Hostname: page-component-5c6d5d7d68-7tdvq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-08-07T00:20:51.789Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The Changing Role of the State

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 February 2009

Attila Harmathy
Affiliation:
Professor of the Faculty of Law, Eötvös University, Budapest, Judge of the Hungarian Constitutional Court.
Get access

Extract

The present short paper is written in honour of Professor Mestmücker on the occasion of his birthday. How can one pay tribute to his activity? Perhaps by choosing a topic that has been the centre of his interest for several years: the role of the state and the change in this role. The role of the state and its changes have been the subject of books and articles by Professor Mestmäcker and many other authors. It was one of the main issues at the meetings that German and Hungarian lawyers held every second or third year, organised by the Max-Planck Institut fur auslandisches und internationales Privatrecht, Hamburg, and these meetings have assisted in the transformation of law in Hungary. I remember that in the 1980s, during one of these colloquies, some questions of a new Hungarian legal regulation, based on elements of market economy, were being discussed and Professor Mestmäcker remarked that the new rules were important but they still seemed to belong very much to a planned economy. After having thought it over one had to come to the conclusion that the remark was correct.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © T.M.C. Asser Press and the Authors 2001

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 Vickers, J., “The Politics of Industrial Privatisation in Western Europe: An Overview”, West European Politics (1988) 4.Google Scholar

2 Püttner, G., Die öffentlichen Unternehmen (Stuttgart, München 1985) 915.Google Scholar

3 Beesley, M./ Littlechild, S., “Privatization: ‘Principles, Problems, and Priorities’”, in: Bishop, M./ Kay, J./ Mayer, C. (eds.), Privatization & Economic Performance (Oxford, New York 1994) at pp. 1516.Google Scholar

4 Rapp, L., “Les lois de privatisation et la ‘respiration’ du secteur public”, Revue française de droit administratif (1987) 154157.Google Scholar

5 Vickers/ Wright, supra n. 1, at pp. 27-28.

6 Daintith, T. C., “Legal Forms and Techniques of Privatisation”, in: Legal Aspects of Privatisation, (Strasbourg: Council of Europe 1993) 5051.Google Scholar

7 Rivero, J., “Rapport de synthèse”, in: Debbasch, Ch. (ed.) Les privatisations en Europe, Actes du colloque tenu à Aix en octobre 1988 (Paris 1989) 229.Google Scholar

8 There are many publications on this topic, here only an early analysis is referred to: Blommestein, H. J./ Marrese, M./ Zecchini, S., “Centrally planned Economies in Transition: an Introductory Overview of Selected Issues and Strategies”, in: Blommestein, H./ Marrese, M. (eds.), Transformation of Planned Economies (Paris 1991) 1214.Google Scholar

9 Blommestein/ Marrese/ Zecchini, supra n. 8, at p. 13.

10 Anderson, Ch. J./ O'Connor, K. M., “System Change, Learning and Public Opinion about the Economy”, 30 British Journal of Political Science (2000) 151153.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

11 Cento, Veljanovski, Selling the State (London 1988) 17.Google Scholar

12 Ajani, G./ Dallago, B./ Grancelli, B., “Introduction”, in: Dallago, B./ Ajani, G./ Grancelli, B. (eds.), Privatization and Entrepreneurship in Post-Socialist Countries (London 1992) 10.Google Scholar

13 Young, M. K., “Privatization in Eatern Europe: Experience and Expectations”, in: Smit, H./ Pechota, V. (eds.), Privatization in Eastern Europe: Legal, Economic and Social Aspects (New York, Dordrecht 1993) 1617.Google Scholar

14 21/1990. (X. 4) AB határozat, ABH 1990, 73.

15 20/1992. (IV. 30.) AB határozat, ABH 1992, 135, at 141.

16 Birósági Hatarozatok 1993/10. 604.

17 Prosser, T., “Regulation, Markets and Legitimacy”, in: Jeffrey, Jowell/ Dawn, Oliver (eds.), The Changing Constitution, 4th ed. (Oxford, New York 2000) 229230.Google Scholar

18 Kämmerer, J. A., “Verfassungsstaat auf Diät?”, Juristen Zeitung (1996) 1048, 1050.Google Scholar

19 Ronellenfitsch, M., “Staat und Markt: Rechtliche Grenzen einer Privatisierung kommunaler Aufgaben”, Die öffentliche Verwaltung (1999) 705.Google Scholar

20 Prosser, T., “Constitutions and Political Economy: The Privatisation of Public Enterprises in France and Great Britain”, 53 Modern Law Review (1990) 318319.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

21 Scott, C., “Services of General Interest in EC Law: Matching Values to Regulatory Technique in the Public and Privatised Sectors”, 6 European Law Journal (2000) 310312.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

22 Verhoeven, A., “Privatisation and EC Law: Is the European Commission ‘neutral’ with respect to public versus private ownership of companies?45 International and Comparative Law Quarterly (1996) 864865.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

23 Freedland, M., “Government by Contract and Public Law”, Public Law (1994) 101, 104.Google Scholar

24 Daintith, T./ Sah, M., “Privatisation and the Economic Neutrality of the Constitution”, Public Law (1993) 474.Google Scholar

25 Mayen, T., “Privatisierung öffentlicher Aufgaben: Rechtliche Grenzen und rechtliche Moglichkeiten”, Die Öffentliche Verwaltung (2001) 110, 112, 115.Google Scholar

26 Teubner, G., “After Privatization? The Many Autonomies of Private Law”, 57 Current Legal Problems (1998) 393.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

27 Schmidt, R., “Der Übergang öffentlicher Aufgaben in private Rechtsformen”, Zeitschrift für Unternehmens- und Gesellschaftsrecht (1996) 349, 356Google Scholar; Spannowsky, W., “Der Einfluß öffentlich-rechtlicher Zielsetzungen auf das Statut privatrechtlicher Eigengesellschaften in öffentlicher Hand”, Zeitschrift für Unternehmens- und Gesellschaftsrecht (1996) 404, 406407.Google Scholar