Date: 4 November 2025
Prof. Dr. András Zs. Varga, President of the Curia of Hungary, gave an online lecture on 4 November 2025, as part of the Global South Network’s international series of judge guest lectures, entitled “Limited Precedent System and the Impact of Common Law on Adjudication: Evidence from the Curia of Hungary” for interested foreign and domestic lawyers, law school professors and researchers.
In his lecture, the President of the Curia has emphasised that the Hungarian limited precedent system embodies a unique compromise. On the one hand, it breaks with the continental tradition that the judicial practice of the supreme court, the Curia is merely of an orientating character. On the other hand, it preserves the principle that the law stands at the top of the hierarchy of legal sources and that judicial decisions do not become norms equal to legislation. In this way, while remaining tied to the continental tradition, it seeks to respond to the challenges of a globalised world in which following precedent has become an essential condition for legal certainty.
Budapest, 13 November 2025
Press and Protocol Unit of the Curia of Hungary