The Budapest Metropolitan Court at the present time
From administrative point of view Hungary is divided into nineteen counties and the capital. Each county has local courts and a county (metropolitan) court. In Budapest the local courts are the district courts (the twenty-three district being represented by six combined district courts) and the equivalent of the county courts is the Budapest Metropolitan Court. The highest judicial forum of the country is the Supreme Court.
The Palace of Justice houses today the Budapest Metropolitan Court, the Budapest Penal Institute, the Budapest Public Prosecutor’s Office and the district attorneys’ offices of Districts 5, 8 and 13.
The Budapest Metropolitan Court
is led by its president, assisted by two vice-presidents. Both of them
are appointed by the National Council of Justice for six years. The president
of the Budapest Metropolitan Court is primarily an administrative leader
of the Budapest Metropolitan Court, the Budapest district courts and the
Budapest Labour Court. He gives account of his activities at the yearly
full session of the Budapest judges. The professional leaders of the Budapest
Metropolitan Court are the division leaders appointed for six years by
the National Council of Justice. Their deputies, the presidents of the
district courts and their deputies, the section leaders of the Budapest
Metropolitan Court and their deputies, as well as the panel leaders of
the Budapest Metropolitan Court are appointed by the president of the
Budapest Metropolitan Court. All appointments are for six years with the
exception of that of the panel leaders which is for an indefinite period.
In the Palace of Justice there is a Criminal Department, a Civil Department
and an Administrative Department. The Economic Department also belongs
to the Budapest Metropolitan Court from organization point of view but
is housed in various other buildings partly in Buda, partly in Pest (the
Budapest Metropolitan Court as Companies Registry). Also the Military
Panel, an integral part of the Criminal Department of the Budapest Metropolitan
Court, works in Buda. The divisions are bodies of professional judges
the operation of which is organized and controlled by the division leaders.
The Budapest Metropolitan Court handles cases as a court both of first
and second instance.
The local courts of first instance with general jurisdiction are the district
courts of the capital (the Budapest Labour Court included which also qualifies
as a local court). Appeals against the decisions of these local courts
are dealt with by the Budapest Metropolitan Court as a court of second
instance. There are, however, cases of outstanding importance that are
adjudicated at the Budapest Metropolitan Court as one of first instance.
These are crimes involving a possible life sentence, crimes against the
state and humanity and murders, as well as crimes belonging to the sphere
of military jurisdiction. In civil law cases the Budapest Metropolitan
Court operates as a court of first instance when the amount in dispute
is higher than HUF 5 million (20.000 €), the limit determined by law.
The administrative judges of the Budapest Metropolitan Court operate as
judges of first instance either as single judges or in panels depending
on the sum of money involved, usually without a possibility of appeal.
The most frequently occurring types of administrative cases are connected
with taxation, customs duties, dues and revenues, construction, public
procurement and cases brought against decisions of the Bureau of Sound
Business Practice. The Budapest Metropolitan Court deals with the review
of decisions concerning asylum out of court. The decisions of the Budapest
Metropolitan Court in which it acts as a court of first instance can be
appealed against at the High Court of Appeal Budapest.
The Budapest Metropolitan Court’s Secretariat for Media and International
Relations was set up in 1998 to develop the international relations of
the Court, to create possibilities for the judges of the Hungarian capital
to get acquainted with the system and everyday practice of jurisdiction
in other countries, and to maintain contacts with the press in order to
provide the public with authoritative information about the decisions
and the operation of the Court.
Criminal Department
Civil Department
Administrative Department
Economic department
