Dušan's law code is the most lasting…
1354 CE
Dušan's law code is the most lasting monument to his rule.
For the purposes of Dušan's Code, a wealth of charters have been published, and some great foreign works of law have been translated to Serbian; however, the third section of the Code is new and distinctively Serbian, albeit with Greek influence and attention to a long legal tradition in Serbia.
Dušan explains the purpose of his Code in one of in his charters; he intimates that its aims are spiritual and that the code will help his people to save themselves for the afterlife.
The Code had been proclaimed on May 21, 1349, in Skopje, and contained one hundred and fifty-five clauses, while in 1353 or 1354 sixty-six further clauses are added at Serres.
The authors of the code are not known, but they are probably members of the court who specialize in law.
Dušan's Code proclaims on subjects both secular and ecclesiastic, the more so because Serbia has recently achieved full ecclesiastic autonomy as an independent Orthodox Church under a Patriarchate.
The first thirty-eight clauses relate to the church and they deal with issues that the Medieval Serbian Church faces, while the next twenty-five clauses relate to the nobility.
Civil law is largely excluded, since it was covered in earlier documents, namely Saint Sava's Nomokamon and in Corpus Juris Civilis.
Dušan's Code originally deals with criminal law, with heavy emphasis on the concept of lawfulness, which is mostly taken directly from imperial Greek law.
Following Stephen Dusan’s death at forty-seven on December 20, 1354, his son and successor ascends the Serbian throne as Stephen Uros V, under whom the Serbian empire will rapidly collapse.
Locations
Regions
Southeast Europe
View →Subregions
