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60 Hung. J. Legal Stud. 1 (2019)

handle is hein.journals/ajur60 and id is 1 raw text is: 2498-5473 USD 20.00                   HUNGARIAN JOURNAL OF LEGAL STUDIEs 60, No 1, pp. 1-2 (2019)
© 2019Akademiai Kiad6, Budapest                              DOI: 10.1556/2052.2019.60101
Editorial: Institutional Problems and Responses
MIKLOS KONCZOL - VIKTOR OLIVER LORINCZ - GABOR KECSKES*
Although not edited as a thematic collection, the first issue of our 2019 volume is
remarkably coherent in terms of the problems tackled by our authors, all of them being
related to specific institutions. In an age where a series of crises, socio-cultural as well as
economic, test the flexibility and durability of democratic institutions, these surveys into the
challenges and promises of institutional solutions could not be more a propos.
In the first article, Bachynskyy and Radeiko review blockchain and cryptocurrency
regulations in Ukraine. Their perspective is twofold: on the one hand, they give an overview
of problems arising in Ukrainian legal practice in connection with the use of blockchain
technology; on the other hand, they argue for a more open-minded approach when
legislating on new information technologies. Here, their contention is that since the state
cannot (and should not) impede technical development, it should adopt a less restrictive
stance to be able to profit from its outcomes.
Izarova, Szolc-Nartowski and Kovtun likewise focus on Ukrainian law, but what they
examine is a specifically legal institution with roots as far as ancient Rome: the amicus
curiae. In addition to the historical survey, they also include an Easter European comparison,
to provide ample backing for their claim that - in contrast to what we have seen in terms of
blockchain regulation - Ukrainian procedural law is on the progressive side, and may serve
as a model for other legislations in the region. In that sense, the article adds to the
considerations formulated by Alan Uzelac in one of the previous issues of this Journal.1
Kleczkowska's article adopts a somewhat different approach, starting from the
international perspective, and using a domestic (in that case, Polish) example to show that
countries not yet afflicted by serious terrorist acts may also have to deal with cases involving
terrorist crimes. Their task, she argues, would be facilitated by a comprehensive legal
instrument and an international organ with jurisdiction over the crime of terrorism.
In a similar vein, Pap and Sledzifiska-Simon look for possible supra-national
institutional responses for the challenge posed by the illiberal turn in EU member states
such as Hungary and Poland.2 Yet here, it is not the absence of such institutions but their
weakness that is considered problematic by the authors, who point out that the breach of
community norms may go beyond a purely legal problem, and raises a threat to mutual trust
between the member states.3 Analysing multi-level constitutionalism, they conclude that
legal institutional solutions may be insufficient in themselves, but also that they can foster
political reaction (eg. by mandatory voting).
* Managing editors of Hungarian Journal of Legal Studies - Acta Juridica Hungarica, Research
Fellow, Junior Research Fellow and Research Fellow of the Centre for Social Sciences, Institute for
Legal Studies, Hungarian Academy of Sciences Centre of Excellence.
1 Cf. Uzelac (2017).
2 On the illiberal turn in Hungary, see Pap (2018).
3 Notwithstanding the fact that 'liberal norms' may be questionable sometimes, e.g. in terms of
minority representation and participation: see Agarin (2017).

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