EXHEREDATION AND THE QUESTION OF TSAR DUSHAN’S CODIFICATION PURPOSE Cover Image

ИЗУЗИМАЊЕ (ИСКЉУЧИВАЊЕ) ИЗ НАСЛЕЂА И ПИТАЊЕ НАМЕНЕ ДУШАНОВЕ КОДИФИКАЦИЈЕ
EXHEREDATION AND THE QUESTION OF TSAR DUSHAN’S CODIFICATION PURPOSE

Author(s): Nina Kršljanin
Subject(s): History of Law, Middle Ages
Published by: Правни факултет Универзитета у Београду
Keywords: Medieval Serbian Law; Dushan’s Codification; The Abbreviated Syntagma Canonum; Exheredation; Purpose of the Codification;

Summary/Abstract: According to A. Solovyev, the redaction of the Syntagma of Matthew Blastares, which pays considerable attention to the rules on exheredation, was carried out for the needs of the imperial courts. However, the creation of will (testament) was under the jurisdiction of the Church, and the act of exheredation could have been executed solely by the testator. Thus, the author infers that there is no logic in claiming that the institution of exheredation was relevant to the judges of Tsar Dushan’s time. The author briefly analyses the remainder of the Abbreviated Syntagma, in order to verify whether the aforementioned (and already commonly accepted) criterion of redaction was consistently applied or not. In other words, the author checks if it is true that all the articles, not necessary for the imperial judges, were removed from the Syntagma, and that none of the articles unnecessary for the judges was kept. The idea that the provisions on exheredation must have been intended for the testators imposes itself as the final conclusion, which opens up the question of purpose of the Dushan’s codification. The author makes several more arguments to support the opinion that the Codification was intended to be accessible, amongst others, to the Tsar’s subjects, but acknowledges that additional research would be necessary for this idea to be considered scientifically proven.

  • Issue Year: 58/2010
  • Issue No: 2
  • Page Range: 281-301
  • Page Count: 21
  • Language: Serbian
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