The Authority of District Administrators on the Basis of Act XLII of 1870 in Hungary

Abstract

Act XLII of 1870 (the first Hungarian Municipal Act) reorganised the middle level of public administration of Hungary. This act transformed the administration level under the counties and the districts, too. The counties had rights to regulate their districts, the operation of which were checked by the Royal Ministry of Interior. The districts were directed by the district administrators, whose authorities were determined by only one article in the act. For this reason, the counties were able to form the duties of the district administrators in detail. The execution of this act realised the separation of jurisdiction and public administration in the level of districts in Hungary. In my paper, I examined the authority statutes of the counties, and I presented the duties of the district administrators based on archival material (National Archives of Hungary, Ministry of Interior K150, bundles 117 and 118) after the execution of the Act XLII of 1870.