DOCTRINAL RECEPTION OF EUROPEAN (ROMAN) LAW TRADITION IN POST-OTTOMAN SERBIA
DOCTRINAL RECEPTION OF EUROPEAN (ROMAN) LAW TRADITION IN POST-OTTOMAN SERBIA

Summary/Abstract: After the liberation from long Turkish occupation during XIX century, and some temporary influence of Sharia law, Serbia was able to turn again towards its European roots, and especially towards its rich legal tradition. The “normative” reception of the Roman law tradition could have been obtained in Serbia only upon reaching higher level of economic standards and basic legal education. Thereof, the “doctrinal” reception which included establishing certain educational institutions, language standardization, and, especially, the existence of the corresponding legal terminology, had to come first. Legal subjects at the Belgrade Higher School (established in 1808) and Lyceum (1838), was gradually developed into the “Legal department”, that would grow into the Faculty of Law. But, the other centers that influenced the general development of Serbian culture were out of borders of Serbia, in Vienna, Pest, and especially in Vojvodina (Sremski Karlovci, Novi Sad). The ideology of the new-born Serbian bourgeoisie, based on Roman law principles of inviolability of private proprety, was opposite to the old patriarchal mentality, based on collective ownership and mutual solidarity. Anyway, so-called “ original accumulation of capital” was protected by regulations of the Serbian Civil Code (1844).

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