Curriculum vitae
prof. JUDr. Jaroslav Filo, CSc.
Jaroslav Filo
(1927-1989)
Jaroslav Filo was born on 6 May 1927 in Tuchyňa where he also attended the public school. He completed his studies at the State Grammar School in Trenčín in 1947 and enrolled at the Faculty of Law at Comenius University in the same year where he graduated in 1951.
He became the secretary of the Faculty of Law already during his studies at the faculty and in September 1951 he became the secretary of Comenius University and later on the bursar of CU in Bratislava. He held this function until the end of 1963.
He started to work at the Department of Administrative Law and Labour Law at the Faculty of Law at CU in Bratislava in 1964 as the deputy associate professor for the scientific field of labour law.
In 1966 he qualified as an associate professor with his thesis entitled The Issues and Legal Forms of Education for Manual Occupations in the CSSR and was awarded the degree of associate professor in the field of labour law at the beginning of 1967.
He defended his dissertation thesis entitled Preparing for Job from Employment and Apprenticeship Perspective in 1972 and obtained the scientific degree of candidate of legal sciences.
Jaroslav Filo was appointed as a special professor in 1975. He was the head of the Department of Labour Law and Agricultural and Cooperative Law from 1970. Being the head of the department, its scholarly and specialised activities were developing; moreover, the department more frequently cooperated with foreign scholarly departments and naturally ensured the education for students, the scientific and professional growth of its employees as well as the lawyers from other departments.
Professor Filo was elected the dean of the Faculty of Law at CU in Bratislava in 1972. He held this function until 1985. In the faculty's history and given the length of his tenure, Jaroslav Filo was holding this function for the longest period of time.
Apart from being the head of the Department of Labour Law, Agricultural and Cooperative Law, he was also the chairman of rigorous commission in the field of labour law, a member of the rigorous commission in the field of civil law and a member of the joint commission for defending dissertation theses from the field of civil substantive law, civil procedural law and labour law.
During his professional life, Professor Filo was also very actively engaged outside of the faculty – especially as a member of the working commission of the Legislative Board of the Federal Government for Labour Law and Social Security Law, a member of the Legislative Commission of the Federal Ministry of Labour of CSSR, a member of the Advisory Committee of the Ministry of Labour of SSR, a member and deputy chairman of the Scientific Collegium for State and Law of CSAS, a member of the Economy and Law Commission of the Scientific Collegium of SAS; furthermore, he was a member of a number of editorial boards, especially of the following journals: Právny obzor, Syntéza and Bezpečná práca. He was the chairman of the Labour Law Division of the Institute of Law at the Ministry of Justice of SSR where he also held the function of the chairman of the Labour Law and Social Security Law Division.
Professor Filo was also an active politician – he was a member of the Slovak National Council and a member of the presidium of the Slovak National Council for several years.
His scholarly and specialist works were primarily focused on the issues of education for holding workman jobs in CSSR. He analysed these issues both in monographs as well as in specialist studies and papers. His monograph entitled Preparing for Job from Employment and Apprenticeship Perspective was published in 1971. His other significant and specialist works include:
• Implied Legal Acts in Employment Termination
• Placing of Secondary School and University Graduates within the System of Distribution of Labour Forces in CSSR
• Employment Relationship as a Form of Preparing for Profession
• Several Comments on Defining the Term “Working Conditions”
He was the head of authors whose textbook entitled Czechoslovak Labour Law was published in 1981.
His scientific activities also included the preparation of expert's opinions for governmental bodies and institutions. Professor Filo also played a crucial role in the creation and issuance of the Czechoslovak court judicial decisions concerning the labour law and social security law.
Jaroslav Filo died on 27 December 1989 in Bratislava.
prof. JUDr. František Mestitz
František Mestitz
(1904-1994)
Professor František Mestitz, recognized both nationally as well as internationally, was the first professor of labour law in Slovakia. In terms of the extent and focus of his scholarly activities, he definitely belonged to respected European scholars.
He was born on 28 June 1904 in Roudnica n/L. He moved together with his family to Vienna in 1912 where he completed his studies at the faculty of law in 1928. He started to work as Professor Sinzheimer's assistant at the Faculty of Law in Frankfurt in the very same year. Professor Sinzheimer was a respected scholar recognised around Europe and was one of the co-founders of labour law. Even Professor Kelsen had an impact on Professor Mestitz's scholarly growth during the five-year-long period he spent in Frankfurt. He was awarded the degree of associate professor of labour law at the Faculty of Law in Frankfurt in 1930.
The rise of fascism in Germany was the main cause why he eventually decided to leave Germany in 1933. He worked at several places after he returned to Czechoslovakia including the Commission for Industry and the Commission for Labour Force. After he obtained the degree of associate professor at the Faculty of Law at Comenius University in Bratislava, he became the head of the Department of State Law and Administrative Law.
Being the government delegate, he participated in sessions of the International Labour Organisation in 1949 and 1951.
He held the post of the dean of the Faculty of Law at CU in Bratislava from 1950 to 1952. In 1952, he was appointed as the professor of administrative law and labour law. He was expelled from the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia in the same year and also expelled from the school.
He worked in a number of companies in Bratislava. After a full political rehabilitation in 1964, he returned to the Faculty of Law at CU in Bratislava and assumed the post of the head of the Department of Labour Law and Agricultural and Cooperative Law. His scientific erudition and extent of his focus was remarkable. As a university lecturer, he was active both in the area of labour law as well as administrative law.
In 1968, being a member of an international group of professors, he delivered lectures during the International School of Comparative Labour Law in Trieste together with other professors of labour law, such as G. Lyon-Caen, L.E. Troclet, A. Bernstein and R. di Sanseverino.
He was awarded the Comenius University Gold Medal in 1969 on the occasion of his 65th birthday.
In 1970, he presented his brilliant contribution at the World Congress in Warsaw focusing on the development of workers protection from the perspective of technological progress.
In the period of the so-called normalisation, Professor Mestitz was forced to leave the Faculty of Law at CU in Bratislava again. He moved to the Federal Republic of Germany in 1973. His leaving had a negative impact on the Faculty of Law at CU in Bratislava which was affected tremendously by such loss, especially its scientific fields of labour law and social security law.
Professor Mestitz who was a convinced socialist participated in trade unions during his entire life. The level of his scientific activities the extent of which was very broad was respected both nationally as well as internationally. Apart from the labour law and administrative law, he also dealt with comparative jurisprudence.
As a university professor, he was very caring, wise and exceptionally humane. According to lots of his students, his thinking was simple, direct and convincing. His endless energy and remarkable diligence was especially visible in Professor's Mestitz pedagogical activities. His interesting lectures and seminars during which he always gave students an opportunity for discussion and polemic were very popular among his students.
Furthermore, he also continuously ensured the education of new researchers. He was an important co-author of the new Labour Code published in 1975 as well as the head of authors of the first Czechoslovak textbook on labour law in 1967.
His scholarly activities have resulted into more than 100 specialist publications concerning labour law, social policy, administrative law, legal theory and comparative jurisprudence, including 5 monographs. His most significant scholarly works include especially the following ones:
• Zur Frage der Rechtsnatur der Satzung
• Neuer francösisches Arbeitsrecht
• Gleichzeitig ein Beitrag zur Vergleichung der Theorien des deutschen unf französischen Arbeitsrecht
• Renumerácia súkromných zamestnancov / Remuneration of Private Sphere Employees
• Niekoľko poznámok k úprave kolektívnej zmluvy v Československom pracovnom práve / Some Comments on Legal Regulation of Collective Agreement in Czechoslovak Labour Law
• Opatreniu proti zastavovaniu podnikov a prepúšťaniu zamestnancov / Measures Taken against Closing down the Plants and Dismissal of Employees
• Účasť závodného výboru v spoločenských orgánov zamestnávateľa /Participation of Plant's Committee in Employer's Social Bodies
• Vyššie služby nekupecké / Higher Non-Merchant Services
• O medzinárodnej organizácii práce a zmene jej ústavy / On the International Organisation of Labour and Change to its Constitution
• Nový vzťah človeka k práci ako základ pracovného práva československej ľudovej demokracie / New Man's Approach to Work as the Basis of Labour Law in Czechoslovak People's Democracy
• Zodpovednosť podniku za zdravú a bezpečnú prácu / Factory's Liability for Healthy and Safe Work
• Zodpovednosť výrobcu strojov za zdravú a bezpečnú prácu / Machines Manufacturer's Responsibility for Healthy and Safe Work
• Problémy bezpečnosti a hygieny práce / Issues Concerning the Safety and Hygiene at Work
• Prevencia, zodpovednosť a liberácia pri pracovných úrazoch a chorobách z povolania / Prevention, Liability and Liberation in Occupational Injuries and Occupational Diseases
• Ochrana suščestvovanija i soderžanija trudovogo otnošenia v Kodekse truda
• Racionalizačné opatrenia a uvoľňovanie a hmotné zabezpečenie / Rationalization Measures and Release and Material Security
• Rozhodovanie pracovných sporov / Deciding the Labour Disputes
• Pracovné právo a porovnávacia právoveda / Labour Law and Comparative Jurisprudence
• Einige Geganwartsprobleme des tschechoslowakischen Arbeitsrecht
• Rivista internazionale di firitto di lavoro
• Arbeitsrecht und Wirtchaftslenkung
• Das Recht der Arbeit
• Wien – Selected Basic Problems of the new Czechoslovak Labour Law
• Modern Law Review
Professor Mestitz was a member of both national as well as international bodies, institutions, legislative commissions and scientific boards, e.g. International Society for Labour and Social Security Law in Geneva, a member of Legislative Commission at Federal Ministry of Labour in the CSSR, a chairman of the labour law division of PÚMS, vice chairman of the Standing Working Group for Labour Law and Social Security Law at the Legislative Board of the government of CSSR, a member of the Central Scientific and Methodological Board for State and Law at the Slovak Committee of the Socialist Academy, a member of the Scientific Board of the Czechoslovak Labour Research Institute, a member of editorial boards of a number of journals (Právny obzor, Bulletin du droit tchécoslovaque and Syntézy), a member of the committee of the Labour Law Society within the Union of Slovak Lawyers, a member of Société internationale du droit du travail et de la lédislation sociale.
His extensive scholarly activities also include lectures which he delivered at foreign universities /in Cracow, Łódź, Vienna, Graz, Geneva / as well as courses focused on Czechoslovak labour law at the University of Comparative Law in Trieste.
Professor František Mestitz undertook his scholarly activities even after he emigrated. His finals works prepared during the time he was staying in the Federal Republic of Germany were dedicated to history of labour law in Europe.
He died on 28 June 1994 in Frankfurt.
Helena Barancová
prof. JUDr. Juraj Kolesár, CSc.
Juraj KOLESÁR
(1929 – 2003)
Juraj Kolesár was born on 23 March 1929 in Poša, in the district of Vranov nad Topľou. He attended the Public Grammar School in Michalovce (today known as the Grammar School of Pavol Horov) where he completed his studies in 1948. He subsequently applied to the Faculty of Law of Slovak University in Bratislava where he graduated in 1952 after successfully completing his studies. His childhood and youth were rather extraordinary.
His father was travelling overseas to find a job right at the time when Juraj was born. Being a child of an “American” meant on the one hand that he could wear a nice pair of trousers but on the other hand, his opportunities to find a job during and after his studies at the Faculty of Law were rather limited. His spent his childhood and the first years of his studies as the only child living together with his mother in the countryside in rather difficult agricultural conditions and poverty. His mother saved money for Juraj's studies and for gradually purchasing pieces of land. He first met his father whom he had only previously known from letters and photographs at the time when he was thirty years old and had his first son. His mother also decided to go to Canada saying that she would certainly come back to be buried in the homeland. However, she never returned.
Juraj met his wife Světla during his studies in Bratislava. When he found out that he was supposed to perform his rather long military service only a few kilometres from Světla's hometown Haná, he immediately fell in love both with her and the surrounding Olomoucko countryside and Jeseníky, the local mountain range. He was very keen on agriculture both as a legal expert and theoretician. During the frequent visits of his parents-in-law, he often mowed the lawn and picked fruits as a form of relaxation. When he arrived, there was normally a scythe or two waiting for him with which he cleaned even the most overgrown ditches. During the currants harvest, one could only see his straw hat and hear a transistor radio and later on in the evening, one could only hear the typing on a typewriter. Apart from teaching new librarians and graphics at the secondary school, his wife Světla was gradually moving her painting studio from the bedroom in their flat to her parents' attic in their family house. Such family background must have also undoubtedly affected their children – their son Juraj is an associate professor of law and their second son Zdeno is an associate professor of design.
As a junior lawyer, Juraj Kolesár started to work at the Regional National Committee in Prešov at the Department of Labour Force. His family subsequently moved to Bratislava as there was a suitable spot vacant at the Commission of Interior. The Commission closed down in 1960 and Juraj decided to pursue a career of a university lecturer at the Faculty of Law at Comenius University where he was active until he eventually retired. He also remained loyal to the agricultural cooperatives which needed a specific legal aid. Being a member of the Department of Administrative Law, he was engaged in the inception of agricultural cooperative law which also included the land law and was taught by the Department of Labour, Agricultural and Cooperative Law and Land Law at the Faculty of Law at Comenius University in Bratislava. Moreover, even the social security law was taught at this department and Juraj Kolesár was particularly specialising in this field.
He became the candidate of legal sciences in 1965 and was awarded the pedagogical degree of associate professor on 1 April 1967 and in 1980 he was appointed as a university professor of agricultural and cooperative law by the president of the Slovak Republic. From September 1981, he was the head of the Department of Labour Law and Agricultural and Cooperative Law at the Faculty of Law at CU. He successfully defended his doctoral thesis and was awarded the DrSc. degree.
Apart from being the head of the department, he also became a vice dean and held other functions, too. He closely co-operated with the Ministry of Agriculture and Nutrition where he was an active member of several commissions. Furthermore, he was a member of editorial boards of several journals focused on state and public administration. He also frequently visited a number of institutions in the Czech Republic – some of his students still work at the faculties of law here and Agricultural University in Brno was always his most favourite place.
Nowadays, the agricultural cooperatives are perceived in a different way compared to the past. Some of its aspects are re-appearing after they were previously reprobated. Having confronted our country with countries other than those in eastern Europe, it turned out that in order for the population to ensure enough foodstuffs, the population has to unite in cooperatives. Juraj Kolesár's findings will thus probably be used again.
He cooperated with researches and university lecturers both nationally and internationally in terms of his field and issues of legal regulation of labour relationships in the United Cooperative Farm (UCF). His discussions with Professor Jaroslav Filip about the positions and specific features of labour relationships and the relationship between labour law and agricultural and cooperative law, often rather heated ones, were frequently ironically commented on by their colleagues in the department and outside it. However, they were very inspiring for both of them and later on reflected in their pedagogical and research activities.
Immense scientific activities of Professor Kolesár were reflected in his numerous publications. His monographs were primarily aimed at the issues of agricultural and cooperative law (Legal Regulation of Labour Relationships in UCF – 1967, Basic Labour Rights and Obligations in UCF – 1970, Approximation of Legal Regulation of Labour Relationships of UCF Members and Labour Relationships – 1977, Social Rights of UCF Members – 1983). He focused on the issues of legal regulation of social rights of UCF members while using the method of comparison with the labour law regulation of other employees. Such method provided a broader analytical perspective on given issues. He analysed basic theoretical issues in his monographs focusing on their historical background and development trends. He presented his views on these issues and compared them with comparable opinions of the then experts from the surrounding countries. Mutual citations convey that all of them pursued the same aim – to find a solution to one of the major problems of the state – to provide the population with enough foodstuffs.
In addition to his monographs, he was an author of a great number of specialised studies, specialist and popularisation papers, articles, textbooks and lecture notes out of which we should undoubtedly mention the textbook on Czechoslovak Land Law which was published in Bratislava in 1980 and later on in Prague in 1987. Professor Kolesár was the head of the team of authors. The set of his publications – monographs, articles, textbooks or lecture notes in the given period represents a theoretical analysis of the current state of the researched issues and many of his ideas appear to be still applicable and up-to-date.
After reaching the age of 65, Professor Kolesár ceased to be the head of the department and retired later on. He still wanted to deal with the legal theory and practice, especially in the area of land law which was very topical at that time. However, his health conditions did not enable him to do these activities – he had not taken particular care of his health during his active life and these were the consequences. He died on 30 January 2003 in Bratislava while being close to his family. His name will definitely remain very well-known to the middle and older generation of lawyers in Slovakia for a long time.
Juraj Kolesár, Ján Matlák
doc. JUDr. Richard Rapant, CSc.
Doc. JUDr. Richard Rapant, CSc.
(1941 - doteraz)
He was born on 16 October 1941. From 1964 to 1968 he worked as an in-house counsel and later on as a specialised clerk at the District National Committee in Trnava. He started to work as a university lecturer at the Faculty of Law at Comenius University in Bratislava in 1968. He became the head of the Department of Labour and Agricultural and Cooperative Law in 1990 and from 1992 to 1993 he was the head of the Department of Law and Environmental Law at the Faculty of Law at Comenius University in Bratislava. He was the chairman of the Commission for Dissertation Theses Defence in the field of administrative law and agricultural and cooperative law as well as a member of specialist commissions and boards at the Ministry of Environment of the Slovak Republic and the Ministry of Agriculture of the Slovak Republic.
His basic scholarly and pedagogical orientation is focused on the fields of agricultural and cooperative law, land law and environmental law. He published a number of specialist and popularisation studies and articles, university textbooks and lecture notes and also introduced several legislative bills concerning the environment and possession of land.
He was appointed as a judge of the Constitutional Court of the Slovak Republic on 21January 1993 and held this post until 21 January 2000.
prof. JUDr. Robert Schronk, CSc.
Prof. JUDr. Robert Schronk, CSc. is an internal member of the Department of Labor Law and Social Security law (hereinafter “Department”) of Faculty of Law of Comenius University in Bratislava since 1991. In his scholarly work he focuses primarily on labor law, is engaged in a variety of scholarly – research and grand tasks. He is the author, respectively co-author of several monographs, scholarly and expert articles, comments to the laws in a field of labor law and textbooks. He is the co-author of a textbook of labor law. In his publishing he focuses primarily on international and european labor law, the issue of employment relationship, working time, liability for damage in labor law and collective labor law. He is involved in a ensuring of teaching subjects Basic of labor law, Labor law and International and european labor law.
doc. JUDr. Ján Matlák, CSc.
Doc. JUDr. Ján Matlák, CSc. has worked at the Department of Labour Law and Social Security Law at the Faculty of Law of Comenius University (hereinafter only as “the Department”) since 1991. During his teaching experience, he has dealt with the problems of Social Security Law, Health Law, Social Policy and Labour Law. His research is focused on Social Security Law. He is the author and co-author of several monographs, research and academic articles, and Social Security Law acts´ commentaries. He is also the co-author and author group leader of the textbook Social Security Law. At the Department - altogether with other colleagues- he participates in teaching of Social Security Law I., II. and Social Policy.
JUDr. Juraj Hamuľák, Ph.D.
JUDr. Juraj Hamuľák, PhD. has graduated from the Faculty of Law of CU in Bratislava. His dissertation thesis from Constitutional Law on topic “Constitutional system in Slovak Republic and perspectives of its development in the terms of European Union membership” was defended in 2009. He has worked as a research employee in several functions of pedagogical process at the Department of Labour Law and Social Security Law of Faculty of Law at UC in Bratislava since 2009. During his research he has elaborated the questions of labour legislation, youth employment problems, collective labour relations and the strike rights. From 2007 to 2010 he participated as a co-organizer on the international postgraduates and young researchers´ conference called “The Milestones of law in the area of the Central Europe”, yearly organised by the Faculty of Law of UC in Bratislava under the aegis of the Dean of the Faculty. He is the compiler of anthologies from the conference, as well as the author of various academic articles from either Slovak or Czech conferences. Since January 2015 is he the Head of Department.
JUDr. Mária Nováková, Ph.D.
JUDr. Mária Nováková, Ph.D. works at the Department of labor law and social security law PrafUK since 1996 as an assistant professor. In her publishing she focuses mainly on the issue of the status of the health care workers, as well as issue of medical law in Slovak republic. She is the author, respectively co-author of several publications, from comments to the Labor code, through college textbooks, to research and scholarly publications in domestic and foreign reviewed and non-reviewed journals. With the issue of medical law and with the issue of status of health care workers shall JUDr. Nováková meet also is her professional growth, whether as a lawyer, respectively head of legal department of Children´s university hospital with policlinics or as the principal state´s councilor on the Legislative department of the Ministry of health SR. In her teaching activities she provides teaching of subjects Medical law, Basic of labor law and Labor law.
JUDr. Zuzana Macková, Ph.D.
JUDr. Zuzana Macková, PhD. has been the internal member and the lecturer of the Department of Labour Law and Social Security Law (hereinafter only as “the Department”) at the Faculty of Law of Comenius University in Bratislava since 1995. During her professional career JUDr. Macková has occupied several significant positions, either in public or private sector. Rendering some of them we select Ministry of Labour, social affairs and family – the Department of Social Legislation, Social Insurance Agency – the Department of Health Insurance, Central of Labour, Social Affairs and Family, Confederation of Trade Unions or Trade Union of Culture of Slovak Republic. In her academic and publishing career, she primarily focuses on Social Security Law. At the Department, she is involved in teaching of Social Security Law I., II., Social Policy and Social Law Clinic.
JUDr. Vladimír Minčič, Ph.D.
JUDr. Vladimír Minčič, Ph.D. graduated from the Faculty of Law of Comenius University in Bratislava. He has been an internal postgraduate at the Department of Labour Law and Social Security Law (hereinafter only as “the Department”), as well as at the Department of Administrative Law and Environmental Law since 2010. His thesis is focused on the labour matters of employment and civil service for public and state employees. In his research JUDr. Minčič also examines the matters of public employees´labour status and contemporary problems in Labour Law. At the Department, he participates in teaching of Essentials of Employment Law and Employment Law.
Since March 2015 is he the deputy head of Department.
Mgr. Jozef Pavol
Mgr. Jozef Pavol graduated from the Faculty of Law of Comenius University in Bratislava. He has been an assistant at the Department of Labour Law and Social Security Law (hereinafter referred to as “the Department”) since 2013. His scientific work is focused on collective bargaining. At the Department, he participates in teaching Labor Law.
JUDr. Lenka Freel, Ph.D.
JUDr. Lenka Trnkusová, Ph.D. graduated Faculty of law of Comenius University in Bratislava. Since 2012 she acting as internal PhD. student at the Department of labor law and social security law (hereinafter “Department”) and the Department of administrative law and environmental law. In her dissertation she deals with the issue of ambulatory, institutional and pharmaceutical care in the light of international legislation.