ACTA JURIDICA - A MTA Jogtudományi Közleményei Tom. 29 (1987)
1987 / 3-4. sz. - KULCSÁR KÁLMÁN: Position of lawyers and their role in the last four decades of Hungary
304 К. Kulcsár countries, having essentially identical level of development but different historical past and culture, the numbers of legal professionals considerably differ. In 1976 e.g. in the United States of America the number of lawyers per 1 million persons was 1.981 whereas the same ratio in Canada was 703, in Great Britain 588, in the German Federal Republic 449 and in Japan—where the legal culture differs even today from that of the Western societies—89. In Hungary, and in 1970 the number of the graduates of lawfaculties per 1 million persons amounted to 290. (No data are available for 1976.) This proportion is higher only in Israel than in the USA: 2.467 lawyers per 1 million persons. Before investigating the evolution of the phenomena connected with the functions of the law and of the lawyers in the Hungarian society (the particularities of which are, however, in many respects identical with those of other societies of the East-Central-European region, primarily with the phenomena appearing also historically in the present socialist countries), reference should be made to such functions of the law which manifested themselves historically always and in all societies which therefore can be regarded as the functions of law, such as: — the establishment and maintenance of the order (law and order) and security necessary for the normal life of the society, the co-ordination according to a norm system—built up on a definitive value system—the behaviour of people or people groups of different or even of contradictory interests related to each other, i.e. the promotion of the integration of society at the level of human behaviour; — contribution to the conscious shaping and planning of the society, to the organization and management of various social processes; — participation in the treatment and solution of conflicts and disputes of people and organizations. These functions may be present in a manifest manner, the participation in the treatment of disputes was e.g. always so much manifest that for a long time this was regarded as the single function of the law and the law was not considered more than the means of the solution of conflicts. They may operate in latent manner too. The participation of the law in the forming, organization etc. of the society e.g. was not in the least as much manifest, moreover, manifest to an increasing degree as in our days, in a latent manner, however, it was always present. Finally, they may lead to disfunctional results, e.g. the "over-use" of the law, as an instrument, especially against the existing and functioning social values, or the construction of criminal responsibility irrespective of the social justifiability and acceptance, establishing a linear relationship between the attitude towards the political decision and the criminal accountability, etc. The development of all these latent functional consequences and disfunctional phenomena is expressed in the position, in the social reputation of the lawyers. Returning to the problems resulting from the incongruity of the functions of law and of the functions of the lawyers, as well as, connected therewith, of their social status and tasks, reference shall be made to some factors appearing historically, Acta Juridica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae, 29, 1987