MINISTRY FOR THE UNIFICATION OF LAWS AND THE ORGANISATION OF ADMINISTRATION AND ITS ROLE IN THE PROCESS OF UNIFICATION OF CRIMINAL LAW IN THE INTERWAR CZECHOSLOVAK REPUBLIC

Abstract

After the formation of the Czechoslovak Republic, legal dualism in criminal law existed in our territory. It was based on the provisions of the so-called Reception Act, and therefore Austrian laws applied in the Czech part of the republic and Hungarian laws applied in Slovakia and Subcarpathian Russia. The dualism of criminal law was unsustainable in the long run. The main aim of the then ongoing processes was to unify criminal law, which was to reflect the unitary nature of the Czechoslovak Republic. The unification was to be implemented by passing criminal laws applicable in the entire territory of the newly formed republic. In the Czechoslovak Republic, the Ministry for the Unification of Laws and the Organisation of Administration was established, whose main role was to unify the laws and administration in the entire territory of the republic. In this paper, the author seeks to point out efforts to unify criminal law, with an emphasis on the activities of the Unification Ministry.