The April laws, also called March laws, were a collection of laws legislated by Lajos Kossuth with the aim of modernizing Kingdom of Hungary into a nation state. The imperative program included Hungarian control of its popular national guard, national budget and Hungarian foreign policy, as well as the removal of serfdom. They were passed by the Hungarian Diet in March 1848 in Pozsony (now Bratislava, Slovakia) (German: Pressburg) and signed by Ferdinand V at the Primate's Palace in the same city on 11 April 1848, as a reaction to the Revolution of 1848. When the revolution was crushed in 1849, Austria did not pass the laws, and Hungary did not retain full external autonomy until the Compromise of 1867 which would later influence Hungary's position in World War I.
Famous quotes containing the words april and/or laws:
“Thou art thy mother’s glass, and she in thee
Calls back the lovely April of her prime.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“It is a base thing for a man among the people not to obey those in command. Never in a state can the laws be well administered when fear does not stand firm.”
—Sophocles (497–406/5 B.C.)