Pest Central District Court of Justice
at the present time

The Pest Central District Court of Justice is the largest local court in Budapest, as well as in the entire country. The Court is presided over by the president, assisted by three vice-presidents, each responsible for a specific area: general operation, civil and criminal cases. The president adn his deputies are appointed by the president of the Budapest Metropolitan Court for six-year terms.
Unlike in most city and district courts, judges at the Pest Central District Court of Justice work in relatively well-defined fields within the system of legal administration. Under the current structure of the Court, working groups are divided in two divisions.

Within teh Civil Division, special groups deal with:
- housing and related civil rights issues,
- cases involving property law,
- cases related to family law and insurance claims,
- trial and non-trial cases involving business enterprises
- other non-trial cases, e.g., issuing collection orders and enforcement orders.

Within the Criminal Division:
- Group I. deals with criminal cases involving economic, foreign currency and property issues,
- Group II. looks into cases involving the violation of laws regulating the administration of justice, juvenile crime and private prosecution cases,
- Group III. works on cases involving acts of physical violence, sexual crime and traffic violations.

The Coercive Action Enforcement Group deals with criminal cases (i.e., pre-trial detention, temporary forced medical treatment, cases involving foreign national) prior to handing down indictments.
The Criminal Division also includes the Misdemeanour Group, which considers on the first instance misdemeanour cases under the jurisdiction of the court and reviews cases tried by small-claims courts and appealed by the parties involved.
The Pest Central District Court of Justice exercises exlusive jurisdiction over all juvenile criminal cases in the city of Budapest, as well as all traffic violations.
The Civil and Criminal Divisions operate in the main court building, while the court's Business Law Group is housed in Varsányi Irén street in Buda. The Out-of-Court Group operates from its offices in Bajza street in Pest, while the Coercive Action Enforcement Group responsible for pre-trial detention and other coercive measures is found in Tolnay Lajos street in Pest. All decisions passed by the Pest Central District Court of Justice may be appealed at the Budapest Metropolitan Court.
Chief judges and their deputies are responsible for the supervision and instruction of novice judges, secretaries and court clerks working in their respective specialised groups. Similar to the appointment of the president, judges are appointed by the president of the Budapest Metropolitan Court, also for six-year terms.
The vice-presidents, responsible for the civil and criminal divisions, supervise the performance of these specialised groups and provide professional guidance. All issues pertaining to daily operation, personnel policy and administrative matters are supervised by the Court's president and the general vice-president.
Similar to professional colleges in the Budapest Metropolitan Court, since May 1997 so-called 'minor-colleges' specialised in areas of civil and criminal law have been operating followed by considerable professional interest. Professional supervision is provided by the two competent vice-presidents.
To achieve a uniform administration of justice, these think-tanks have set the objective of formulating consistent positions and maintain close working relationship with their counterparts at the Budapest Metropolitan Court. Debates heard in 'minor colleges' are meticulously recorded, including minority options. To inform judges of the contentious issues debated before these forums, joinly developed positions are delivered to all parties involved.
The 1999 IT development project brought significant improvement in the operation of the main building on Markó street. As a result of the project, all offices are equipped with state-of-the-art personal computers and, with the steady development of the network system, all judges will have on-line access to the court's vast legal archive.