Právněhistorické studie / Legal History Studies (Charles University journal; below referred to as PHS or Journal) is a scientific journal listed in the international prestigious database SCOPUS. The journal is published by Charles University in Prague under the guarantee of the Department of Legal History of the Faculty of Law of Charles University. It is published by the Karolinum Press. The journal focuses on the field of legal history and related topics.
Issue 1 of the Journal was published by the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences Publishing in June 1955. The Journal was initially published by the Cabinet of Legal History of the Czechoslovak Academy of Science (CSAV), later by the Institute of State and Law (CSAV) and then by the Institute of Legal History of the Faculty of Law of Charles University.
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PRÁVNĚHISTORICKÉ STUDIE, Vol 56 No 1 (2026), 87–108
ArticleČech, Rakušan alebo Uhor? Profesor Anton Virozsil (1792 – 1868) vo víre univerzitnej politiky a jazykových polemík
[Czech, Austrian or Hungarian? Professor Anton Virozsil (1792–1868) in the Whirlwind of University Politics and Language Debates]
Ivan Halász
DOI: https://doi.org/10.14712/2464689X.2026.191
published online: 22. 04. 2026
abstract
The study deals with an important figure of 19th-century Hungarian legal science, who also had Czech roots. Professor Anton Virozsil (1792–1868) was born into a simple family in Banská Štiavnica. He originally prepared for a career in the Catholic priesthood, but ultimately chose to pursue legal studies. After obtaining his degree, he first taught at the Law Academy in Pozsony (Present-day Bratislava), and then for several decades in Pest at the local university. His activities coincided with the years when the reform program of the Hungarian liberal opposition was taking shape, with which the professor, who did not speak Hungarian well, could not identify, particularly due to its linguistic assimilation efforts. At the same time, he was critical of the constitutional views of the Hungarian noble opposition. He saw the possibility of the emergence of a modern constitutional and bureaucratic state primarily in Austria (after liberal reforms). During the revolutionary year of 1848, he was one of the last university lectures in Pest to teach in Latin before he retired. After the victory of Austrian neoabsolutism that suppressed the revolution, the Austrian government reactivated him, and in the following decade, he became the rector. During this time he leaded the unpopular educational reforms of Hungarian university education. After colaps of neoabsolutistic regime he removed to Vienna, where teached the Hungarian public law for university students. He was author of many important publications (in Latin, German and Hungarin) about the traditional Hungarian constitutional law, legal encyclopedy and methodology.
keywords: Austria; education; Hungary; law; university
references (9)
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3. KÄFER, I. Alexander Rudnay a jeho doba./Rudnay Sándor és kora. Esztergom-Piliscsaba: FF KUPP - Spolok sv. Vojtecha, 1998.
4. KOI, Gyula: Récsi Emil. In: Magyar jogtudósok. Eds. HAMZA, Gábor - SIKLOSI, Iván. Budapest: ELTE, 2015. 47-59.
5. LACLAVÍKOVÁ, M. - ŠVECOVÁ, A.: Dejiny právnickej fakulty Trnavskej univerzity v Trnave. Praha: Leges, 2021.
6. PAULER, T. Emlékbeszéd néhai Virozsil Antal ... fölött. Buda: Magyar Királyi Tudományos Egyetem Nyomdája, 1869.
7. SZABADFALVI, J.: A magyar jogbölcseleti gondolkodás története. Budapest: Gondolat, 2024.
8. SZINNYEI, J. Magyar írók élete és munkái XIV. (Telgárti-Zsutai). Budapest Hornyánszky. 1914.
9. VIROZSIL, A-: Magyarország nyilván- vagy közjoga mint az alkotmány eredetétől 1847/8-ig fennállott. Történelmi szempontból tekintve s röviden előadva. Buda: Magyar Kir. Egyetemi.
Čech, Rakušan alebo Uhor? Profesor Anton Virozsil (1792 – 1868) vo víre univerzitnej politiky a jazykových polemík is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
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ISSN: 0079-4929
E-ISSN: 2464-689X
