The Temple of Saint Sava (1175 - 1235), first Serbian legislator
The roots of
Stefan Nemanjić, was the founder of not only the ecclesiastical independence (autocephaly of the Serbian church
in 1219), but he also has instituted the Serbian education, literature, health, the legal system and science.
At the same time when
Stefan Uroš IV Dušan of Serbia 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 Turks, 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.
At some stage in the struggle for national liberation from the Turks during the
Belgrade Higher School was founded in 1808. 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 perceive that the foundation of modern education in Serbia was the Higher School and the year 1808. This year is taken as the date when the University of Belgrade Faculty of Law
was established.
1841 – 1863
In 1841, Belgrade has become the capital city of Serbia and in the same year the
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.
lasted four years, within the framework of which 21 subjects were compulsory.
1905 – 1941
The Higher School formally became 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 consisted of the 19 compulsory subjects, and for students of the
Sharia Law
was taught as an additional subject.
Since the formation of the University until the
Second World War
, more than 4,000 students were enrolled (of which there were almost 1,000 female students).
At that time, Slobodan Jovanović was one of the greatest authorities on jurisprudence and especially constitutional law. Liberal in his social and political views, he was for nearly half a century a leader of the Serbian intelligentsia.
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.
1945 to present
The building was renewed shortly after the
Mihailo Djurić
. It was a similar case with many other academics.
Despite the flagrant events from the following decades, the law school rapidly developed. An entire constellation of scholars of the new generation emerged, who continued the work of their distinguished predecessors.
Mihailo Djurić
are some of the foremost Serbian legal academics of the 20th century. Their students until today 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 (
