Some Aspects of the Formation and Content of Medieval Statutes - Legal Gaps and Legal Fullness
Some Aspects of the Formation and Content of Medieval Statutes - Legal Gaps and Legal Fullness

Author(s): Željko Bartulović, Ines Matić Matešković
Subject(s): Law, Constitution, Jurisprudence, History of Law, Roman law
Published by: Правни факултет Универзитета у Источном Сарајеву
Keywords: Middle Ages; Statutory law; Roman law; Legal gaps; Kvarner Statutes;
Summary/Abstract: This paper examines certain aspects of the formation and content of medieval statutes, offering a deeper insight into the mechanisms for filling legal gaps. Given that Roman law is one of the most influential legal systems in history, whose legal principles have had a lasting impact on modern legal systems, the first part of the paper provides a critical review of the processes of legislative creation and ways of addressing legal gaps in Roman law, highlighting their innovativeness and flexibility. In the second part of the paper, the authors address the issue of legislative formation in the Middle Ages using the example of the Vinodol Statute, in which the term "lex" refers to written custom, but the enactment of a new law is also referred to as a "new custom" (according to the Krk/Vrbnik Statute). Consequently, in neighboring sources (Kastav, Veprinac, and Mošćenice), the term "lex" is encountered. Such written custom does not fully regulate all legal relationships, and therefore, sources of law included unwritten customs, as well as free interpretation and regulation of specific legal situations, albeit with certain limitations to maintain the legal certainty of the addressees. Contractual or negotiated methods for enacting laws to resolve interpersonal relationships are even recognized in land registers, which are typically considered to be imposed by the will of the feudal lord. Additionally, special attention is given to the issues of enacting the Rijeka Statute and the reception of Roman law as a means of addressing legal gaps, which is also observed in the Mošćenice Statute. This confirms how the influence and methodology of Roman solutions have remained an inspiration for contemporary legal systems and underscores the importance of legal adaptability to address changing societal needs.

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