Ferenc Mádl – a short biography

(Bánd, 1931 – Budapest, 2011)

Law scholar, professor of law, member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. Between 1990 and 1994, he was member of the Antall and then the Boross Governments, and between 2000 and 2005, he was President of the Republic of Hungary.

Childhood and youth

Ferenc Mádl was born in Bánd, a small village near city of Veszprém, Western Hungary into a family of farmers with several children. Between 1951 and 1955, he studied law in University of Pécs and then in the Budapest Law School. He graduated with honours in 1955. During his university years he worked as a manual labourer and also did military service.

After graduating, he worked at different local law courts, from where he joined the Office of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in the spring of 1956.

Officer of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and Researcher of the Academy’s Law Institute

Ferenc Mádl became interested in academic work as early as an undergraduate. While still a student in Pécs, his essay on the state’s administrative responsibility, submitted to a faculty competition, foreshadowed his outstanding legal abilities to his teachers.

During the decade and a half he spent at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences between 1956 and 1971, he assisted the work of the Legal Sciences Department in various positions, and from 1958 he became involved in the research of the Institute of Political Science and Law, which was then part of the Academy. Many of his former teachers and mentors worked for the Academy, and he was particularly close to Professors Endre Nizsalovszky and Gyula Eörsi.

He progressed steadily up the scientific ladder, obtaining a Candidate’s degree in 1964 and a Doctorate of Science in 1974. In 1987 he became a corresponding member and in 1993 he became a full member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. He was a member of several Hungarian and foreign scientific societies and was awarded honorary doctorates by various universities (including his two alma maters: the University of Pécs and the University of ELTE in Budapest). During his career he received numerous honours in Hungary and foreign countries, as well.

His relationship with the Hungarian Academy of Sciences continued after his move to the University of ELTE. He was appointed Secretary of the Scientific Qualification Committee (TMB) between 1984 and 1990.

A lecturer in private international law and a researcher in EEC law

Between 1961 and 1963, Ferenc Mádl studied at the Faculté Internationale de Droit Comparé in Strasbourg, from where he soon returned to become involved in the Hungarian comparative law research that was reviving after the World War II.

Professor Mádl’s research topics covered various areas of civil law, international law, European law of economic integration and comparative law. Although he had regularly lectured both in Hungary and abroad as a researcher, Ferenc Mádl’s teaching career began at the University of ELTE in 1967. From 1971 he was Associate Professor, from 1975 Professor, from 1982 Director of the Institute for Civil Law Studies, and from 1987 Head of Department. He retired from the that Faculty but regularly took on lectures until his death in 2011.

In addition to his teaching activities, he was also involved in the university administration, including serving as deputy rector responsible for scientific affairs from 1974 to 1977.

Public involvement

In fact, Ferenc Mádl’s public activity began with his appointment as Vice-Rector even in the 1970s. His work as Secretary of the Scientific Qualification Committee (TMB) between 1984 and 1990 should also be counted as public activity. So by when he became involved in the public matters in 1990, he had already been a leading figure in the Hungarian academic world.

Among his senior government positions, his ministerial appointments should be mentioned. In the Antall government, he was first Minister without Portfolio (for European Affairs and Science Policy), and from 1993 Minister of Culture and Education. In the Boross government, he carried on the portfolio of Minister of Culture and Education.

He was one of the most important leaders of the Opposition during the Horn Government between 1994 and 1998. Finally he served as President of the Hungarian Republic between 2000 and 2005.

Legacy

Ferenc Mádl died in Budapest in 2011. His grave is in the National Graveyard in Budapest (Fiumei Úti Sírkert). Plaques and a statues commemorate his memory in Hungary and in different foreign countries (Slovakia and Ukraine). From 2019, the research institute of the Ministry of Justice (Ferenc Mádl Institute of Comparative Law) bears his name.

Professor Mádl’s most important books

• A deliktuális felelősség a társadalom és a jog fejlődésének történetében [Tort liability in the history of the development of society and law] (first edition: 1964, new edition: 2022)
• Az Európai Gazdasági Közösség joga [The Law of the European Economic Community] (first edition: 1974, new edition: 2023, English edition: 1978)
• Összehasonlító nemzetközi magánjog – A nemzetközi gazdasági kapcsolatok joga [Comprative Private International Law – the Law of International Economic Relations] (first edition: 1978)
• Magyar nemzetközi magánjog és a nemzetközi gazdasági kapcsolatok joga [Hungarian Private International Law and the Law of International Economic Relations] (co-authored with Professor Lajos Vékás, first edition: 1981, latest (10.) edition: 2022, English editions: 1987, 1998)
• Állam és gazdaság – Forradalom a jog útján a közép- és kelet-európai országokban [State and Economy in Transformation. Revolution by Law in the Central and Eastern European Countries] (first edition: 1997, new edition: 2024, English edition: 2000)