Solyom, Laszlo

Jurist in Constitutional Law

He graduated in 1965 from the University of Sciences in Pécs and qualified as librarian in the National Széchényi Library. From 1966 to 1969 he was a demonstrator at the Friedrich Schiller University of Jena and research worker in the Hungarian Scientific Academy's Institute of State and Legal Sciences and from 1969 in the National Széchényi Library. He became a doctor of sciences in 1981. From 1983 he was a professor of the Civil Law Faculty of Eötvös Lóránd University (ELTE). In the first half of his career, he studied issues of civil law liability, environmental law and personal rights and fought for the introduction of data protection. In the eighties, he was a consultant to environmental and other civil movements and in 1989 he participated in the National Roundtable discussions as a representative of the Opposition Roundtable. In 1989, he was elected a member of the newly established Constitutional Court and was president of this body for nine years. He played a decisive role in developing the new constitutional law and in acquiring international recognition for Hungarian constitutional jurisdiction. His publications during the last fifteen years have dealt with constitutional law. At present, he is a professor of the Pázmány Péter Catholic University.

Guardians of the Constitution