Symbolic legislation in critical sociological theories refers to cases that are largely ineffective and serve political and social goals other than the officially proclaimed ones. A well-known example is the theory of Vilhelm Aubert. According to Aubert, this legislation was never intended to be effective. Since the 1990s, another concept of symbolic legislation has developed. Particularly in the theory of Dutch legislation, the symbolic legislation is an alternative legislative technique that differs from the traditional top-down approach. The main aim of the article is to synthesize the competing theoretical approaches through some examples of the Hungarian legal system.