law
Hungarian Historical Constitution
Hungarian Constitution
also: konstitúció, Corpus Juris Hungarici
Hungary's unwritten historical constitution, rooted in the Golden Bull of 1222 and the laws of Saint Stephen; suspended by the Habsburg regime after 1849 and replaced by the Oktroy (imposed constitution). The play's central political symbol: István defends his 'constitution,' Stroom insists on the 'octroi.'
Reading notes
- The Civilizer §22 He's the one who founded this house, and ordered / The constitution.
Saint Stephen I issued the Decretum (c. 1000–1038), Hungary's founding legal code; the 'constitution' here refers to Hungary's historic constitutional tradition, which the Habsburgs suspended in 1849. István's farmhouse is explicitly an allegory for the Hungarian nation.
- Studies and Articles §3.2.5 Diet of 1861
The Diet of 1861 was convened by Emperor Franz Joseph after the defeat of the Bach era's absolutism, but was dissolved after a few months when the Hungarian parliament refused to endorse the February Patent of 1861. The dissolution ushered in the 'Provisorium' — a period of renewed neo-absolutist rule. Madách interprets the Diet's principled defiance as a moral victory.