Up for auction RARE! "President of Hungary" Ferenc Mádl Hand Signed Card. This item is certified authentic by Todd Mueller Autographs and comes with their Certificate of Authenticity. ES-7633 Ferenc
Mádl (Hungarian: [ˈfɛrɛnt͡s ˈmaːdl̩]; 29
January 1931 – 29 May 2011) was a Hungarian legal scholar, professor and
politician, who served as the second President of the third Republic of Hungary, between 4 August 2000 and 5 August 2005. Prior to
that he had been minister without portfolio between 1990 and 1993 then Minister of Education between
1993 and 1994 in the conservative cabinets of József Antall and Péter Boross. Mádl ran unsuccessfully for the position of
President of Hungary in 1995, defeated by Árpád Göncz. Five years
later he was elected head
of state as the candidate of the governing conservative coalition. Mádl was
awarded a diploma from the Faculty of Politics and Law of the Eötvös Loránd University in
1955. Between 1961–1963 he studied at the faculty of international comparative
law of the University of Strasbourg. He was awarded an academic degree as candidate of
politics and law in 1964, and he received a doctorate in 1974 with his
dissertation "The company and economic competition in the law of European
economic integration". In 1987 he was elected a corresponding member of
the Hungarian Academy of
Sciences, and then in 1993 he was made a full member of the Academy.
In his scientific activities he has primarily dealt with matters of civil law,
private international law and legal problems related to international economic
relations, as well as European law. He was secretary of the Scientific
Qualifying Committee between 1984–1990, from 1985 he has been a member of the
Harvard Academy of International Commercial Law, from 1988 a member of the
steering committee of the Rome international institute (UNIDROIT) for unifying private law, while from 1989 he was
appointed as a central judge on the Washington-based international selected
court for states and foreign investors. Besides the aforementioned positions he
held he also assisted in the editing of several scientific journals and the
work of scientific organizations, and was a member of several international
academies. Mádl lectured at numerous foreign universities
as guest professor, and is the author of several books and studies. From 1955
Mádl worked as a legal clerk and then as court secretary, then between 1956 and
1971 he worked as political and legal rapporteur at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences Central
Office, later being promoted to head of department. From 1971 he taught at the
Budapest University of Sciences Department of Civil Law as a docent, before
continuing this work as university tutor from 1973. In the meantime, between
1972 and 1980 he was on the staff of the Hungarian Academy's Institute of
Politics and Law, and from 1978 until 1985 he held the post of director of the
Institute of Civil Sciences. He was the director of the Faculty of Private
International Law of the Budapest University of Sciences from 1985 until his
death in May 2011. He was not affiliated with any party. He undertook a role in
political life after the change to democracy in 1989. From 23 May 1990 to 22
February 1993 as minister without portfolio in József Antall's government. He was charged with supervising the Hungarian
Academy of Sciences; he assisted in defining government science policy goals as
well as closely observing the harmonization of related state tasks and their
implementation; on the basis of separate commissions he represented the
government and the prime minister in international organizations; he cooperated
with the ministers for justice, foreign affairs and international economic
relations in the realization of certain tasks. From 1991 he also fulfilled
duties as government commissioner in connection with the Bős-Nagymaros hydroelectric power plant project. At the instigation of
the government, in late 1992 an inter-portfolio committee was formed under his
chairmanship to research those works of art illegally taken to the former Soviet Union from Hungary during and after the Second
World War, with the aim of winning their return. He took the post of chairman
of the board of directors of the State Property Agency on 1 August 1990, and
from 1992 he exercised, on the authority of the government, supervisory powers
over the State Bank Supervisory Authority, at the same time being appointed
chairman of the Bank Supervisory Authority Committee, a role he filled until
February 1993. He also exercised supervisory control over the Central Office of
the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and the National Scientific Research Fund. He
was appointed chairman of the government's Science Policy Committee in August
1990, and he headed the Human Resources Policy Cabinet between 1992–1993. Between
22 February 1993 and 15 July 1994 he was minister for culture and education. Between February and July 1994 he filled the
post of chairman of the Council for Higher Education and Science. Also in 1994,
he was appointed chair of the National Cultural Fund. He stood as the
opposition MDF-KDNP-Fidesz's nominee for President of the Republic in 1995. He had
been chairman of the Hungarian Civil Cooperation Association since 1996. From
1999 he has been a member of the scientific advisory body for the Viktor Orbán government. On
15 March 1999 he was awarded the Széchenyi Prize for
his internationally recognized scientific achievements in the areas of European
law, private international law and international commercial law, as well as for
his higher educational and scientific organizational efforts. In September of
the same year he was also honoured with the French order of the Légion d'honneur. On
3 May 2000 he was nominated by Fidesz and the FKGP for the position of President of the Republic, which
he accepted. The National Assembly of
Hungary elected Ferenc Mádl President of the Republic on 6 June
2000. He was inaugurated as President of the Republic of Hungary on 4 August
2000. His duty, by Constitution,
extended to 5 years. His term as President ended in 2005: he did not want to
run again for the office. He was succeeded by László Sólyom, an
independent candidate of the right-wing opposition, who defeated Katalin Szili in the indirect
presidential election. After his presidency, Ferenc Mádl served as
an Honorary Co-Chair for the World Justice Project.
The World Justice Project works
to lead a global, multidisciplinary effort to strengthen the Rule of Law for the development of communities of
opportunity and equity. |