The interpretation of legal texts is only one layer of legal interpretation. On the one hand, participants in legal practice create reasons to support their text interpretation, which requires constructive interpretation; on the other hand, they interpret individual actions”, explained Andreas Funke, head professor of the Department of Public Law and Legal Philosophy of the University of Erlangen in his English-language lecture at the Faculty of Law of the University of Debrecen.
The question the guest speaker addressed in front of professors and law students of the faculty was if legal methodology is capable of systematizing these three layers of legal interpretation in a unified theoretical framework. The professor presented these three layers of legal interpretation and the difficulties of harmonizing them through the example of the constitutional protection of human dignity.
At the workshop-seminar, Andreas Funke discussed one of the most important constitutional principles of German constitutional court practice, namely the ideological neutrality of the state, with undergraduate and doctoral students.
- Here he focused on two cases. One is how the limits of political expression of government officials and the constitutional equality of political parties are connected to each other. The other is what requirements can be set for the state and state officials in order to ensure freedom of conscience and religion equally for everyone- said Péter Sólyom, head of the Department of Constitutional at Faculty of Law of the University of Debrecen.
It was not the first time that Andreas Funke visited the Faculty of Law in Debrecen. His current guest lectures are another event in his decades-long cooperation with the Department of Constitutional Law, following the joint German-Hungarian human rights seminars in Debrecen in 2016 and Erlangen in 2018.
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