The First Roots of the Economic Criminal Law in Hungary: Overpricing Misdemeanors

During the First World War, a criminalization process started in Hungary and economic crimes began to be regulated. Due to the financial crisis and the economic recession, the function of criminal law changed because it had to protect the national economy and its main institutions, which led to the adoption of Act IX of 1916 on overpricing misdemeanors. After analyzing the relevant legal literature and the parliamentary debates from the Hungarian Parliamentary Collection, I draw the conclusion that the act was intended to stop the increase of the prices of convenience goods and illegal chain trade. After a dogmatic analysis, I examined the decisions of the Royal Regional Court of Budapest in the Budapest City Archives and reached the conclusion that the courts used a teleological interpretation regarding the definitional elements unknown in the criminal law before 1916.