Századok – 2016

2016 / 6. szám - TANULMÁNYOK - Törő László Dávid: "Több szellemtörténetet a jogtörténetbe!" Eckhart Ferenc törekvései a jog- és alkotmánytörténet modernizálására (1931-1941)

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TÖRŐ LÁSZLÓ DÁVID

„MORE SPIRITUAL HISTORY INTO LEGAL HISTORY!”

THE EFFORTS OF FERENC ECKHART AT MODERNIZING LEGAL AND CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY (1931-1941)

by László Dávid Törő'

Summary

The study explores the activities of Ferenc Eckhart as a legal and economic historian from the so-called „Eckhart-debate” in 1931 to the publication of his work on the idea of the Holy Crown. It examines Eckhart’s network of relations (students, colleagues), the contemporary reception of his works, and the evolution of his ideas of spiritual and social history. It was in opposition to the conception of legal history elaborated by Ákos Timon and his followers that in 1931 Eckhart came forward with a program of profoundly different goals. The author shows that in the period indicated in the title Eckhart was very open to both spiritual and social history, and it was this professional orientation that borrowed to the new legal historical approach its modernity and scientific level of the highest European standards. Although an equally important role was played by another element of professional history writing, basic research and the critical analysis of the sources, in the case of Eckhart this trend, frequently called as „positivism” in the relevant scholarly literature, was by no means opposed to intellectual history. In general, it can be stated that Eckhart’s historiography was nation-based, a fact that is proved by many of the underlying thoughts of his work on the idea of the Holy Crown.