The first attempts to codify civil procedure in Serbia (1829-1844)

Abstract

The article sheds light on the first attempts to codify civil procedure in Serbia, in the period between 1829 and 1844. Predominantly focused on the earliest code-preparing works in the fields of penal and civil law, Serbian legal history neglected the third, equally important compilation - code of civil procedure. The quantity of hitherto established data on this subject did not suffice. It was known, for instance, what foreign code served as a model in the very beginning of lawgiving work. Serbian legal history was also acquainted with the fact in what manner two future codifiers - a member of Novi Sad City Council Jovan Hadžić and the mayor of Zemun Vasilije Lazarević, declared on the contents of the draft produced prior to their arrival in Serbia in 1837. Likewise, legal historian were familiar with the datum that Hadžić and Lazarević had been initially drafting new code in concert, but later divided jobs, so that thenceforth Lazarević alone was tasked with its creation. Exclusive of certain data of lesser significance, nothing was determined in relation to his work whatsoever. Leaning on disposable information, the author made an effort to deepen knowledge on prime codificatory works in this field. In terms of the earliest phase of codification, he expected to acquire new data with the help of foreign literature. Regarding Lazarević's work on the code, however, the author undertook a research in the archives believed to possess valuable documents. Having attentively scrutinized some allegations presented in the correspondence between the president of so-called Legislative Commission (established in 1829 and tasked with production of the code) and Serbian language reformer Vuk Karadžić and his associate Jernej Kopitar, the curator of Austrian Court Library, the author sought for unidentified volumes cited as recourse in the process of code-preparing. By reason of some publications showing a large extent of consistence with the unfamiliar works referred to in Karadžić and Kopitar's letters, the author proposed the hypothesis that the indicated were supplementary literature in Legislative Commission's work. Nonetheless, he failed to obtain any data as for the contents of subsequently prepared Legislative Commission's draft code. Research through archival materials was fecund solely to a degree. A number of utile details were ascertained, among which one should accentuate the terms of contract between Lazarević and Serbian government on the preparation of the draft code, more circumstantiating disclosures on the dispute over the interpretation of the aforementioned agreement and consignment of the compendium. Per contra, very few findings pertain to the contents of Lazarević's draft. Save new discoveries appertaining the very outlook of the produced draft codes, further progress in the scientific research on this topic can not be made. New materials enabling continuance of undertaken exposition of the inceptive codification ought to be found in Croatian State Archives (Hrvatski državni arhiv) and Austrian State Archives (Österreichisches Staatsarchiv), whose documents are oftentimes cited in antecedent works concerning this question. Withal, one may never exclude the possibility of detecting unexposed documents in Serbian archives.