CEU Legal Studies department is committed to research based teaching. Our permanent and visiting faculty integrates the puzzles and findings of individual research outputs in their daily teaching, doctoral seminars, in master and doctoral thesis supervision. Distinguished visitors contribute to the intellectual environment of the department in frequent public lectures.

Core research areas:
Comparative Constitutional Law (CCL): civil and political rights in established and emerging democracies; biomedical law and reproductive rights; enforcement of socio-economic rights, governance in transition to democracy; comparative constitutional adjudication; freedom of religion and free speech in a global world; broadcasting law; European Union law with emphasis on institutional law and litigation; comparative constitutional adjudication; corruption; constitutional transplants; administrative law
Human Rights Law (HR): international protection of human rights; politics and theories of European integration; minority rights; freedom of expression; human rights and criminal justice; freedom of religion; Roma rights; welfare rights in welfare states; constitutional protection of basic rights; human rights in Africa
International Business Law (IBL): international commercial arbitration; law and ethnicity; language and translation in international dispute settlement; investment law; enforcement of contracts; comparative secured transactions; capital markets and securities regulation in emerging markets.

Recent faculty publications:

International Commercial Arbitration A Transnational Perspective, Fourth Edition Tibor Várady, John J. Barceló III, Arthur T. von Mehren

Ten years after the first edition the subject calls for and rewards the unique transnational approach of this book. The fact that this work has found acceptance and use on several continents confirms the authors' view that international commercial arbitration has become a transnational reality.


The case law of Central & Eastern Europe (2009) Enforcement of Contracts (two volumes) edited by Stefan Messmann & Tibor Tajti

Having realized the importance of courts in shaping the contours of law outside the common legal systems, this work endeavours to fill the gap of empirically-based analyses of developments in the economies of Central and Eastern European countries.


The case law of Central & Eastern Europe (2007)edited by Stefan Messmann & Tibor Tajti

Leasing, piercing the corporate veil and the liability of managers & controlling shareholders, privatization, takeovers and the problems with collateral law



Language and Translation in International Commercial Arbitration Tibor Várady

'Professor Tibor Várady focuses on the variety of language issues that can arise at different stages of international commercial arbitration proceedings.' From the Foreword by Judge Thomas Buergenthal, International Court of Justice


Fairness in Criminal Proceedings Károly Bárd

In this book Professor Bárd seeks to analyze what model of the administration of justice emerges from the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights. Instead of drawing up a commentary on the jurisprudence of the ECtHR it discusses among others such fundamental questions as the scope of judicial impartiality, the relationship between freedom of expression and the interest in protecting the authority of the courts or the limits of the right to silence.

Constitutions, Courts and History Renáta Uitz

The author argues that judicial agendas of preserving constitutional continuity and of fostering reconciliation are the key to understanding the operation of historical narratives in constitutional cases.

 

Quality of Judicial Organisation and Checks and Balances Gar Yein Ng

This PhD project explores the possibility of creating a normative way of assessing quality of the judicial organisation by arguing that legitimacy is related to the functioning of the organisation.


Censorial Sensitivities: Free Speech and Religion in a Fundamentalist World edited by András Sajó

The thought-provoking essays in this book are a welcome contribution to the current debate on how to deal with the clash between free speech and religion in a world where a growing number of people are committed in a fundamental way to religion in everyday life.

Europeans and Their Rights - Freedom of Religion Renáta Uitz

Using concrete examples, the author compares and analyses the protection of the right to freedom of religion in the case-law of European constitutional courts and of the European Court of Human Rights of the Council of Europe.



Comparative Constitutionalism: Cases and Materials Norman Dorsen, Michel Rosenfeld, András Sajó, Susanne Baer
This casebook examines how the vast increase in international movements of people, capital, goods, ideas and information affect commercial relationships and the development of human rights. It contains examples from countries in all continents, examining the assumptions, choices, trade-offs and values that have formed the foundations of individual legal systems.


Comparative Secured Transactions Law Tibor Tajti

Canvassing the central features of contemporary leading legal systems, the focus is on a comparative analysis of the building blocks of these. The book also gives a detailed account of the related Hungarian reform efforts of the 1990s.


For further information on ongoing research projects and publications please check the profiles of our permanent and visiting faculty members as well as of our current
doctoral students. The list of dissertations defended at Legal Studies Department is available here.