The Tárkány Szücs Ernő Legal Cultural Historical and Legal Ethnographic Research Group (PTE KPVK), founded in Szekszárd in 2011 organized its XIst international and interdisciplinary conference with the support of the Vásárhely Testament Foundation, the ELTE-MTA Legal History Research Group (ELKH), the Legal History Subcommittee of the Committee on Legal and Political Sciences of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, the Research Centre for the Humanities, the Prime Minister's Office and the Ministry of Culture and Innovation.

To the conference opened on June 1, 2023 at the PAB Headquarters in Pécs by Dr. Katalin Szili, curator of the Universitas Quinqueecclesiensis Foundation, Dr. László Lénárd, president of the PAB, and Dr. Janka Teodora Nagy, president of the Tárkány Szücs Ernő Legal Cultural Historical and Legal Ethnographic Research Group, in addition to Hungarian legal historians, lawyers, historians, ethnographers, speakers from Mongolia, Transylvania and Eszék also arrived.

At the conference, the Tárkány Szücs Ernő Award, established by the Vásárhelyi Testamentum Foundation, the Research Centre for the Humanities and the PTE KPVK’s Research Group, was presented again. Dr. Attila Tárkány Szücs, who initiated the foundation of the award, wanted to draw the attention of academic life and the public to the most outstanding researchers of Hungarian legal ethnography and legal cultural history, and to the new research results of the field, paying tribute to his father's academic career.

In 2023 Dr. Barna Mezey, professor of legal history, co-chairman of the Tárkány Szücs Ernő Legal Cultural Historical and Legal Ethnographic Research Group was presented with the Tárkány Szücs Ernő Award’s Ist degree for his research oeuvre, the outstanding achievement in the research of legal history, legal cultural history, Hungarian legal ethnography in recognition of his fundamental, value-creating scientific work.

The Tárkány Szücs Ernő Award’s IInd degree for young researchers in 2023 was given to Ernő Szabó historian, scientific associate of the Tárkány Szücs Ernő Legal Cultural Historical and Legal Ethnographic Research Group based on his outstanding performance and professional results during the research of legal ethnography and legal cultural history.

The award of also a serious monetary recognition was handed over by Dr. Attila Tárkány Szücs, curator of the Vásárhelyi Testamentum Foundation; Dr. Balázs Balogh, Director General of the Research Centre for the Humanities, and Dr. Janka Teodora Nagy, President of the Research Group.

The presentations of the prize winners and the plenary program were accompanied by extraordinary interest from the professional audience and university students. Among them, the presentations of Dr. Batbayar Zeneemyadar, the previous ambassador of Mongolia to Hungary, a former student of ELTE, and currently a professor at the law faculty of the Shihihutug University in Ulan Bator on Mongolian marriage legal customs, as well as of Dr. Denis Njari Denis, the department leader professor of the J. J. Strossmayer University in Osiek about the legal practice of Hungarian language use in Osiek at the beginning of the 20th century.

The legal ethnography thematic volume of Acta Ethnographica Hungarica was an important milestone in the international recognition of the Research Group. The English-language journal of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences was presented by the editor-in-chief Dr. Ágnes Fülemile, and the legal ethnography volume was expounded by Dr. Szabina Bognár on behalf of the guest editors (Szabina Bognár–Janka Teodóra Nagy).

The presentations of the conference, which continued the next day in the PTE KPVK’s building in Szekszárd, were also related to the theme of legal customs of family- and inheritance law (e.g. symbols of family ties, betrothal, separation from bed and table, ballad heroes who fell into sin, caring for minor orphans, the effect of inheritance law on the family structure, children in Spanish legal customs).

The thematic sections of the conference dealt with the jurisprudential and ethnographic examination of legal customs and Transylvanian legal customs, and paid tribute to the work of Károly Tagányi, the author of the first study Hungarian legal customs announcing a new scientific program, published in 1919. Those present were also able to take a look at the databases available on the http://jogineprajz.hu website, which were completed in the tender entitled "The program of collecting legal customs of Károly Tagányi (1858–1924) and the historical significance of his legacy" (NKFI FK-132220), which greatly supported their work.

The conference created an excellent opportunity to learn about the latest results of legal ethnography, legal cultural history internationally and among the Hungarians of the Carpathian Basin, and for interdisciplinary professional dialogue.

The arcticle in Hunagrian and more images are available here.