2006. évi 1. szám - Jura - Pécsi Tudományegyetem

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Kitti Maros: Research on peyotism from a legal anthropological aspect
the 20 th century; meanwhile three major directions
were shaped in Europe: the German ethnological
jurisprudence, the Dutch data-law and the French
comparative jurisprudence. That is to say, all currents
concerned with the idea of combination/coupling of
social and jurisprudence evolution, therefore affected
the development of Legal Anthropology to an extent
that – after the Second World War – a particular fusion
was set forth.
3. The Historical Background of Hungarian
Legal Anthropology
The tracks of Legal Anthropology – the legal ethnographic
research – can already be traced in Hungary
in the first part of the 20 th century. The Hungarian
legal ethnography develops from the bases of the
historical school of Savigny and from the German
legal ethnology. One of its first manifestations was
the collection of the native customs around the turn
of the century. Scholars like Imre Zlinszky and Lõrinc
Tóth strongly supported the national legal institutions
“that are fused with the life and characteristics
of the nation and are deeply rooted in the certitude
of the inhabitants”. Moreover, they also claim that
the productions of a foreign power can be removed
in case/provided they suspend the “the magnificent
process of native law progression”. The evidence of
exercising the common law (János Baross) and the
Hungarian inheritance customs (Miklós Mattyasovszky)
were also examined and unearthed.
The work of Károly Tagányi, titled as “The Living
Hungarian Customaries” was published in 1919
with the topic of a meticulous research on the customaries
in family law and inheritance law. In 1938
and in 1943, the publications of Gábor Vladár (The
Divergence of law From Everyday Life) and Miklós
Hofer (Contribution to the Discussion on Native Legal
Research) announced – as a legal political argument –
the necessity of a matter-of-fact/unbiased Hungarian
customary collection that covers the entire country.
However, as a result of the significant change in
the political situation, only Ernõ Tárkány Szûcs carried
on with the academic research that was summed
in a monograph titled “Hungarian Legal Customs”
in 1981. Eventually, György Bónis regarded legal
ethnography as an important source for carrying out
research in the field of legal history.
According to Kálmán Kulcsár, the Hungarian legal
ethnography cannot be considered as an absolute
and independent discipline since it has no past and
future:
“The research on native legal practice – disregarding
from legal politics aspects – had double face
and aimed at achieving different goals. If the ethnographical
approach dominates, then it is not more
than a simple collection of customs and traditions
having legal aspects, however, this pile cannot be
regarded as law. Therefore it was a severe inconsequence
to consider this compilation – that was mainly
unearthed with ethnographical methods – part of the
law, as it happened in the past.”
The respected scholar suggests the attaching of
legal anthropology to the field of legal sociology – to
factors that affect the social implementation of law
– supporting his idea with two arguments: as modernization
progresses, the “folk” will disappear and
the “folk” will not possess any right, only the state.
The research eventually came to an end…
The 1980s brought a significant change with the
publication of “Anthropological Legal Theory”
by Csaba Varga (in 1985); and, moreover, István H.
Szilágyi performed research on theory in the past
decade. He comes up with the question whether
Legal Anthropology is necessary, and examines this
question from a multi-faceted aspect: from the point
of view of jurisprudence, legal teaching and legal
practice. He refers to P. Sack according to whom,
the jurisprudence was woken up from its hundredyear-long
positivist dream by Legal Anthropology.
Furthermore, H. Szilágyi cites the research of John
Griffiths on euthanasia and on the legal protection
of tropical forests claiming that the achievements
of Legal Anthropology are inevitable regarding
the elaboration of strategies of legal regulation. He
asserts that Legal Anthropology contributes to the
exceeding of evolutionarist historical approach, to
the revision of the correlation of the state, the law
and the economy. As an instructor at universities, he
has experienced how difficult it is for the students to
understand legal theory, while the interdisciplinary
nature of Legal Anthropology provides the discussion
of the main issues of legal theory and legal
sociology. Finally he states that for us, Hungarian
jurisprudents, this discipline – beyond the boundaries
of legal aspect that characterizes the practice – is
of great significance in surveying the legal situation
of religious and ethnic minorities.
1. Abstract
II. Introduction of the Peyote
As I have previously mentioned in the second part
of my essay I would like to carry out a research on
the sacramental use of peyote, a hallucinogenic drug,
which is employed by the members of the Native
American Church. My intention is(1) to point out the
most general goal of the ceremonies: to enlighten a
JURA 2006/1.