Pravda i Dušanovo zakonodavstvo
Justice And Dushan's Legislature

Summary/Abstract: It is just 650 years since the passing of Dushan's Code, the final act of the universal codification of the law of the medieval Serbia, which together with Matthew Blastaros' Abridged Syntagm and the so-called Justinian Code make Dushan's legislature. Dushan's legislature, first of all Dushan's Code, was investigated from the axiological standpoint, according to Plato's and Aristotle's paradigms. Such an approach has enabled reasonableness of Dushan's legislature to be established, instead of establishing historical phenomenon, what the historians do. Dushan's estate monarchy was a timocracy (timarchy), which means a form of a state which at least deviates from Plato's perfectly righteous state. Secular lords, as a military estate, together with the ruler, the supreme military commander, performed the principal function, military, in the Serbian medieval state, while the clergy performed those religious, cultural and social. It is, therefore, that those were privileged estates. According to the situational justice principle and in view of their merits in the state, the privileged estates had the right of property to the land (dominium directum) and the ruler the right of the supreme property to the land (dominium eminens), the so-called free heritage and many other privileges beyond the economic field. Dependent population, however, since its activities, although indispensable, were not directly connected with the principal, military function, had the right to use the land (dominium utile), the so-called subordinated heritage and in turn a lot of tributes and obligations. Also, existing in Dushan's legislature, and first of all in Dushan's Code, was Aristotle's general justice, understood as legitimacy, explicitly formulated at several places and particularly in Articles 171 and 172. Mostly containing provisions of the public law character, Dushan's Code feature distributive justice represented to a high degree, which is demonstrated in distributing honours and goods in proportion with merits. Also, there existed a special form of the distributive justice featured by an outstandingly social function. Namely, Dushan's Code takes care of the poor, wretched, sick and frees them from various burdens imposing obligations on the Church and courts to help them. Finally, Dushan's Code recognizes Aristotle's court and criminal justice as well, as a form of corrective or synalagmatic justice which is demonstrated in establishing the middle between the good and the evil, i.e. equivalency, done by the court. This special form of justice, however, was not consistently put into effect. As for its depth and reasonableness, Dushan's legislature, and first of all Dushan's Code, is an example of a majestic medieval law codification.

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