The Department of Financial Law, Tax Law and Economy is a relatively young department. It was created based on a Decision of the then Dean of the Faculty on the division of the Department of Commercial Law, Business Law and Financial Law as of 19th February 2001. On the same day, the Dean authorized prof. JUDr. Vladimír Babčák, CSc. to act as a Head of Department, and after the official selection procedure, appointed him into this position on 10th July 2001. The official name of the Department has changed with the effect of 1st September 2016 from the original designation Department of Financial Law and Tax Law to its current official name ‘Department of Financial Law, Tax Law and Economy’.
During the early years of the Department, delimited by the year 1973, Financial Law courses at the Department of the Faculty of Law in Košice for part-time and full-time students were taught by renowned professionals from the Faculty of Law of Comenius University in Bratislava, namely prof. JUDr. Jordán Girášek, DrSc. and prof. JUDr. Anton Slovinský, CSc.
In the beginning of January 1975, Vladimír Babčák, as a fresh graduate of the Faculty of Law of Comenius University in Bratislava joined the Department and started teaching Financial Law courses for full-time students. He obtained his doctoral degree in 1983 and in 1985 completed habilitation proceedings and was appointed an associate professor in the field of Business Law and Financial Law. This marks the end of the assistance with teaching of Financial Law courses in Košice conducted by law teachers from the Faculty of Law of Comenius University in Bratislava.
In 1976, the Department welcomed the law graduate of the Faculty at Law of Pavol Jozef Šafárik in Košice, Mária Jurková (now Bujňáková) to specialize in the field of Financial Law. She completed her completed her doctoral studies in 1986. In February 2025, the Department commemorated the 24nd anniversary of its existence. It should be noted that in the process of its gradual development, the Department has always fairly reflected on their position at the Faculty and among other departments of its kind at different universities. The members of the Department shared commitment to and confidence in that the results of their teaching, science and research activities are beneficial both for development of the field of Financial Law and Tax Law and of other disciplines within the specialization of the Department and also for the education of fresh law graduates. In this regard, it has developed natural authority in the academic setting and gained recognition as a department devoted not only to Financial Law, but over a span of twenty years, to the development of Tax Law and to laying its foundations as a separate branch of law. This eventually led to the creation of the long-term tradition and academic recognition of the so-called „Košice School of Tax Law“ in Slovakia, in the Czech Republic but also, for example in Poland. Such unofficial denomination brings academic fulfilment to the members of the Department for their work in science, research and teaching and poses a great challenge for the future.
