The professor of law
Angel’s head ornament in the Law School building of the University of ELTE (Photo: Endre Domaniczky)
From the very beginning, Ferenc Mádl set high standards for himself in his academic work. On the one hand, he believed that academic work was based on the unity of education and research, and therefore he pursued a wide range of research and publication activities while teaching. On the other hand, he emphasised the importance of learning and exchanging research results and therefore constantly participated in and hosted scientific events. He believed that the Hungarian legal sciences should be at the forefront internationally – his choice of topics (in particular the processes of Western European integration and the legal institutions of international economic relations), which were marginal by domestic standards during the socialist era, made his name widely known in academic circles in Western Europe and the United States. Many of his works – books and studies – have been published in foreign languages, and he was elected or delegated to important international scientific organisations in the 1980s and 1990s.
Professor Mádl’s most important book’s English title page (Photo: Endre Domaniczky)
Mádl rose rapidly through the university hierarchy and was appointed a university professor in 1975. From 1982-1989 he was Director of the Law School’s Civil Law Institute , and from 1987 Head of the Department of Private International Law. From the beginning he was involved in teaching civil law, but over the years the specialisation in commercial law entrusted to him by Professor Világhy developed into two new disciplines, Law of International Relations and European law. Therefore Mádl was not only a successful lecturer but also an exceptional researcher: he not only summarised, but also created something new, thereby setting the direction of research in the fields he taught for several decades.