Csevár Nóra. Kálvin (alkotmány)jogi hatása a nyugat-európai alkotmányfejlődésre

Abstract: This study examines John Calvin’s legal and constitutional influence on the development of Western European constitutionalism by analysing the relationship between Calvinist ethics, norms, and law. It argues that Calvin’s thought affected constitutional development in two distinct but interconnected ways: directly through his doctrines on civil government, law, ecclesiastical order, and resistance to tyranny, and indirectly through the later reception and transformation of these doctrines by Calvinist movements and thinkers. The analysis first reconstructs the  theological foundations of Calvinist normativity, emphasizing Scripture as the source of moral and legal order, the guiding, restraining, and purposive functions of law, and the reciprocal responsibilities of rulers and subjects. It then considers the historical operation of Calvinist ideas in England and Hungary. The English case illustrates the interaction of Reformed theology with Anglican settlement and Puritanism, while the Hungarian case highlights the spread of Reformed ecclesiastical structures, religious liberty, national independence, and competing interpretations of resistance to unlawful authority. Finally, the study identifies connections between Calvinist ecclesiastical organization and later constitutional principles, including limited and accountable
government, the separation and distribution of powers, representative decision-making, equality, popular participation, freedom of conscience, and the rule of law. Particular attention is paid to the concept of mutual obligation between political authority and the people, as well as to the presbyterian-synodal model as a possible institutional precursor of representative government. The study concludes that modern constitutional democracy cannot be derived directly from Calvin’s theology; nevertheless, Calvin’s doctrines and their subsequent reception provided important normative concepts, institutional models, and political arguments that contributed substantially to the emergence of Western constitutional thought.

Keywords: Calvin, constitutional law, constitutional development, church law, Calvinist ethics, Calvinist law