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A Short History of the University of Belgrade Faculty of Law Adapted and translated into English by
Viktor Milosavljevic. A substantially similar version of this article was
published in Serbian on the website of the University of Belgrade Faculty of
Law. The
roots of law, legal thought and education in Serbia go back to the 13th
century. This is owed to Rastko Nemanjić,
who was declared a saint under the name St. Sava. Rastko,
the brother of the first Serbian king Stefan Nemanjić,
was the founder of not only ecclesiastical independence (autocephaly of the
Serbian church in 1219), but he also instituted Serbian education,
literature, a health care and legal system and science. At
the same time as John of England signed the famous Magna Carta
Libertatum in Latin, in Serbia St. Sava prepared
and published, in his native language, a collection of both church and
secular regulations under the name Nomocanon (or Zakonopravilo).
In conjunction with the monumental lawmaking initiative of Emperor (Tsar) Dušan in 1349, the Dušan’s
Code, which was written in Serbian as well, these acts constitute the
foundation of the Serbian legal culture. Even during the long-lasting rule of
the Ottomans, which began in the mid-15th century, Serbian law has survived
through the practice of the Serbian Orthodox Church, which still considers
the Nomocanon its official codex. However, only liberation from the Turkish
authorities, starting in the 19th century, enabled the full bloom of Serbian
legal science and education. During
the struggle for national liberation from the Ottomans during the first
Serbian uprising that started in 1804, the so-called Great School was founded
in Belgrade in 1808. The Great School was a combination of middle and high
school, the forefather of Serbian universities. The classes lasted three
years and in addition to general subjects, the curriculum included
comparative and state (constitutional) law, international law, criminal law
and judicial procedure. Therefore, there are many historians who believe that
it is justified to consider that the foundation of modern education in Serbia
was the Great School and the year 1808. This year could be taken as the date
when the University of Belgrade Faculty of Law was established. 1841 – 1863 In
1841, Belgrade became the capital city of Serbia and in the same year the
Lyceum moved from Kragujevac to Belgrade. The
movement to the new capital is often taken as the date of the establishment
of the Faculty of Law. At that time, the Lyceum had two departments - Law and
Philosophy. Before enrolling the Legal Department (which initially lasted one
year, after 1843 two years, and since 1849 three years), it was compulsory to
graduate at the Philosophy Department, where the studies lasted two years, so
the legal studies lasted a total of five years. The classes were in the
native Serbian language, and the first professors were learned Serbs from Vojvodina. Among them was the well-known Serbian writer, comediographer and lawyer, Jovan Sterija
Popović, who held two courses: Natural Law
(Encyclopedia of Law, or today's Introduction to Law) and a course on the
organization of courts and civil procedure. Since 1853, the legal education
became independent from the studies of philosophy. 1863 – 1905 Subsequently,
in 1863 the Lyceum became the Great School – the University of Belgrade
rudiment, which consisted of the Philosophy, Law and Technical departments.
From the Countess Ljubica's Residence, a beautiful
small building in the center of Belgrade, the Great School moved to one of
the most significant buildings in Belgrade, bequeathed to the nation by
Captain Miša Anastasijević,
which is today home to the Rectorate of the
University of Belgrade. Since then, legal education in Serbia has lasted four
years, within the framework of which 21 subjects were compulsory. 1905 – 1941 The
Great School formally became the University of Belgrade through the Law on
the University from February 27, 1905. In addition to the Philosophy, Law and
Technical schools, this Law foresaw the existence of Orthodox Theology and
Medical schools. Given the limited space in the building of Captain Miša Anastasijević, the
library of the Faculty of Law has moved to a separate building in the center
of the city, and a number of its teachers received their offices at the
National Library at the Kosančićev venac. Today, the law school building, whose construction
began in 1937, was completed in fall 1940, just before the Second World War.
The Library of the Faculty of Law has been moved there as well. At that time,
it had a collection of over 36,000 books and monographs, representing the
foremost law library in the Balkans. The
legal studies lasted four years and were comprised of the 19 compulsory subjects,
and for students of the Islamic confession Sharia
Law was introduced as an additional subject. Regulations on law schools from
1938 have set forth a unique curriculum for all three law schools, which then
existed in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia (Belgrade, Zagreb and Ljubljana). Twenty
compulsory subjects were set forth, with the proviso that only at the
University of Belgrade-Faculty of Law, under the same conditions as before; Sharia Law was taught as an additional subject. From
the formation of the University until the First World War several hundred
students were enrolled. The first woman at the University of Belgrade-Faculty
of Law graduated in 1914. During the period between the two world wars, the
law school experienced its full bloom; it grew out into a modern European
institution for legal education and has acquired a high international
reputation. Shortly before the Second World War, more than 4,000 students
were enrolled (of which there were almost 1,000 female students). 1941
– 1945 The
newly constructed law school building was damaged during the April bombing of
Belgrade in 1941 and all lectures and activities were suspended. The German
occupation forces moved into the building. Although there were later attempts
of the occupation authorities to do the restoration work, this has not
occurred due to the protests and boycott of the professors and aides. In
November 1941, seven teachers were imprisoned in a camp, because of their
liberal attitudes and antifascist views, and two foremost Serbian authorities
in legal education, Djordje Tasić
and Mihajlo Ilic, were
executed in 1944. From 1945 to the Present The
building was renewed shortly after the Second World War, but the dramatic
changes engendered by Communist rule and decades of legal, social and
political experiments have left various consequences. Immediately after the
war, and later due to ideological and political dissent, the Faculty of Law
lost a number of its professors and assistants. Notably, after the well-known
discourse on the constitutional amendments of 1971, the state proceeded with
the criminal prosecution and imprisonment of renowned Professor Mihailo Djurić. It was a
similar case with many other academics. Despite these events, the law school
has significantly developed. An entire new generation of scholars has
emerged, who continued the work of their distinguished predecessors. Today
these students are at the forefront of the teams of experts drafting new
laws, their scholarly papers are being published abroad, they are the arbitrators
at international arbitration courts, members of the Serbian Academy of
Sciences and Arts, members and officials of international scholarly
institutions and professional organizations, honorary doctors at foreign
universities, visiting professors at the world’s leading universities, and
rectors of the University of Belgrade. During
the 20th century, all the law schools that later emerged in Serbia (Subotica, Novi Sad, Pristina, Nis, Kragujevac), Montenegro (Podgorica), and in other parts of the former Yugoslavia
(Sarajevo, Skoplje) were formed from the University
of Belgrade-Faculty of Law as a core. A large number of law professors from
all the countries of the former Yugoslavia had obtained their academic titles
in Belgrade. |
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Copyright 2008, Viktor Milosavljevic. All
rights reserved. |
