The Constitutional Court of Hungary () is a special court of Hungary, making judicial review of the acts of the Parliament of Hungary. The official seat of the Constitutional Court is Budapest. Until 2012 the seat was Esztergom.
The Constitutional Court is composed of 15 justices since September 1, 2011 (previously, the Court was composed of 11 justices). The members then elect the President of the Court (Chief Justice) from among its members in a secret ballot. One or two vice-presidents, appointed by the President of the Court, stand in for the President in the event of his absence for any reason. The constitutional court passes on the constitutionality of laws, and there is no right of appeal on these decisions. The Constitutional Court serves as the main body for the protection of the Constitution, its tasks being the review of the constitutionality of statutes, and the protection of constitutional order and fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution. The Constitutional Court performs its tasks independently. With its own budget and its justices being elected by Parliament it does not constitute a part of the ordinary judicial system.
Establishment
On 19 October 1989, the Hungarian Parliament passed a resolution on the establishment of the Constitutional Court. Its organization and authority, however, had been determined earlier in the framework of the trilateral political roundtable negotiations preparing the democratic transformation of the political system. The basic provisions on the Constitutional Court were laid down in October 1989 by Parliament by way of amending the Constitution (Article 32/A). The court was set up in order to promote the establishment of a state governed by the rule of law as well as the protection of constitutional order and fundamental rights. Act XXXII of 1989 on the Constitutional Court was passed by Parliament on 19 October 1989, and the Constitutional Court started its work on 1 January 1990.
Changes made by the 2011 Constitution
The following changes were drafted:
Chief Justices
László Sólyom (July 1, 1990 – November 24, 1998) János Németh (November 24, 1998 – July 31, 2003) András Holló (August 1, 2003 – November 12, 2005) Mihály Bihari (November 12, 2005 – July 2, 2008) Péter Paczolay (July 3, 2008 – February 24, 2015) Barnabás Lenkovics (February 25, 2015 – April 21, 2016) Tamás Sulyok (April 21, 2016 – )
Justices
The Hungarian Constitution declares that members of the Constitutional Court shall be elected by Parliament. It also determines the rules of such elections. Impartiality is guaranteed by having proposed members of the Constitutional Court to be put forward by a nominating committee consisting of one member each from the factions of parties represented in Parliament and shall be elected by a two-thirds majority of all Members of Parliament. Hungarian law provides that only jurists of outstanding theoretical knowledge or having at least twenty years of legal practice may be elected members of the Constitutional Court. Membership is for a term of nine years and members may be re-elected once. In December 2013,the upper age limit in place for Constitutional Court justices was abolished.
The current composition of the court includes the following justices:
Elemér Balogh (1958) István Balsai (1947) Egon Dienes-Oehm (1945) Imre Juhász (1963) László Kiss (1951) Barnabás Lenkovics (1950) Miklós Lévay (1954) Péter Paczolay (1956) Béla Pokol (1950) László Salamon (1947) István Stumpf (1957) Tamás Sulyok (1956) Péter Szalay (1960) Mária Szívós (1949) András Zs. Varga (1968)