Zbornik Radova Pravnog Fakulteta u Nišu (Jan 2024)
Legal principles from the Serbian Civil Code of the Principality of Serbia (1844) to the Pre-Draft of the Civil Code of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia (1934)
Abstract
The Serbian Civil Code of the Principality of Serbia (hereinafter: SCC 1844) was adopted 180 years ago, while the Pre-Draft of the Civil Code for the Kingdom of Yugoslavia (hereinafter: Pre-Draft CC 1934) was published 90 years ago. These two historical legal documents marked the important points on the development of Serbian civil law, which is a good reason to perform a comparative analysis of these two acts from a solid time distance. Considering the scope and complexity of the subject matter contained in these acts, the paper first focuses on the introductory rules where fundamental legal principles are proclaimed, such as the prohibition of retroactive application of law or the prohibition of abuse of law. The observed differences in the choice of key principles in the structure of the introductory parts and in the formulation of legal principles clearly testify about the state, political and economic differences between the Principality of Serbia in 1844 and the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1934. Some legal principles which will be analyzed in the paper were inspired by the spirit of the time when they were created, while others were the result of different foreign influences over a period of 90 years. In addition to providing a factual insight into the state of law in the analyzed periods, the comparison of these two acts also aims to demonstrate the evolution of law, which may be observed in the period of transition from the SCC to the Pre-Draft CC, and to indicate how the choice of certain legal principles influenced the contemporary law. Using the legal history and the comparative methods, the author provides a brief review of the socio-political circumstances and present the basic features of the development of civil law in the territories where both analyzed legal acts were created.
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