This article examines constitutions as a special effort of constructing
long-lasting national memories. These images of the past become, with
the assistance of the constitutions, canonised in the heart of the
entire legal system that should be obeyed by each and every citizen. The
conceptions of history represented by the Constitution are effectively
spread by the government machinery and maintained unchanged for a
relatively long time due to the solid character of constitutions. This
study focuses on the characteristics of Eastern European constitutions
and more specifically on the Hungarian Constitution’s history-images and
their relation to identity. The Hungarian Constitution is the most
recent European case that has been brought into the limelight of the
international media because of its questionable jurisdiction process
that ran against the contemporary democratic values of legal thinking in
the Western hemisphere. The present study draws on legal sources and
debates of legal experts in the making and assessment of this legal
document. In addition, the analysis also relies on public discourse
related to the reception of the troubled legislation and its
modification process.