The (Worst) Laws of the Land: The Concept of Legislative Basket Cases, Legislative Backsliding and Public Administration in Central-Eastern Europe

Kiss, Rebeka and Sebők, Miklós (2025) The (Worst) Laws of the Land: The Concept of Legislative Basket Cases, Legislative Backsliding and Public Administration in Central-Eastern Europe. POLICY STUDIES. pp. 1-27. ISSN 0144-2872 (In Press)

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Abstract

This article introduces the concept of legislative basket cases— adopted laws that fail to meet the normative standards of a wide range of established conceptual legislative quality criteria. They exhibit significant deficiencies across all or most of four dimensions: public policy, legal-constitutional, procedural, and stability. Through a multidimensional framework assessing these dimensions, we analyze emblematic cases from Czechia, Hungary, and Poland during periods of illiberal governance. The Czech taxation of church restitutions, the Hungarian Medical Chamber Law, and the Polish Law on Forests demonstrate how such laws bypass procedural safeguards, violate constitutional principles, and undermine democratic norms. We argue that normatively “bad” laws fail across the full policy-making cycle, from inadequate public administration preparation and improperly specified objectives through conflicts with legal-constitutional frameworks and democratic principles, including public consultation. Our comparative analysis reveals a pattern where quality standards across multiple dimensions are systematically eroded, contributing to broader democratic backsliding. While similar deficiencies occur in established liberal democracies, as illustrated by cases from Spain and Austria, they typically manifest differently. This framework offers a valuable tool for identifying extreme cases of deficient legislation and enhancing the understanding of legislative backsliding within democratic backsliding processes.

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