Deák, Ferenc

Deák, Ferenc

(born Oct. 17, 1803, Söjtör, Hung., Austrian Empire—died Jan. 28/29, 1876, Budapest) Hungarian politician. He entered the Hungarian Diet in 1833, becoming a leader of the reform movement for the political emancipation of Hungary. Appointed minister of justice in 1848, he was the principal author of the reforming “April laws.” In the 1860s he put forth Hungary's conditions for reconciliation with Austria in terms that led to the Compromise of 1867, establishing the dual monarchy of Austria-Hungary, and he helped to complete the legislation deriving from the Compromise.