Lorinc Toth

* Komárom, December 17, 1814 – † Budapest, March 17, 1903 / writer, jurist, member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (1858) ; ; He studied at the Academy in Bratislava, later studied law in Pest. In 1838 he passed the bar exam and worked as a prosecutor for noble families. He was the notary of the Kisfaludy Society from 1837, its secretary from 1841–1843, and was also a member of the Petőfi Society. Between 1839–1840 he made a longer trip to Western Europe, which he reported on in his work Úti tárcza (I – VI., 1844). In 1844 he was elected secretary of the Védegylet. He participated in political, social and cultural movements, and belonged to Vörösmarty’s circle of friends. He participated in the parliaments of 1839–1840 and 1843–1844 as an envoy of distant principalities, and in 1847–1848 he was the parliamentary envoy of Breznóbánya. ; During the War of Independence, he was a representative and departmental advisor to the Minister of Justice, head of the state prosecutor's department. In Debrecen, he was a supporter of the Peace Party, but he also accompanied the government to Szeged and Arad. After Világos, he went into hiding for a while, then was captured in Pest, brought before a military tribunal and sentenced to death, but was pardoned and interned in Pest. After that, he pursued legal and journalistic work. In 1865–1869, he was a member of parliament. From 1869, he was a judge of the Court of Cassation, later of the Curia, and from 1883 to 1894, he was the president of the council. In 1881, he was the speaker of the criminal trial against Leó Frankel, the preparer of the final verdict. He published several works of jurisprudence. He also wrote poems, dramas, memorial speeches and stories. He wrote the opera text of Ferenc Erkel Egressy Béni based on his drama László Hunyady. ; ; His main works: ; Ideas about Hungarian science, academia and school affairs (pamphlet), 1848, ; The Austrian civil procedure code, 1853, ; Portraits and biographies of Hungarian writers (Pest, 1858), ; The system of orality, directness and publicity in civil law, 1876, ; Prison studies I-II., 1885–1888, ; On the causes and remedies of relapse, 1889, ; Short-term prison sentences, 1891.