Criminal Law Protection of Personal Secrets in Hungary

Abstract

The study analyses in detail and from a wide perspective the criminal law regulation applicable to the protection of personal secrets in Hungarian law. The author presents the historical development and comparative law context of the criminal substantive legal norms which defend personal secrets, especially in view of persons whose occupations or professions require handling such privileged information. Several norms applicable to specific professions (the clergy, the medical profession, and attorneys at law) as well as their implications in the light of the provisions of criminal and civil procedural law are also explored. The author concludes that it would be advantageous to use the expression ‘occupation’ in a wider sense and that the Hungarian Criminal Code should exemplify the secrets which often occur in everyday life and the exposure of which fits into the offending behaviour. Also, criminal and civil procedure should use the same rules for the exemption of persons bound by secrecy from having to testify as witnesses.