Francesi, tedeschi e ungheresi non possono farci le leggi : l'unificazione legislativa in Romania (1918-1927)

In 1918 the Kingdom of Romania annexed Transylvania, Northern Bukovina and Bessarabia, and immediately started the process of their legislative and judicial integration. Nevertheless, the task turned out to be much harder than expected. Romanian judges and lawyers from the annexed lands did not passively accept Bucharest's orders; Transylvanians, for instance, stood up for Hungarian colleagues fired or relocated, and resisted the extension of Romanian legislation in the region. The article, born out of ongoing research on the integration of former imperial regions within Romania, aims to show the different reasons behind the vicissitudes of the unification process. The analysis downplays the role played by nationalist discourse and its capacity to influence every aspect of society. [Publisher's text].