Dénes Dienes: History of the Reformed Church Collég in Sárospatak (Sárospatak, 2013)

SPIRIT AND MOOD - A Decade-long Struggle for the Academy of Law

167 Gyula Szánthó (1846-1930), much like Ballagi, was also an outlander. He also studied in Pest and then became a professor at the Academy of Law in Eperjes. A year later he was lured to Patak by Miklós Vay with a promise that he could dedicate all his time and energy to his favorite subject which was Roman law. He thus became the very first professor of Roman law in Patak. The fact that this discipline was accorded a separate chair in Patak was a paradigm shift in itself, for Protestants, in general, historically steered away from Roman law and its prodigious didactical value. In 1874, the leadership in Patak decided to design a curriculum with which their law school could catch up to the Catholic law schools, something which brought with it the necessity of recognizing Roman law as being the basis of legal reasoning and thus establishing for it a separate department. At the outset, Szánthó had difficulty finding his bearings in the small provincial town so it came as no surprise when, in the late 1870s, together with Ballagi they decided to lead a movement whose purpose was to move the Academy of Law to Miskolc. They soon regretted it, however, especially Szánthó, who later called it a youthful initiative which clashed with the traditions and the relevant circumstances under consideration. Szánthó requested his retirement in 1910. He lived for many years longer and was able to witness from close range the eventual shuttering of the institution which offered legal education in Patak. Another prominent teacher in the Ballagi-Szánthó era was József Finkey Jr. (1856-1908) who taught church law and commercial and exchange law. He died young, teaching for only fifteen years. He authored a rather lengthy study on inheritance law. (His son, also named József, a teacher at the technical university in Budapest, also died young. His name, however, became well-know for several inventions and for a worldwide patent which earned him worldwide recognition.) Béla Kókai Kun (1845-1896), the son of Bishop Bertalan Kun, completed his studies in law in Pest. As an Independence Party supporter, he took on the responsibility of producing political pamphlets and as such was Ballagi’s main local opponent. He possessed a vast knowledge and was an excellent communicator; he taught statistics, financial law and national accountancy for twelve years. István Zsindely (1869-1906) also proved to be a worthy successor to his father who taught mathematics in the secondary school in Patak. Zsindely studied in Patak and then studied law in Pest. He was elected to be a teacher in 1891. Initially, he taught philosophy of law, then church law. He also lectured on his favorite subject, that being the Hungarian constitution and the history of law. His noteworthy publications include The Institution of Knighthood (Budapest, 1893.) and The Hungarian Constitution under the Anjou’s and Zsigmond (Sárospatak, 1899.). The announced reform of legal education, which required extended effort by the small-town institutions, and decentralization, which was favourable for them, did not materialize during the Szánthó Ballagi era, either. Ferenc Finkey was the most prominent law professor at the time, when, in 1910, the MNER convened a meeting but only to clarify the positions. This time Patak was included, also, and Finkey represented the school as its dean. He explained that the problem of overcrowded urban university faculties and depopulated rural academies could be solved with one and the same strategy: following through with the previously

Next

/
Thumbnails
Contents