CRIMINAL SANCTIONS IN DUŠAN'S CODE

Abstract

Emperor Dušan's Code is the most important legal document of medieval Serbia, which is often considered to be the early Serbian "constitution". It is largely based on the Byzantine legal tradition, which entailed a rigorous system of criminal sanctions and diverse forms of punishment: death penalty by hanging and burning, mutilation of body parts, blinding, branding, scorching, cruel corporal punishment (beating, flogging), imprisonment, severe fines, confiscation of property, exile or banishment and dislocation as a form of collective punishment for the subjects. In this article, the author of presents and analyzes relevant provision of Dušan's Code, dealing with the envisaged criminal sanctions and different forms of punishment which were imposed on the perpetrators of criminal offences. The research methodology is based on normative, dogmatic and historical methods. Based on this analysis and comparison with the positive criminal legislation of the Republic of Serbia, the author concludes that Dušan's Code prescribed much more rigorous criminal sanctions, particularly given the fact that the current legislation law does not envisage death penalty and severe corporal punishment.