgalom nemzetközi helyzete = International perspectives of the Balint method

E tanulmány a külföldi szakirodalom alapján áttekintést ad a Bálint-módszer jelenéről. Bemutatja a módszer elterjedtségét Európában és az Egyesült Államokban, majd a hatékonyságát vizsgálja, különös tekintettel a háziorvosi rezidensképzésre. A kutatók szerint a Bálint-módszer egyértelműen emeli a háziorvoslás pszichoszociális hatékonyságát. Főleg az intuíciót, az éntudatot és az attitűdöket fejleszti. Az irodalom fontos megállapítása, hogy a Bálint-módszer nem minden orvos számára megfelelő. A kutatók a pszichoanalízis hatékonyságát egyértelműen igazolják, ugyanakkor az amerikai családorvosi rezidensképzésben a módszer nyit a magatartástudományok irányában. A Bálint-módszer az egészségügyi hivatásokon túl is alkalmazható. | The present study reviews the current situation on the Balint method. The spread of the Balint group in Europe and the USA is presented, and their effectiveness is examined especially among GP residents. The Balint method develops mainly intuition, ego developments and attitudes. The literature points out that the Balint method is not compliant with all physicians. The studies prove the efficacy of psychoanalysis in family practice, but the training for GP residents in the US including the Balint method is open towards behavioral sciences. Apart form health professionals, the Balint group method can be adopted for other professionals

Simulation Aided HVAC System Performance Assessment During Design Phase of an Office Building Complex

 The investigation presents a strategic approach during the design process using advanced energy performance simulation technology. Team coordination and building performance efficiency during the design process is aided by conducting a performance based assessment with comprehensive fully incorporated design, construction, energy, HVAC and annual building operation. The simulation methodology aids the performance based decision making which demonstrated through an office building complex. The engineering decisions were based on performance enhancement and overall energy demand reduction, which was evaluated on an annual basis. The building envelope‘s dominant curtain wall system was analyzed in detail in order to demonstrate qualitative energy performance improvement. VAV and DOAS HVAC systems‘ annual energy performance was estimated and evaluated from the aspect of end-use energy

Hungarian Civil Law since 1990

The paper outlines some trends in the development of Hungarian civil law since the political changes. The role of certain social factors having an effect on civil law and trends in court practice are focused upon. In the law of torts the decline of the respect of the State seems to have an importance in recent chases. In the field of contract law problems connected with different kinds of risks are reflected. Both property law and contact law have been concerned in cases where principles of the protection of the owner and those of the protection of bona fide purchaser has been in contradiction. As a result of the growing importance of credit the role of secured transactions has increased