Barna Horváth and His Sociology of Law

The study deals with perhaps the most colorful figure of Hungarian legal philosophy, Barna Horváth, and his most significant work, Horváth’s Sociology of Law. His train of thought is divided into three parts. It first presents the Hungarian school of legal philosophy of the first half of the 20th century: it reviews the work of Gyula Pikler, Bódog Somló, Gyula Moór and Barna Horváth. Secondly, it analyzes Horváth’s “sinoptic legal theory” and the content components of his sociology of law in more detail. Thirdly, and finally, it examines the relationship between the Hungarian legal philosophical tradition and the “sociologizing tradition” of Hungarian philosophy. According to his conclusion, the representatives of the Hungarian legal philosophical tradition cannot be placed in the “sociologizing tradition” of Hungarian philosophy.