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"The law is more than a set of rules, a series of institutions or thick codes. The law is part of our culture, it reflects our past, writes our present and projects our future" – Lénárd Sándor, Head of Center for International Law at MCC underlined during the first domestic event of the Barna Horváth Law and Liberty Circle. The research opportunities and programs provided by the organization are open to MCC students.
In its first domestic event, the Barna Horváth Law and Liberty Circle explored the relationship between law and social engineering in the European and international contexts. The event was held in the Károlyi-Csekonics Palace. In his welcoming remarks, the Rector of the University, László Trócsányi, emphasized the scientific and pragmatic importance of comparative law. In his introductory presentation, Lénárd Sándor, Head of the Center for International Law at MCC and of the Barna Horváth Law and Liberty Circle, pointed out that the freedom regained during the change of regime gives university students, including law students, more and more opportunities to spend shorter or longer time periods at foreign universities and to learn about different regulatory solutions, institutions and their general approach to the law. In doing so, however, they must bear in mind that law is more than a set of rules or a series of institutions. It is not isolated from historical experience, tradition and culture. Law is part of one’s culture, it is not only what we have, it is rather who we are. While considering regulatory solutions that we deem useful or better, we have a shared responsibility to learn, preserve and transmit this culture. Participants of the panel discussion were Jan Philipp Schaefer, Professor of the German Law and Liberty Circle and of the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, James P. Kelly, III, Founding President of the Solidarity Center for Law and Justice, P.C., and Erzsébet Szalayné Sándor, Professor of the University of Pécs, Ombudsman for the Rights of National Minorities. The panel members explored the challenges of constitutional and legal engineering. The event was hosted by Anna Hegedűs and moderated by Gabriella Érdi, students of MCC. In the spirit of future cooperation, the Hungarian Law and Liberty Circle will be involved in the organization of the international scientific conference of the MCC Center for International Law. The international conference aims to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and address the multiple challenges the human rights system is facing today.
