Public Authenticity in the Digital Age: The Transformation of the Land Registry in Hungary

Abstract

The land register is one of the fundamental institutions of legal certainty and economic life, designed to guarantee the transparency of property relations and the security of transactions. The purpose of this study is to present the historical development of the Hungarian land register, with particular emphasis on the changes following the political transition and the introduction of the electronic registration system (E-ING). The analysis demonstrates that regulation has always closely followed socio-economic transformations, while technological progress has simultaneously created new challenges for both legislation and legal practice. The paper also provides a comparative outlook on the practices of neighbouring countries—Slovakia, the Czech Republic, and Austria—juxtaposed with the Hungarian solutions. Special attention is given to the advantages and risks of electronic administration, especially concerning the evolving role of public authenticity, as well as the new dimensions of responsibility arising for legal representation in the context of automated decision-making. The findings indicate that the digitalisation of the land register is not merely an administrative simplification, but also raises new legal and theoretical issues that will shape the framework of legal certainty in the long term.