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The Law of Serbia comprises many levels of codified and uncodified forms of law, of which the most important is the Serbian Constitution. [1]
The Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia (Службени гласник Републике Србије) is the government gazette containing the laws, regulations and other documents. [2] It is published by the public company Official Gazette (Службени гласник). [2]
From the 8th to the 13th century, social relations were regulated by common law. The first elements and texts of middle age Serbian law were made in the 12th century. In the 14th and 15th centuries there were many new legal documents that coincided with the political and economic rise of Serbia. The influence of the Nemanjić family was enormous. During their regency, Serbia gained independence and started to develop its first legal system. [3]
During the Nemanjić dynasty (1166–1371), the Serbian medieval state flourished in the spheres of politics, religion, and culture. A large number of monasteries were built, far more than in previous centuries. Development and urbanization increased. One of the key contributions to Serbian law made by the Nemanjić family was the Zakonopravilo. Also known as the Nomocanon of Sveti Sava (Rastko Nemanjić), this document was the first Serbian constitution and the highest code in the Serbian Orthodox Church.
Initiated when the Serbian church gained independence (1219), the text comprises a combination of church regulations. The Zakonopravilo includes 64 articles of varying lengths. The 55th article originates from civil (common) law and is divided in 40 branches.
Dušan's Code, (Serbian: Dušanov zakonik/Душанов законик), known historically as Закон благовјернаго цара Стефана, is a compilation of several legal systems that was enacted by Stephen Uroš IV Dušan of Serbia in 1349. It was used in the Serbian Empire and in the succeeding Serbian Despotate. Dušan's code is considered as an early constitution; an advanced set of laws which regulated all aspects of life. The Code was promulgated at a state council on May 21, 1349, in Skopje, the capital of the Serbian Empire. Emperor Dušan added a series of articles to it in 1353 or 1354, at a council in Serres. This second part was half the size and at times cited issues from the first part, referring to it as the "First Code". The second part had a total of 201 articles. Four of them (79, 123, 152, 153), regarding various subjects, referred to the authority of the "Law of the Sainted King" (i.e. Stephen Uroš II Milutin of Serbia, r. 1282–1321, Dušan's grandfather), which suggests that Milutin had issued a code whose text did not survive. By this assumption, it would appear that Dušan's Code was a supplement to Milutin's Code. As well, it was a supplement to the various Church law codes that held authority in Serbia.
Dušan's Code had several additional influences. It was influenced by the Syntagma Canonum, a text written in 1335 by Matthew Blastares, which had been translated into Serbian and received legal authority by 1349. It was heavily influenced by Byzantine law with some reflections in nearly half of its articles, including many articles concerning the church as well as many with influence from Byzantine civil law. Notable Byzantine influence includes the late 9th century compilation by Basil I and Leo VI.
Scholars A. Solovjev and Soulis conclude that the Council of 1349 issued a three-part comprehensive legal document, since most early manuscripts of the Code also contain two other texts: The first part was an abridgement of the Syntagma, the second part was the "Code of Justinian" (an abridgement of The Partner's Law), and the third part was always Dušan's Code itself. According to Fine, there is a possibility that the Code was written to supplement the first two parts, by adding items that were not covered, rather than to build a comprehensive legal system.[ citation needed ]
There are many legal sources, such as: charters, a contract with Dubrovnik, Byzantine legal compilations translated in Serbia, Dušans Act, Law on Mines by Stefan Lazarević, and the statute of coastal towns. Charters are legal acts made for many law reasons. Those are grants with which rulers give away to churches and monasteries properties with benefits. They were written in such way that there was a certain established form, introduction, text, and conclusion.[ citation needed ]
The Corpus JurisCivilis is the modern name for a collection of fundamental works in jurisprudence, issued from 529 to 534 by order of Byzantine Emperor Justinian I. It is also sometimes referred to metonymically after one of its parts, the Code of Justinian.
Stefan Uroš IV Dušan, known as Dušan the Mighty, was the king of Serbia from 8 September 1331 and tsar and autocrat of the Serbs, Greeks, Albanians and Bulgarians from 16 April 1346 until his death in 1355.
Dušan's Code is a compilation of several legal systems that was enacted by Stefan Uroš IV Dušan of Serbia in 1349. It drew upon Roman law, Byzantine law, as well as elements of customary and canon law. It was used in the Serbian Empire and the succeeding Serbian Despotate. It is considered an early constitution, or close to it; an advanced set of laws which regulated all aspects of life such as family relations, property rights, contracts, and crimes.
The Serbian Empire was a medieval Serbian state that emerged from the Kingdom of Serbia. It was established in 1346 by Dušan the Mighty, who significantly expanded the state.
The House of Nemanjić was the most prominent dynasty of Serbia in the Middle Ages. This princely, royal and imperial house produced twelve Serbian monarchs, who ruled between 1166 and 1371.
Stephen Uroš is a Serbian royal name, referring to the following members of the Nemanjić dynasty :
Stefan Uroš III, known as Stefan of Dečani, was King of Serbia from 6 January 1322 to 8 September 1331. Dečanski was the son of King Stefan Milutin. He defeated two other pretenders to the Serbian throne. Stefan is known as Dečanski after the great monastery of Visoki Dečani he built.
Stefan Uroš II Milutin, known as Saint King, was the King of Serbia between 1282–1321, a member of the Nemanjić dynasty. He was one of the most powerful rulers of Serbia in the Middle Ages and one of the most prominent European monarchs of his time. Milutin is credited with strongly resisting the efforts of Byzantine Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos to impose Roman Catholicism on the Balkans after the Union of Lyons in 1274. During his reign, Serbian economic power grew rapidly, mostly due to the development of mining. He founded Novo Brdo, which became an internationally important silver mining site. As most of the Nemanjić monarchs, he was proclaimed a saint by the Serbian Orthodox Church with a feast day on October 30.
The Sopoćani Monastery, an endowment of King Stefan Uroš I of Serbia, was built from 1259 to 1270, near the source of the Raška River in the region of Ras, the centre of the Serbian medieval state. It is a designated World Heritage Site, added in 1979 with Stari Ras. The monastery is located 15 kilometers (9.3 mi) west of the town of Novi Pazar.
The Royal Crown of Serbia is a royal regalia that existed during the Serbian monarchy.
A nomocanon is a collection of ecclesiastical law, consisting of the elements from both the civil law and the canon law. Nomocanons form part of the canon law of the Eastern Catholic Churches and of the Eastern Orthodox Church.
Syntagma Canonum is a canon law collection made in 1335 by Matthew Blastares, a Greek monk about whose life nothing certain is known.
The roots of law, legal thought and education in Serbia go back to the 13th century. This is owed to Rastko Nemanjić, who was declared a saint under the name St. Sava. Rastko, the brother of the first Serbian king Stefan Nemanjić, was the founder of not only the ecclesiastical independence, but he also has instituted the Serbian education, literature, health, the legal system and science.
After the weakening of the Byzantine Empire and the Bulgarian Empire in the middle and late 13th century, the northern territory of modern-day Albania became part of Serbia. Firstly, as part of Serbian Grand Principality and later as part of Serbian Empire. Serb control in southern Albania is unclear. Some suggest they acquired towns, but others believe they only obtained submission, possibly nominal, from Albanian tribes. Central and southern Albanian towns were not conquered until 1343–45. Between 1272 and 1368, some areas of the modern-day state were also ruled by the Angevins as the Kingdom of Albania. In the late 14th century, Albanian Principalities were created throughout Albania.
The Zakonopravilo, was the highest code in the Serbian Orthodox Church. It was finished in 1219. This legal act was written in simple language. Its basic purpose was to organize the continuation and functioning of the Serbian Kingdom and the Serbian Church. It was originally printed under the name Rules of Speech in Serbian at Raška, Serbia, in two successive issues, one for Wallachia and another for Transylvania. It is Serbia's first Serbian-language church-state constitution.
Between 1345 and 1371, the Serbian monarch was self-titled emperor (tsar). The full title was initially Emperor of the Serbs and Greeks, later Emperor of the Serbs, Greeks and Bulgarians in Serbian and basileus and autokrator of Serbia and Romania ["the land of the Romans"] in Greek. This title was soon enlarged into "Emperor and Autocrat of the Serbs and Greeks, the Bulgarians and Albanians". The Serbian Empire was ruled by only two monarchs; Stefan Dušan and Stefan Uroš V. Two other claimants of the title ruled in Thessaly, Central Greece.
The Kingdom of Serbia, or the Serbian Kingdom, was a medieval Serbian state that existed from 1217 to 1346 and was ruled by the Nemanjić dynasty. The Grand Principality of Serbia was elevated with the regal coronation of Stefan Nemanjić as king, after the reunification of Serbian lands. In 1219, Serbian Orthodox Church was reorganized as an autocephalous archbishopric, headed by Saint Sava. The kingdom was proclaimed an empire in 1346, but kingship was not abolished as an institution, since the title of a king was used as an official designation for a co-ruler of the emperor.
Gornje Nerodimlje is a village in Ferizaj municipality, in southeastern Kosovo. The village was first mentioned in the Gračanica charters (1311–16) of Serbian King Stefan Milutin.
The Proclamation of Dušan's Law Codex is the name given to each of seven versions of a composition painted by Paja Jovanović which depict Dušan the Mighty introducing Serbia's earliest surviving law codex to his subjects in Skopje in 1349. The Royal Serbian Government commissioned the first version for 30,000 dinars in 1899, intending for it to be displayed at the following year's Exposition Universelle in Paris.
Serbian medieval law spans a period of time from the first half of the 7th century AD to the second half of the 15th century AD. While the origins of the Serbian medieval law can be traced back to folk customs and beliefs, the forms of written law started to appear owing to Serbian emperors, kings and archbishops of that era. It is through their charters and various codes that punishments were introduced and status, civil, criminal and procedural law started developing. Serbian medieval law was visibly influenced by the Byzantine law whose impact was profound.
