Hungarian Constitution of 1949

The Soviet type charter that lived on, heavily rewritten, until 2011.

Overview

Adopted in August 1949 under Rakosi, Hungarys constitution was copied from the 1936 Soviet model, declaring a peoples republic and socialist ownership. After 1989 it was not replaced but transformed, roundtable negotiators rewriting it into a liberal democratic charter overnight, an unusual constitutional mutation. As amended it anchored democratic transition and accession to the European Union. In 2011 the Fidesz government replaced it with the Fundamental Law, which took effect January 1, 2012, a contested break in constitutional continuity.