The transformation of legal remedy procedures upon request in Hungarian administrative law

Abstract

Whether the legislator prefers a one- or two-level administrative procedure, or whether the legal remedies available upon request are internal (appeal) or external (judicial review/administrative lawsuit), is always determined by the general needs of society and the views of the political elite in power. Generally speaking, where there are two levels of administrative procedure, i.e. where there is a single level of appeal, recourse to the courts is generally guaranteed once these levels have been exhausted. In Hungarian administrative law, from 1957 until the 2010s, there was a one-tier system of appeal, i.e. appeals were considered ordinary legal remedies and judicial review was available after the exhaustion of the appeal, if the law so allowed, i.e. judicial review was considered an extraordinary legal remedy.