The Department of Roman Law was established by the first dean of the Faculty, Prof. János ZLINSZKY (1928 − 2015) in 1995, originally within the Insititute of Legal History. He became the first Head of Institute and Head of Department of Roman Law until 2001, when his duties were resumed by Associate Professor Nadja EL BEHEIRI, who is the Head of Department as of now. After Institutes were eliminated, the department became structurally independent, however, strong relations and everyday cooperation still remained intact between the professors of the two departments of the former institute. As present, both the Department of Roman Law and the Department of Legal History are situated at the same place, with common secretary's office and library.
With regards to education, Prof. Géza MARTON's oeuvre is very fructuous in the department's everyday work, but in addition to this Prof. Wolfgang WALDSTEIN's researches also play a preponderant role in the forming of both our educational and scientific activities. Prof. WALDSTEIN obtained the title Doctor Honoris Causa as of 29th March, 2012. The foundations of the department's library are due to the legacy of Prof. Walter SELB (1929 — 1994), on which we continuously establish our new assets.
In our everyday educational activity, an strong emphasis is put on realism contrasted mainly to today's rather fasionable approach of both pluralism and relativism. Instead of beginning with the questions of "What should it be?" or "What should happen?", we put a stress on the question "What is it?". Consequently, we observe law as the origin of justice from the platform of the all-surrounding reality, in conformity with the attitude of Roman jurists, that is as an ars. Besides, it should be pointed out that the education of Roman law does not merely serve as a propaedeutic of civil law: starting from Roman law, we also become able to formulate statements concerning law itself.
