Description
“Although the roots of the prosecutor’s activities reach back to the 13th century, the Hungarian word for prosecutor, “ügyész”, was created during the language reform
period, first appearing in print in 1786. In bygone ages, the expressions “administrator of the King’s affairs” and the Latin designation of the official acting as prosecutor were used. It was Justice Minister Ferenc Deák who separated the criminal law and fiduciary responsibilities of the royal administrator, with the development of modern Hungarian justice system starting after the Compromise of 1867. Act XXXIII of 1871 on the royal prosecution service pointed out the need to establish an institution to prosecute criminal cases: “the intrinsically different activities of the judiciary, the prosecution and the defence should be separated and handled by entities that are independent of each other”. The prosecution service “may only be an entity of the state, since those who violate criminal laws cause injury to the legal system itself and thus to society as a whole”. The Act was promulgated on 10 June 1871. Since then, the prosecution service has been restructured many times and its scope of responsibilities has been altered, but its fundamental task of “representing the state’s interests in the judicial system” remains essentially unchanged. While it was only enshrined in law in 2006, the organisation has celebrated the 10th of June as the Day of the Prosecution Service since 1989 and will mark the 150th anniversary of its establishment in 2021, commemorating all of those who have fostered respect for and built the reputation of the prosecution service.
To the left of the emblem is 1871, recalling the year in which the independent prosecution service was created, with the mint year 2021 to the right in two lines. This image is surrounded by symbolic “emanating” and “protecting” waves extending to the raised edge of the coin. A semi-circular legend around the edge has the motto of the Prosecution Service of Hungary, with “TÖRVÉNY ÉS IGAZSÁG” (Law and justice) at the top and “MAGYARORSZÁG ÜGYÉSZSÉGE” (Prosecution Service of Hungary)
at the bottom.