Comenius : Bratislava právnické fórum je zborník najlepších príspevkov prednesených na každoročnej medzinárodnej vedeckej konferencii Bratislavské právnické fórum. Jeho vydavateľom je Právnická fakulta Univerzity Komenského v Bratislave. Zborník vychádza raz ročne.
Comenius University Bratislava, Faculty of Law
Invisible Threads of Judicial Dialogue: From Customary Law to AI-Assisted Network Analysis
The paper explores the potential of AI and network analysis in identifying customary international law through the study of judicial dialogue. It begins with a discussion of traditional approaches based on the state practice and opinio iuris, which are increasingly challenged by the growing volume and fragmentation of international law sources. The paper analyses the limits of current methods as well as the criticism of the ILC. In this context, it evaluates the opportunities offered by AI tools for processing extensive body of text, identifying citation networks among international courts, and uncovering patterns of legal reasoning. The paper highlights that integrating AI tools into traditional legal research can provide a complementary perspective on the process of custom crystallising, particularly through the visualization of relationships between decisions and the tracing of both implicit and explicit influences. At the same time, it emphasizes the need for methodological caution, since the quality of outputs depends on the representativeness of data, and the interpretation of the legal context cannot be fully replaced by algorithms. The aim of the paper is to contribute to the discussion on innovative interdisciplinary methodologies that combine legal research with the analytical capacities of AI, thereby enriching comparative legal scholarship.
Roman law, canon law and ecclesiastical law and legal history
Copyright (c) 2025 Igor Hron https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
The Evolution of the Demotic Marital Legal Tradition
In the Roman provinces, the blending of different legal cultures was a common phenomenon, and the province of Egypt, the subject of this paper, was no exception. Preserved papyri from this region illustrate the development of legal traditions and how they influenced one another and changed over time. These sources show the complexity of legal and social life in the province and that, despite the long-term influence of Greek legal culture and the Roman conquest, certain Egyptian legal traditions remained in use. This paper examines a specific Demotic marital legal tradition and its development. The aim is to examine the tradition’s development under changing social conditions and assess whether these transformations led to its weakening or disappearance, by analyzing primary sources, secondary literature, and a comparison of the Ptolemaic and Roman legal environments. It can thus be observed that provincial inhabitants were able to preserve some Egyptian legal traditions, partly due to the favorable legal arrangements they offered, which also testifies to the Romans' tolerance for the local legal culture. The paper’s contribution is to address development of the Demotic marital legal tradition under Roman administration, which is a topic not often discussed in the Slovak academic discourse.
Copyright (c) 2025 Veronika Blatnická https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Technologies in the Magisterial Law of the Catholic Church
The article focuses on a detailed examination of the Catholic Church’s approach to rapidly evolving technologies, with particular attention to the digital environment and the dynamic development of artificial intelligence. Drawing on an analysis of selected documents of the Church’s Magisterium, the study identifies the principal conceptual orientations, normative priorities, and ethical criteria through which the Church responds to the challenges posed by technological progress and its social and cultural implications. A central position in the discussion is occupied by Antiqua et nova, a document jointly issued in January 2025 by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith and the Dicastery for Culture and Education. This document provides a current, systematic, and value-grounded overview of the Church’s teaching on artificial intelligence and its deployment within contemporary society. Its conclusions establish a comprehensive framework for legal, moral, and public debate regarding the limits and potential of artificial intelligence, emphasizing the need for continuous discernment, ethical vigilance, and critical assessment of emerging technologies. The document further underscores the essential importance of clearly assigning personal responsibility in cases of malfunction or misuse of AI systems, highlighting that even in an era of increasing automation, human judgment remains a decisive component of ethically sustainable technological development.
Copyright (c) 2025 Veronika Čunderlík Čerbová https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
General Conditions for the Delivery of Goods between Organizations of Member States of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (GCD CMEA) as a Source of International Trade
The paper focuses on the General Conditions for the Delivery of Goods between Foreign Trade Organizations of Member States of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (GCD CMEA), which represented a specific tool for simplifying international trade within the CMEA, and these foreign trade organizations were obliged to apply it in legal relations concerning the supply of goods in international trade. The General Conditions for the Delivery of Goods of the CMEA thus became a source of international trade law, but even this source of law did not escape problematic aspects concerning its transformation into the legal systems of the CMEA member states, as well as questions about the possibilities of deviations from their application in practice between them. Attention is also paid to the phenomenon of CMEA recommendations as acts of CMEA bodies, in this case particularly the Permanent Committee on Foreign Trade of the CMEA, which adopted individual CMEA GCDs in this form. The aim of this paper is therefore to describe the circumstances leading to the adoption of the CMEA GCDs, their legal nature and subsequent development, together with their amendments in 1968, 1975, 1979 and 1988.
The General Conditions for the Delivery of Goods CMEA
Copyright (c) 2025 Adam Kőszeghy https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Comedies of Plautus as an Information Source of Roman Law
The article addresses the issue of using literary sources, particularly the comedies of Titus Maccius Plautus, in the study of pre-classical Roman law. Taking into account the absence of primary legal sources from the archaic and pre-classical periods, Plautus’ plays represent an important, though methodologically problematic, source of knowledge of the law applicable in his time. The analysis highlights the presence of various legal institutes in his works – ranging from slavery and manumission, through familial legal relations based on potestas patria and manus, the institutions of dowry and divorce, to various contractual, delictual, property law and procedural institutes. At the same time, it draws attention to the risks associated with the adaptation of Greek models and the fictionalization of the legal environment. The aim of the article is therefore to assess the evidentiary value of Plautus’ comedies and their place in the reconstruction of Roman law from the examined period.
Copyright (c) 2025 Matej Mlkvý, Zuzana Mlkvá Illýová https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Custom – Its Nature and Position in Roman Law
The terms used to designate sources of law have roots in Roman legal terminology: law and custom (lex and consuetudo). The term mos (mores maiorum) originally referred to the legally binding usages of ancestors, but it was also used to mean socially accepted moral or social order. It is difficult to determine what the later terms lex and consuetudo referred to exactly. It would be bold to transfer our modern categories and consider laws to be general rules issued by a sovereign power and customs to be naturally arising and accepted usages. Although roman lawyers did not deal with custom from a theoretical point of view, the problem of the connection between laws and customs arose in legal practice. The position of custom was gradually confronted with changes in law making, especially with the establishment of jurisprudence as a key element in the system of sources of law and later also with the dominant position of imperial law making. Nevertheless, the importance of custom never definitively disappeared, but its power compared with lex, or imperial constitutions, was suppressed as a result of the dominant position of imperial legislative authority.
Copyright (c) 2025 Matúš Nemec https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
The Influence of Christianity on the Roman-Legal Regulation of Marriage in the Post-Classical Period
The significant influence of Christianity on legislative policy in the field of family law during the Dominate period occurred under the rule of two emperors: Constantine I (306–337) and Justinian I (527–565). The paper examines the legal reforms introduced primarily by Emperor Constantine who, recognizing the spiritual potential of the new religion, not only equalized Christianity with paganism but also actively supported it in various ways. The introductory sections of the paper present the ideas of the first Christian writers, namely Tertullian, Ambrose, Augustine, Lactantius, and Jerome. The subsequent chapters analyze the legislation of Emperors Constantine I, Theodosius II, and Majorian in the area of matrimonial law. This imperial legislation was aimed at the protection of marriage and, to a greater or lesser extent, made the conclusion of a second marriage after divorce more difficult or, in certain cases, even prevented it. Special attention was given to the punishment of the crime of adultery, the possibility of pardoning an adulterous wife, and also the introduction of state control over divorce through the establishment of reasons permitting it. Christianity helped to overcome the classical concept of Roman marriage understood as a factual state and contributed to its replacement by a new concept, according to which marriage was a legal institution and a permanent legal status.
Copyright (c) 2025 Róbert Brtko https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Private Enforcement of EU Competition Law – How to Kill Stand-Alone Actions in Slovak Style
EU competition law may be enforced in two ways: public enforcement via competition authorities (such as the European Commission or the Antimonopoly Office of the Slovak Republic) or private enforcement via actions for damages on national courts. The latter enforcement was supposed to be stimulated by Damages Directive (2014/104/EU), which was implemented on the Slovak level by Act No. 350/2016 Coll. Private actions for damages caused by infringements of competition law in the EU are far from frequent, especially within Slovakia. There are undisputably various causes for this, not all of them being legal. This contribution presents one particular legal cause for this struggle which have national roots, i.e. the impossibility of stand-alone actions for damages in Slovakia. The aim of this contribution is to show how stand-alone actions for damages are hindered by interpretation of procedural rules of the Slovak procedural code, thus leaving enforcement of competition law ineffective.
Copyright (c) 2025 Mária T. Patakyová https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
How the EEA Enables Indirect Participation in the EU’s CFSP: The Case of Norway
The European Economic Area (EEA) extends the European Union (EU) internal market to three European Free Trade Association (EFTA) states (EEA/EFTA states) and is commonly viewed as a predominantly economic integration framework. Recent geopolitical developments and the evolving EU security and defence agenda, however, raise the question of whether participation in the EEA can directly or indirectly serve as a channel for aligning the foreign and security policies of EEA/EFTA states with the objectives of the EU’s Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP). The present article, through an analysis of legal acts, soft-law instruments, programmes, and strategies, focuses on the Kingdom of Norway which, as the only EEA/EFTA member state that is also a NATO member, possesses a well-developed defence industrial base and cooperates closely with the EU on security matters. On this basis, we then address the question of whether the EEA Agreement also gives rise to integration in the field of the CFSP.
Copyright (c) 2025 Igor Sloboda https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Legal Professional Privilege in EU Competition Investigations: Striking a Balance Between Duty and Protection
In competition law investigations, the right of defence is, among others, guaranteed by the exercise of the Legal Professional Privilege. The right of the client under investigation to maintain the secrecy of communications with his lawyer before the EU Commission is ensured only by the manner in which the legal instruments provided correspond to effective protection, which have to be harmonised with ECHR jurisprudence on the topic. The rules on protection are the result of a delicate balancing act between the rights of the party and the interest of the investigation. The Commission’s Guidance on best practices in such investigations, as a soft-law instrument, raises some interesting challenges with respect to the power of the investigative party when conducting dawn raids in relation to Legal Professional Privilege. The present study analyses the legal regime of attorney-client privilege in EU competition investigations and the manner of handling documents containing such information in the context of an investigation and their compatibility with the principles laid down in Article 6 and Article 8 ECHR.
Copyright (c) 2025 Adriana Almășan, Horia Banciu https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
The Mirage of Territoriality: EU Law’s Extraterritorial Reach Between Protectionism and Altruism
The paper examines the evolving extraterritorial reach of European Union law and its implications for the principle of territoriality in international public law. Focusing on internal market regulation, it argues that the EU’s legal framework increasingly generates extraterritorial effects through access-to-market conditions, competition enforcement, and sustainability obligations. The study traces this development from the early effects doctrine in competition law to recent instruments such as the Foreign Subsidies Regulation and the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive These measures illustrate how internal policies acquire external dimensions — sometimes as protective tools safeguarding the internal market, sometimes as altruistic instruments promoting global public goods. The paper categorises the extraterritorial effects of EU law as productive, structural, and behavioural, demonstrating how the Union projects regulatory power beyond its borders while formally adhering to territorial limits. It concludes that the EU’s regulatory expansion reflects a tension, and often a mirage, between protectionist self-interest and altruistic globalism, demanding careful calibration of its external reach and internal legitimacy.
Copyright (c) 2025 Ondrej Blažo https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Article 3(5) TEU and Arms Export Control: The EU’s Role in the Observance and Development of International (Humanitarian) Law
Article 3(5) TEU affirms the EU’s commitment to upholding international law, including humanitarian law (IHL). Recent efforts to boost Europe’s defence raise doubts about whether arms export controls adequately reflect these obligations. This article employs doctrinal legal analysis combined with a review of recent policy documents and scholarly debates. It examines the balance between EU law, Member State discretion, and the Union’s international obligations, highlighting key strengths and shortcomings The analysis shows that, despite recent legislative changes, the EU’s arms export control system remains marked by fragmented competences and limited enforcement. While recent revisions have broadened references to international commitments and sought greater harmonization, the effectiveness of these changes depends largely on the political will of Member States. Persistent gaps undermine the EU’s credibility as a promoter of international law. The article argues that the EU’s current framework only partially fulfils its treaty-based commitments. To enhance coherence and legal certainty, future reforms should consider hybrid regulatory models that combine political consensus with binding legal mechanisms. Such an approach would better align Europe’s pursuit of defence readiness with EU’s stated objective of advancing peace and a rules-based international order.
Copyright (c) 2025 Sára Kiššová https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
The Impact of AI on Evidence in Criminal Proceedings
The spread of artificial intelligence technology has the potential to fundamentally transform criminal proceedings, including the area of evidence. This article therefore aims to address this topic comprehensively and explore connections between its various aspects. At the same time, it emphasizes the need to uphold principles of fair trial. Attention is paid to the issue of authenticity of digital evidence, risk of its manipulation, and procedural approach to such evidence. When considering this issue, ethical problems of reviewability, transparency, and risk of algorithmic bias, which can influence judicial decision-making, are also highlighted. The text further reflects broader constitutional and legal contexts, including the impact on personal data protection and right to privacy. The aim of this paper is to critically analyse the current and anticipated effects of AI implementation into criminal proceedings. Its goal is to also formulate basic ideas about how criminal proceedings might change if AI tools are used, particularly in the area of evidence, which should be carried out in a manner that ensures preservation of legitimacy of the proceedings and effective protection of fundamental rights of individuals.
Criminal law, criminology and criminalistics
Copyright (c) 2025 Petr Angyalossy, David Anděl https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Artificial Intelligence and the Legal Profession: Challenges and Risks in the Area of Personal Data Protection and Lawyers' Duty of Confidentiality
Artificial intelligence tools are gradually entering the practical and fairly ordinary life of our entire society. Many tools and applications that use this new technology can be identified almost "at every step," which reinforces the feeling among individuals that without adopting these innovations, it is impossible to remain competitive compared to other individuals or entrepreneurs who do use these tools. In our view, similar attitudes exist within the practice of various legal professions (lawyers, judges, notaries, etc.), and it will depend on future developments whether these expectations are fulfilled. Specifically in the field of law practice, elements of flexibility, speed, and efficiency in providing legal services to clients come to the forefront. This creates pressure to introduce innovations into everyday practice—otherwise, a solicitor may lose competitiveness compared to others. With this in mind, the authors of this paper examined both the technical and legal challenges and risks that can be identified in the use of artificial intelligence tools in the provision of legal services on an on- . In particular, they focused on whether working with selected AI tools ensures adequate protection of personal data under applicable legislation, and whether the use of AI tools leads, or could lead, to a violation of a solicitor's duty of confidentiality.
Copyright (c) 2025 Peter Lukáčka, Giang Nguyen https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Artificial Intelligence as (Non-)Author: Legal and Ethical Aspects of Generative Artificial Intelligence
The dynamic development of generative artificial intelligence (AI) systems fundamentally challenges the traditional understanding of originality and authorship in the context of copyright law. This article focuses on analysing the legal nature of outputs created by generative AI from the perspective of the applicable legal framework, which strictly presupposes and requires the existence of a human author and ties the emergence of authorship to a person’s creative intellectual contribution. However, since AI is not a legal subject and is incapable of autonomous creative activity in the legal sense, the question arises of how to classify outputs in copyright terms when the human contribution is minimal or entirely absent. The article therefore highlights differing concepts of (non-)authorship in the case of programmers of AI, users of AI, or the AI itself, as well as comparative approaches adopted in selected legal systems. The analysis also includes the ethical and societal implications of the mass use of AI in creative processes, particularly the impact of generative AI on the position of traditional authors. Finally, proposals de lege ferenda are presented, reflecting the need to adapt copyright law to new technological challenges while maintaining a balance between promoting creativity and protecting authors’ rights.
Copyright (c) 2025 Martin Daňko, Laura Fotopulosová https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Should We be Afraid of AI-based Manipulation? Consumer Protection in the Shadow of Artificial Intelligence
Artificial intelligence (hereinafter referred to as AI) tools by no means share uniform characteristics, yet their classification and grouping are not only important from a theoretical perspective. In the case of AI systems based on autonomous decision-making, the significance of potential risks, data protection and ethical issues increases exponentially. It can be taken as evidence that, due to the informational asymmetry between consumers and businesses, consumers require protection. The caveat emptor principle, derived from Roman law and placing the focus on consumer responsibility, has not been applicable for a long time. The Hungarian consumer protection authorities – in line with the practice of the Court of Justice of the European Union – place focus on rational, reasonably-acting consumers. However, consumers with these attributes are not tasked with uncovering or investigating the truthfulness of the information conveyed to them – in advertisements. The aim of the study is to examine how the use of AI may transform businesses’ commercial practices and whether its application may pose a potentially greater risk to consumers. Moreover, must consumers of the modern era simultaneously acquire new knowledge in order to meet the requirements imposed on average consumers?
Copyright (c) 2025 Orsolya Fekete https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Unfair Commercial Practices in Digital Age
The spread of digital technologies creates several risk vectors for traders. In this article, the author addresses the issue of unfair commercial practices occurring in the digital space. One such practice is deepfake, which has a high potential to mislead consumers because it presents individuals as saying or doing things they never said or did, which can adversely affect consumers' economic decisions. Deepfakes can create highly convincing manipulated audio-visual content that may falsely portray products, services, or even the identity of the trader. Such fabricated material can spread quickly across online platforms, increasing the likelihood that consumers will rely on misleading or entirely false claims when making purchasing decisions.The situation is particularly alarming for traders that use digital marketing tools, as legal liability is a major issue, especially for consumer-oriented content. Using standard methods in social sciences, the author identify a correlation between artificial intelligence technologies and unfair practices in order to assess the adequacy of legal regulation.
Copyright (c) 2025 jana Strémy https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
The Use of Artificial Intelligence in Advocacy
The article examines the modern use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools in legal practice, focusing on both their benefits and risks. It analyzes the areas in which AI is already applied, including legal research, drafting of legal documents, due diligence, summarization of case files, litigation outcome prediction and administrative support for law firms, while also highlighting practical examples from international and domestic contexts. The article also addresses the risks associated with the use of AI, in particular issues of confidentiality and data protection, reliability of outputs and the need to preserve the human factor in legal services. It further presents the results of a survey conducted among Slovak lawyers, which explored the extent to which they use AI tools in practice and identified the most frequently used applications. The aim of the article is to provide a comprehensive overview of the ways in which AI can be used in legal practice, to analyze available tools and to assess the risks that the use of AI poses for the performance of the legal profession and the preservation of its core values.
Copyright (c) 2025 Zuzana Mlkvá Illýová, Igor Hron https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Joint Public Procurement by Municipalities – Slovak Experience and Lessons to be Learned from Selected European Union Member States (National Report and Legal Comparative Study)
The paper analyses the institute of joint public procurement (the JPP) that can be used by municipalities to jointly purchase goods, services or works to achieve the cost efficiency. The JPP has potential to rationalise the public spending on the level of municipalities, and the relevant scientific literature is also pointing out to using of cooperation in public procurement as a potentially effective tool of municipal cooperation. In order to analyse the specific conditions for use of this institute at the level of municipalities in the Slovak Republic, the author conducted a legal comparative analysis of the legal regulation of the JPP in the selected member states of the European Union and by using method of quantitate research also analysed data provided by the Slovak Office for Public Procurement to assess the usage of the JPP at the level of municipalities in the Slovak Republic in the period from 2018 to 2023. It can be concluded that even though the regular usage of the JPP by municipalities in general has potential to create functional microregions at the level of local government, it is not sufficiently used and therefore its potential is not achieved in the conditions of the Slovak Republic.
Copyright (c) 2025 Maroš Katkovčin https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Enforcement Proceedings in the Algorithmic Era - Legal Limits and Prospects of Random Assignment of Enforcement Officers (Bailiffs)
The paper analyses the random and even allocation of enforcement cases to enforcement officers under Section 55 of the Enforcement Order as an organisational-procedural tool of impartiality, introduced by the Great Amendment effective 1 April 2017. Methodologically, the authors combine normative and institutional analyses and assess the “governance” of the allocation mechanism: input stratification via “baskets” and its risks, the change-control regime and logging of interventions, auditability, and reviewability. At the same time, it carefully distinguishes random selection from artificial intelligence. The text examines the legitimacy of the aim to sever ties between large creditors and individual enforcement officers, and the measure’s constitutional sustainability amid ongoing review before the Constitutional Court. The key finding is that sustainability depends on a high degree of reviewability and effective procedural safeguards in both the selection itself and the officer’s subsequent conduct (the court’s inquiry and instruction powers, state and chamber oversight, and the disciplinary jurisdiction of the Supreme Administrative Court of the Slovak Republic). The authors also note significant benefits of the regulation (e.g. concentrating a single debtor’s cases with one bailiff, reducing duplications and simplifying communication). The paper concludes by summarising impacts on legal practice and presenting possible de lege ferenda proposals.
Great Amendment to the Enforcement Order
Copyright (c) 2025 Marek Ivančo, Daniel Ivanko https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
The risks of machine learning models in judicial decision making
Machine learning models, as tools of artificial intelligence, have an increasingly strong potential to become an integral part of judicial decision-making. However, the technical limitations of AI systems—often overlooked by legal scholarship—raise fundamental questions, particularly regarding the preservation of the basic principles of the material rule of law and the associated independence of the judiciary. The contribution pays special attention to two technical-legal threats connected with the application of machine learning models, using textual data as the reference framework. One threat is model overfitting, where the model “over-adapts” its decision-making to the specific data on which it was trained. The second threat is adversarial attacks, meaning intentional manipulations of input data aimed at influencing the model’s outputs. Based on this, the author identifies an internal contradiction within the AI Act, which emphasizes the need for human oversight when using AI systems in high-risk areas such as the judiciary. Yet human oversight during the training phase of machine learning models remains insufficiently addressed. The contribution points out that human operators involved in training AI systems possess knowledge of the model’s “weak spots,” and therefore represent a risk of carrying out strategically targeted adversarial attacks. The author then focuses on identifying the most optimal machine learning model in relation to the independence of the judiciary.
Theory of law and philosophy of law, constitutional law and international relations
Copyright (c) 2025 Romana Koneracká https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Digitalization in international human rights law: a good servant or a bad master?
The increasing digitalization of international human rights law raises pressing questions about safeguarding fundamental rights amid rapid technological advances such as artificial intelligence. Secret surveillance by state bodies demonstrates the difficulty of protecting privacy in the digital age. Broader issues concern cyberspace: should it be treated as private property or as a shared resource, guaranteeing access to the internet for everyone. Balancing digital and non-digital communication is another unresolved challenge. The integration of AI into judicial processes further exposes tensions between automation and necessary human oversight. Careful legal regulation is therefore essential to ensure that digital innovation strengthens, rather than undermines, human rights protection. This contribution examines the most significant challenges international human rights law currently faces in the era of digitalization and seeks to answer the question on whether the existing framework is sufficient or whether new sources of international law are required. The conclusion reached is that, despite profound technological developments—including the rise of the internet and AI—the current rules of international law remain adequate. The key lies in their proper interpretation, particularly through dynamic methods such as the “living instrument” doctrine applied in the case-law of the ECHR.
Copyright (c) 2025 Alla Tymofeyeva https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
The Role of the State in Managing Moral Rights after the Author’s Death: A Latvian Perspective
This paper examines the legal framework and practical challenges of managing moral rights after an author's death in Latvia, with emphasis on the state's role when there are no legal heirs. Copyright law in Latvia recognizes both economic and moral rights, yet posthumous protection, particularly in heirless cases, remains underdeveloped. Under Latvian law, moral rights, such as the right to disclose a work, are inalienable during the author's lifetime and transfer only to heirs after death. When an author dies without heirs, or heirs fail to assert their rights, management of such rights becomes ambiguous. According to the Civil Law, property without heirs is transferred to the state. However, this transfer primarily concerns the economic administration of the deceased’s estate, rather than the safeguarding of moral rights. The analysis shows that the state in Latvia, through relevant institutions and in accordance with inheritance law and property governance regulations, takes over administration and sale of property, including valuable cultural items. However, there is no explicit legal provision mandating the state to actively protect or enforce the moral rights of deceased authors, such as ensuring proper attribution or preventing distortion of their works.
Information technology law and intellectual property law
Copyright (c) 2025 Sintija Zalāne https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Legal Sources of the CIC 1917 and CIC 1983 in Comparison with the Sources of Pre-Conciliar Eastern Legislation and the CCEO
The twentieth century brought revolutionary changes to the legislation of the Catholic Church. The first edition of the unified Code for the Latin Church in 1917 was followed by the first historical attempt to create a unified legal collection for the individual Eastern Catholic Churches. This process was not completed, and individual legal amendments were published gradually in the form of papal motu proprio. Further internal church developments were influenced by a historic event – the Second Vatican Council. The changes that the council brought to the life of the church necessarily had to be reflected in new legal collections, both for the Latin Church (CIC 1983) and for the Eastern Catholic Churches (CCEO). How did individual legal codifications approach the use of historical sources, and how are these sources cited in editions that we can consider official, even though the notes and references they contain are not of an official nature? Which editions are involved, what are their strengths, and what shortcomings can we observe? The answer to this question provided by this comparative study also offers a possible explanation for certain divergences in the perception of the importance of studying pre-conciliar sources of canon law in the Christian West and East.
comparison of sources of law of the Latin and Eastern Churches
Copyright (c) 2025 Cyril Vasiľ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
The Position of the State Representative in Divorce Disputes after the Adoption of Act No. 41/1943 SL.Z.
In this article, we focus on the consequences of the adoption of Amendment No. 41/1943 Coll. to the Civil Procedure Code, with an emphasis on the position and activities of public prosecutors, as this law fundamentally changed the previous position of state prosecutors in divorce proceedings. We also discuss legal regulation No. 11.186/1943-7, which followed the adoption of the aforementioned law and which further regulated certain obligations associated with the position of the public prosecutor in divorce disputes. The aim of this article is to examine the impact of legislative changes on application practice and to analyze their influence on court decisions. The article is based on ongoing archival research, which makes it possible to identify not only the formal aspects of legislative changes, but also their real significance for the functioning of judicial practice under the Slovak State regime. In analyzing the activities of state prosecutors, we rely on a textual analysis of reports sent to the Chief State Prosecutor's Office and the Ministry of Justice. These reports are located in the collections of the Slovak National Archives. In analyzing the application practice, we worked with individual court decisions available in the State Archives in Banská Bystrica.
Copyright (c) 2025 Július Palaj https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Concordat as a Source of Both Church Law and State Law. Considerations with Special Emphasis on Polish Concordats
The legal nature of concordats has sparked debate among lawyers for centuries. According to one concept, known as the Privilege Theory (Privilegientheorie), developed particularly until the 18th century, a concordat is a unilateral act of the Pope. Another concept, known as Legaltheorie, considered a concordat a unilateral act of a sovereign state authority. In the 19th century, the view gained adherents that a concordat had no legal character at all, but only a moral one. Today, because the subjectivity of the Holy See under international law is universally recognized, there is no doubt that a concordat is bilateral in nature. A concordat is most often considered an international treaty. The legal classification of a concordat under domestic law, and therefore the manner in which its provisions are implemented and whether they are directly applicable, depends on the constitutional regulations of a given state. The paper discusses the legal nature of a concordat, using the examples of two concordats between the Republic of Poland and the Holy See: one from 1925 and one from 1998.
Copyright (c) 2025 Piotr Szymaniec https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
From Legislative Acts to Organizational Orders: Transformation of Sources of Law in Intitucional Care for Children under Three Years of Age in Czechoslovakia
This paper examines the evolution of legal frameworks governing a specific aspect of cinstitutional care for children namely, the care of minors under three years of age in Czechoslovakia, provided through infant care institutions (kojenecké ústavy) and children’s homes for children under three years of age. The study traces both the legal and institutional developments from 1945 through the early 1950s, a period marked by the gradual adoption of organizational, administrative, and methodological regulations pertaining to collective institutional care and to social and health care institutions. Drawing on archival research of materials produced by relevant central state administrative bodies, the paper focuses on the processes through which legal norms regulating this area were created and implemented. In addition, it situates these developments within the broader social and ideological context that shaped institutional childcare during the post-war era and the ongoing sovietization of society. Particular attention is devoted to the internal organization, staffing, and everyday operation of these state-established facilities, which played a pivotal role in constructing the system of early childhood care and reflected contemporary conceptions of childcare, and upbringing of the next generation.
Copyright (c) 2025 Frederika Vešelényiová https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Censorship of Printed Media in the Interwar Period in Slovakia – Analysis of Application Practice
The article deals with the topic of press censorship in Slovakia during the interwar perio. It focuses primarily on the application practice of Czechoslovak bureaus and courts. Author analyzes specific cases of confiscated printed materials of various types – from political periodicals (linked to the Hlinka’s People’s Party, communists or hungarian irredentism) to leaflets, posters, and even entertainment sections. The analysis explores not only preventive and post-publication censorship measures—such as seizures, distribution bans, and additional administrative confiscations—but also the specific dynamics of cross-border control, particularly regarding Hungarian and German materials carrying anti-czechoslovak, antisemitic or revisionist messages.Czechoslovak authorities used censorship to combat separatist and irredentist activities to prevent the spread of disinformation and extremist ideas and to restrict the publication of strategic information. The aim of the study is to demonstrate that censorship in Slovakia during the interwar period had an increasing character and was among the regularly employed instruments for protecting the political stability, public order and constitutional unity of Czechoslovakia as well.
Copyright (c) 2025 Jakub Jankovič https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
The Concept of Pre-Contractual Liability and its Preview in the Sources of Roman Law
The concept of culpa in contrahendo or pre-contractual liability cannot be found in any of the original sources of Roman law, whether in classical or Justinianic form. Nevertheless, the sources of Roman law were one of the basic sources of inspiration for Rudolf von Jhering. Culpa in contrahendo thus points to an interesting phenomenon, where Roman law creates an argumentative basis for a legal regulation, the full application of which occurs many centuries after the collapse of the empire itself. Despite the fact that it does not yet have a long-standing tradition or firm establishment in Slovakia, the growing digitalization and autonomization of electronic tools make it a concept whose popularity may significantly increase also in our context.
Copyright (c) 2025 Ján Ivančík https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Death as a Reason for Quasi Contract in the Sources of Roman Law
The article examines whether, and under what conditions, a person’s death in Roman law could trigger an obligation arising from a quasi‑contract, in particular in connection with the duty to arrange a funeral (actio funeraria) and the related expenses. Based on an exegesis of the primary sources and their classical interpretation in Roman law scholarship we show that Roman law conceived the funeral duty as an onus hereditatis that precedes any disposition of the estate and is enforceable by a restitutionary action. Special attention is given to the legal characterisation of the claim, its moderation by principles of reasonableness and proportionality, and to the actor’s subjective motive (pietatis gratia). The Roman concept is then compared with modern private‑law regimes (e.g. § 1968 BGB; § 470 Slovak Civil Code; § 1717 Czech Civil Code), in which the duty to reimburse reasonable funeral costs persists as a means of protecting post‑mortem human dignity, even without a direct praetorian action. We conclude that death, as a legal event, did not merely terminate legal personality but could give rise to a quasi‑contractual obligation to reimburse expenses reasonably incurred for a dignified funeral.
Copyright (c) 2025 Michal Turošík https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0