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The article sheds light on the regulations of Roman law appearing Property Law, Law of Obligations) in the works of Pavle Seroglić, the first reviewer of Serbian Civil Code (1844) (The Review of the Civil Code for the Serbian Principality, Promulgated on 25 March 1844 (Pregled Zakonika građanskog za Knjažestvo srbsko, 25. marta 1844. obnarodovanog, published in Bačka vila 4/1845, 114-187). Counterresponse to Response of Mister Miloš Svetic in the Third Linguistic Counterattack (Replika na odgovor gospodina Miloša Svetića u Utuku III Jezikoslovnome, Novi Sad 1847) and Civil Law in Croatian-Slavonian and Serbian-Banat Military Border (Gradansko parvo uc.k. Hrvatsko-slavonskoj i Srpsko-banatskoj Vojničkoj granici, Šeroglic's undated and unpublished commentary of Austrian General Civil Code, kept in the archival materials of Sremski Karlovci Grammar School in the Archives of Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts in that town. The provisions of civil law cited by Seroglić are sorted by similarity with necessary clarifications thereto. This paper, being the first of two sequels of the article related to Seroglic's accounts on Roman law, shall shed light on the author's fragments on is Greek legal transplants in Rome, theory of law, property law and law of obligations, whereas the passages in relation with other branches of Roman law shall be scrutinized in the follow-up article. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By using comparative and axiological method, the author considers the following issues: the purposefulness of right of retaining possession; definition and legal nature; optimal conditions for its establishment in contemporary domestic and comparative law; its contents and effect. The subject of this paper is analysis of regulation of right of retention possession in Serbian positive law; two Drafts of the future Serbian Civil Law; as well as the retention model-rule of the 2008 Draft Common Frame of Reference (DCFR). The author estimates that right of retaining possession should exist in Serbia’s future civil law, because it has a triple justification. The paper contains explained proposal for the future regulation of retention as a quasi real right in rem and assessment of its compliance with EU ACQUIS. The author concludes that the direction of the further evolution of retention in European law is common, and that is - recognition of the broader content and stronger effect of the institute, in order to protect the interests of the retinent more effectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article sheds light on regulations regarding civil procedure issued in Montenegro at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century. They deal with various subjects, above all with jurisdiction of civil courts, with deadlines for filing an appeal and with the issue of the finality of judgments as these are the most important questions in civil lawsuits, and, as such, above-mentioned rules were carefully scrutinized in the paper. These first written procedural rules adopted by the Ministry of Justice, the State Council and the Grand Court were very important considering the fact that they introduced modern principles in civil litigations, such as the principles of orality, immediacy, publicity, contradiction, material truth and free judicial evaluation of evidence. However, without the unification of procedural law a speedy and efficient trial and adequate protection of the subjective rights of parties to the proceedings could not be ensured. Only a proper Code of civil procedure could entirely meet these requirements. Montenegrin lawmakers had been fully aware of this fact and so in November 1905 the Code on Judicial Proceedings in Civil Lawsuits for the Principality of Montenegro was enacted. When the aforementioned Code entered into force, the codification endeavor in the field of civil procedural law was completed. Its content, structure and general features were meticulously analyzed in the study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For a long time in the past water had been treated as common goods which was supposed to be equally available to all members of the social community. Nevertheless, throughout the time, circumstances have changed. The emergence and incremental strengthening of an individual ownership have contributed to the transformation of social relations being established with regard to the use of water resources. Owners of immovable property immediately connected to the sources, are, pursuant to the principle of priority, entitled to use the water for their needs and those of their households (prior tempore, potior iure). According to the traditional view, the neighbours were obliged to restrain from the use of water, up until the property owner met his needs, within the limits of the so called regular use. Following the same logic, a privileged owner of the immovable property could also demand from all other persons not to interfere with his use of water resources (ius excludendi tertii). Namely, entitlement to use water was of an accessory nature and it belonged to the corpus of ownership right, which could, as an absolute right, be enforced against anybody (erga omnes). Later on an independent and transferable right to use water resources was established and its holders could become a state, a local community, a private legal and natural person, regardless of the ownership right over an immovable property connected to the water resource. Meanwhile the understanding of the right of ownership has substantially changed. It is no longer considered an absolute in its original sense. Constitutions of some countries and decisions of the highest national and supranational courts stipulate that the ownership has a social function and that it may be limited in the public interest. Likewise, an entitlement to use water resources may be restricted in the interest of social community, and as the practice of some countries testifies, also in the interest of other natural and legal persons. This view, inter alia, is supported by different forms of public- private partnerships. The right of an immovable property owner to use the water resources could additionally be restricted by recognising the universal human right to water. Connected therewith, the legal theory abounds with dilemmas. The most prominent is the one concerning the existence of such a universal human right. Some authors argue that it does not exist, but that it has been emerging. Other writers contend that it is implicitly contained, id est, derived from the exiting human rights, whereas some take a stand that it is a sui generis right. The paper offers a comprehensive analyses of the documents adopted by the United Nations and the Council of Europe, jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights along with the regulation of the European Union and the Republic of Serbia on that matter. Introducing the universal human right to water has a special significance in the present time. There are two main reasons for that. The first one presents the possibility of horizontal application of human rights in civil law relations (constitutionalisation), which may cause narrowing of the ownership right in the interest of other persons. The second one are mass migrations triggered by climate change, global warming and water scarcity. In such circumstances, an adequate legal policy shall be identified, based on an all-encompassing scientific research, followed by adopting the corresponding regulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Numerous cases of international surrogacy arrangements and their legal effects in different national legal frameworks have caused a need to weigh the possibility and necessity of regulating the issue on international level. The Hague Conference on Private International Law has been since 2011 involved in preliminary research activities of the issue, on the basis of which it will submit a final report in 2014 on the state of play and on the need to start drafting an international instrument. During the past three years two preliminary reports and four questionnaires have been submitted. Questionnaire 1 have been sent to the member states of the Conference and to other interested countries to collect data on crucial issues of surrogacy and its legal regulation in national legislations. Serbian law de lege lata prohibits surrogacy arrangements, but the 2011 Draft Civil Code introduces it to the domestic legal system as a tool of biomedically assisted fertilization. The present paper suggests that the regulation of surrogacy must also include surrogacy arrangements with cross-border effects for the sake of comprehensiveness of the future legal act on the issue. For this purpose, the paper indicates-- based on the preliminary research conducted by the Hague Conference on Private International Law -- those elements that should be included in future legislation of Serbia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper explains basic ways of functioning of private law instruments aimed at financing in vitro fertilization, expansion of which goes hand to hand with the progress of reproductive medicine. In addition to state (public) instruments of financing the costs of in vitro fertilization (IVF) procedure, comparative practice has experienced a development of private law instruments for covering such expenses. These instruments are offered by insurance companies, other financial organizations (funds which are established with particular purpose) or clinics (often consortium of clinics) which practice in vitro fertilization. The most common among them are: 1. Private health insurance which covers the expenses incurred in connection to IVF procedure; 2. The program of refund (return) of most (80 to 90 percent) or all (100 percent) of the expenses of IVF after a number of unsuccessful procedures (known under different titles such as: money-back guarantee program, shared-risk, success-based risk sharing plan, IVF success guarantee program, the IVF baby guarantee or your money back plan, pregnancy guarantee program etc. ); 3. Packages contained of a number of procedures - cycles for lower price (packages of 2, 3 or 4 ivf cycles). Programs such as these increase the level of reproductive medicine's usability. Since the programs are not yet applied in Serbia, the paper explains basic mechanisms of their functioning in comparative law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper author have studied out and analyzed family law relations between parents and children in Vojvodina in the period between two world wars according to acts, court precedent, private law rules and legal doctrine. The author have studied family law relations between parents and children in contemporary Serbia and in European law. In historical perspective in Vojvodina (including Medjumurje and Prekomurje) the Hungarian law (acts) was in use, except in Srem and Vojna granica where the Austrian law was in use. The issues of family status of children, in other words, the rules of establishing and contesting paternity, parental rights and duties, exercise of parental rights were analyzed. The father had paternal authority and priority role if the child was born in wedlock. If the child was born out of wedlock, mother had priority role in exercising rights and duties. If parents were divorced or separated the priority role had the parent who had custody of the child, the other parent had visitation rights. In the second part of this paper the court cases in parent- child relation in twentieth and thirtieth years of XX century kept in Archive of Vojvodina, were analyzed. In particular, the author has studied cases in which the court made a decision according to court precedent, private law rules and legal doctrine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper the author analyzes a civil law responsibility of the Contractor for project deficiencies resulting in reduced quality of the construction, i.e. not affecting its solidity. Primary obligation of the Contractor is to perform works in compliance with professional standards, the contract and the approved project. The Contractor cannot change the approved project at will, even when he has designed it. Hence, the question must be raised of the obligation of the Contractor to strictly abide by the project, assigned to him by the Authority, regardless of evident deficiencies of the Project and of his responsibility for performing works in compliance with the said project resulting in deficiencies in the construction, that is construction works. If the latter hypothesis is correct, then it must be established what deficiencies in the project fall under the responsibility of the Contractor (visible or hidden), i.e. the issue of dividing responsibility between the Project Designer and the Contractor in terms of the project deficiencies must be set up and solved. Finally, it is also important to define the realization of rights and duties of the Contractor in case the Contractor has to recede from the Project. In this paper the author tries to offer detail and complete answers to raised questions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper the author analyzes the different points of view on the notion of cause (consideration) in contract in the Serbian doctrine of civil law as until the adoption of the Law on Obligations in 1978. Having in mind that the Law, adhering to the normative solutions of the French Civil Code, explicitly regulates the institution of cause of contract, as one of the conditions of formation and validity of contract, its adoption can certainly be considered as an event of a watershed importance in respect of the analysis of various theoretical points of view on the notion of cause of contract in the Serbian literature. The fact that the institution of cause of contract had not been explicitly regulated in Serbian positive law as until the adoption of Law on Obligations had its effect on the evolution of doctrine in this period in two ways. On one hand, the range of differing theoretical points of view was very wide, covered as good as all the relevant streams in the doctrine of cause, from the ones accepting this institution (so-called causalistic theories) to the ones denying its legal significance in any sense (so-called anticausalistic theories). By the adoption of the Law on Obligations in 1978 the notion of cause of contract became a legal institution in Serbian positive law that had a profound impact on the evolution of doctrine. On one hand, the cause of contract was not a neglectable legal notion any more, therefore it seems entirely logical that there is as good as no authority since then who has not dedicated to the notion of cause of contract an article or two, or at least a separate part in their textbooks. On the other hand, the determination of the legislator to assign the Serbian legal system to the family of legal systems in which the notion of cause of contract is stipulated as one of conditions of formation and validity of contract, led to the shrinkage of the diapason of various, often conflicting, points of view on cause of contract in the Serbian literature. In contrast to the period before the adoption of the Law on Obligations, after its adoption a tendency of abandonment of points of view disavowing any legal relevance of cause of contract can be recognized and the majority of contemporary authorities argue that the cause of contract is a necessary legal institution, although they may differ in the conceptual determination of this notion. In the period after the adoption of the Law on Obligations in the Serbian literature of law of contract many authorities analyzed various aspects of cause of contract, especially Professors Stojan Cigoj, Ljubiša Milošević, Živomir Đordevic, Boris Vizner, Martin Vedriš, Želimir Šmalcelj, Jakov Radišic, Slobodan Perovic, Jožef Salma, Oliver Antic and others. The author in this paper gives an overview of the points of view of authorities in the Serbian literature of law contract on the notion of cause of contract who marked the period until the adoption of the Law on Obligations, namely the works of Professors Dragoljub Arandelovic, Živojin Peric, Lazar Marković, Andrija Gams, Stevan Jakšic, Vladimir Kapor and Mihajlo Konstantinović. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Systems of judicial review of administration are the result of the differences between Common Law and Civil Law countries, as well as the specific historical circumstances that have led to a different understanding of the principles of separation of powers and thus the relation between administration and courts. The aim of this paper is to point out the traditional differences between the systems of judicial control of administration and the contemporary tendencies in their development. In the contemporary sense, there is a transformation of the basic features of these systems that were previously determined as important. Today, they are not so clearly and strictly separated and it is harder to use them as the criteria of the separation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses hereditary position of ascendants and collateral relatives on one hand and a surviving spouse and cohabitation partner on the other hand, as intestate successors in the modern laws of Europe, particularly those belonging to the European civil law system, which also includes the Serbian legal system. The subject of the research is observed through the prism of comparative method which is necessary in order to obtain a comprehensive insight into the scope of application and the manner of usage of kinship in direct ascending and collateral line and marriage, that is, cohabitation, as material facts in formulating the rules of inheritance. This method further allows to recognise certain differences and, more importantly, similarities and common solutions and general legal principles that these laws are governed by in their legislative and theoretical approach regarding this issue. In this way we aim to answer the question to what extent the relationship between the kinship in the direct ascending and collateral line and marriage, in Serbian law, is synchronised with legal standards adopted in legal systems of the most other European countries; and whether there is a need in the local law, in particular in terms of adoption of the Civil Code of Serbia, for certain inheritance law reforms relating to regulation of this issue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Regulations on so - called zadruga (extended family, common among South Slavs) enacted after introduction of Serbian Civil Code in 1844, are examined in this paper. As zadruga was a dominant family structure in Serbia throughout XIX century, various rules regarding all important aspects of life in extended families were passed. Having in mind widespread existence and durability of zadrugas, significance of these regulations is emphasized in the article. Therefore, numerous provisions regulating legal nature of zadruga, property rights of zadruga's members, rights of succession of female children and divisions of zadrugas are scrutinized and critically analyzed. The author also indicates all major changes of traditional, customary law nature of zadruga that had taken place in legislation on zadruga's aiming to preserve extended families in considerably different social circumstances of XIX century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper the author gives an overview of the development from abstract to causal juridical acts and explains the abstract legal effect of juridical acts in present-day European civil law (in the law of Germany, Austria, Switzerland and France). He concludes that in contemporary law juridical acts cannot have full abstract legal effect, as in archaic legal orders, because modern legal orders do not allow the creation of claims and debts in a way that entirely excludes the possibility to scrutinize whether a juridical act is null and void for the infringement of public order by its aim. In relation to the law of Serbia, the author refers to the difference between juridical acts that create obligations, that is claims and debts, and acts by which the parties merely dispose of the claims and debts already imposed. This division of juridical acts has its origins in the German legal culture, but it is fairly applicable to the Serbian law, as well. The author points out that the requirement of the Law on obligations, that all juridical acts must have a valid cause, applies without exception to juridical acts imposing an obligation (the so-called Verpflichtungsgeschäfte), regardless of whether they are concluded in the form of an abstract of causal act, i.e. whether the purpose of the transaction is determinable from their content. In this context he refers to the standpoint adopted in the doctrine that the cause of juridical acts gains relevance by three means: by the agreement of the parties, objection of the respondent and when the court determines ex officio whether the contract is contrary to public order. The author supports the point of view that in Serbian law juridical acts aimed merely to disposing of claims and debts already imposed (the so-called Verfügungsgeschäfte) may have a legal effect, which is independent from their cause. For these reasons, the author is of the opinion that in present-day legal orders, hence in Serbian law too, it is more appropriate to use the phrase "abstract legal effect of a juridical act", which refers to a legal effect of an act, whereby the relevance of its cause is reduced or even eliminated, instead of the collocation "abstract juridical act", which connotes a specific type of juridical act, one entirely independent from its cause. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The adoption of the Law on Obligations in 1978 can certainly be considered as an event of watershed importance in respect to the analysis of various theoretical points of view on the notion of cause (consideration) of contract in the Serbian literature. The fact that it had not been explicitly regulated in Serbian positive law until the adoption of Law had a profound impact on the evolution of doctrine in this period. The range of differing theoretical points of view was very wide, covering essentially all the relevant streams in the doctrine of cause, from the ones accepting it (so-called causalistic theories), through the ones explaining it solely by the notion of exchange of assets (so-called economic theories), to the ones denying its legal significance in any sense (socalled anticausalistic theories). The most distinguished authorities in Serbian literature of contract law, who studied the notion of cause of contract in the period until the promulgation of the Law, were Dragoljub Aranđelović, Živojin Perić, Lazar Marković, Andrija Gams, Stevan JakšIć, Vladimir Kapor and Mihailo Konstantinović The Law on Obligations explicitly regulates the notion of cause of contract as one of the preconditions of validity and effect of a contract, which had a substantial impact on the evolution of doctrine. On the one hand, being an institution of positive law, there is hardly an author who had not devoted some attention to the notion of cause of contract. In this paper the author analyzes the points of view of Stojan Cigoj, Ljubiša Milošević, Živomir Đorđević, Boris Vizner, Martin Vedriš, Želimir Šmalcelj, Jakov RadišIć, Slobodan Perović, Jožef Salma and Oliver Antić. On the other hand, the scope of various, often conflicting, theories on cause of contract in Serbian literature shrank. One can recognize a tendency of abandonment of points of view disavowing any legal relevance of cause of contract and the majority of contemporary authorities argue that the cause of contract is a necessary legal institution, although they differ in the conceptual determination of this notion. However, Boris Vizner and Martin Vedriš may in this respect be deemed an exception. The former is of the opinion that the relevant sections of the Law on Obligations do not regulate the notion of cause of contract, but different titles of acquiring rights (titulus), while the latter claims that they mean the notion of basis of juridical act (Geschäftsgrundlage) from the German doctrine of civil law. All other authorities maintain that the sections of the Law on Obligations on the basis of obligation refer to the French notion of cause of contract and define it mainly within the premises of the neoclassical theory of cause of contract. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rules of customary law concerning the relation between the chieftain and council in so - called zadruga (extended family, common among South Slavs) were examined in this paper. In that relation, in Branislav Nedeljkovic's opinion, Valtazar Bogišic finds similarities with the one between the government and national assembly in parliamentary monarchy. The customary law provisions regarding zadruga's chieftain, his qualities, manner of election and authorities, as well as the rules concerning zadruga's council were presented and critically analised. It is also pointed out how the principles of zadruga's life served Bogišic as a model for introduction of parliamentary regime in Serbia. On the occasion of passing the Constitution of the Principality of Serbia of 1869, Bogišic namely suggested that the State should, to some extent, be organized after the model of zadruga. His idea of application of a private law institute such as zadruga in sphere of public law has its logical explanation. As a follower of the Historic school of law, Bogišic believed that customs are the most direct expression of national spirit without which it is impossible to become truly acquainted with characteristics and particularities of a nation. Therefore, the constitution should mostly represent codification of customary law. Naturally, in course of drafting the constitution, other nations' experiences as well as achievements of contemporary science should be taken into consideration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reveals new data on first attempts of codification of civil law in the Prinipality of Serbia. The attempts lasted from 1S27, the year in which prime codification works are recorded, to 1837, when French Civil Code was rejected as a role model offuture Serbian code. The revelations came from archive materials and non-Serbian literature and press. They are related to the work of the first and second codification committee, draft civil code composed between 1834 and 1837 and some details regarding the engagement of expert lawyers for the purpose of drawing up civil code. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By way of the Law on the Registration Procedure with the Cadastre of Real Estate and Utilities, one more significant reform of the real estate cadastre was performed in 2018. This article aims at presenting the goal, scope, systematic and practical consequences of some of its solutions. Primarily, attention is drawn to the fact that certain novelties, introduced in order to digitize and update the real estate cadastre, entirely disregarded private law nature of the rights that are registered in this cadastre, marginalizing thus the initiative of private entities. A special interest has been laid in the scope of the new rule that pertains to the registration of the common ownership of spouses in the real estate cadastre, in the light of the current conception of common property of spouses in Serbia. After a brief overview of the origins of this rule, and relying on the concrete cases, possible consequences of its application have been outlined. It is emphasized that this rule opened an additional space for triggering the principle of trust in the data registered with the cadastre, leading at the same time, at least indirectly, in a number of cases, to the circumvention of the concept of common ownership (and property) of spouses that exists in our legal system, giving thus rise to the far-reaching consequences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper summarizes the findings of voluminous methodological literature, as well as our concrete research experience, achieved through conducting many projects, in which the qualitative approach was used either exclusively or complemented by the quantitative approach. The considerable heterogeneity of theoretical concepts within which qualitative research is planned and implemented has caused the emergence of numerous variations of the qualitative approach in research practice. In this review of the main elements of the qualitative research approach, applied to criminological investigations, we will ignore some of these differences and present them in a somewhat simplified form, with the enumeration of common bases and principles. After a short review of the application of the quantitative and qualitative approaches to research in criminology and a summary of the chief features of the qualitative research approach, we will present the key elements of shaping research design and describe the selection of data collection methods, as well as procedures for their analysis in the qualitative studies of criminological phenomena. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The work is dedicated to the evolution of adoption practice from ancient Roman law to modern law. Adoption represents ancient social and legal practice which has during time changed manifestations and the causes it served. Adoption in ancient Rome served the interests of pater familias without biological posterity. Adoption practice benefited the continuance of families and the family cult of adopters, whose family lines, with no natural posterity, were threatened to become extinct. After the stagnation in the feudal epoch, adoption was reaffirmed in the bourgeois law. Civil codes in European countries, whose legal systems were built on the foundations of the ancient Roman legal tradition, originally favoured the interests of individuals with no biological children, who were granted to extend their families by adopting, and hence transfer their assets on the obtained heirs. After the wars in the 20th increase in the number of parentless children, the concept of adoption was radically changed, so that since that time the adoption has primarily served the interests of the adopted children and the care for them in the adoptive families. Adoption becomes a form of a social, legal family protection of children without adequate parental care, and that is the most desirable form to provide for children, for the adoptee completely integrates with the adoptive family and takes the right of the born child, where the family environment provides and encourages the optimal mental and physical development of the child. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent days, the need for systematically dealing with the challenges, which appear in relation to environment protection and sustainable development is ever more frequently pointed to. In the center of that problematics are climate changes and their effects. The work points out the fact that the climate is changing due to human activities, as well as the laws of nature which have been formulated by Milutin Milanković. In this regard, society should put organized work into eliminating the anthropogenic factors, while simultaneously adapting to the climate changes that are inevitable. The European Union has adopted a special Strategy for adaptation to climate changes. That document defines guidelines for development of public policies and operative measures in different areas. Similar (national) strategies have been adopted by certain countries. Efficient application of strategic documents and public policies is not possible without adequate legal regulative. Law traditionally comes late, as compared to social needs, including those related to reacting to climate changes and their effects. The work points out the need for civil law to be adapted to current trends. The author thinks that redifining the property rights are inevitable, and that it will be, due to climate changes, further restricted, in public interest, and for the sake of protection of existential interests of individuals and smaller social groups, alike. In this regard, thinkings of certain European and American authors on social function of that and other institutes of private law have been pointed out. In order for a higher level of social cohesion to be achieved in crisis situations, legal regulative should be harmonized with moral rules to a greater extent. Society should create a more just law, while individuals should apply it with more mutual understanding and solidarity. The author thinks that the traditional emission law should be transformed as well. Rules on emission should not be directed only to protection of private interests, but also to protection of public interests. In this regard, responsibility should not be bound only to unallowed influence on neighboring property, but should be expanded to cases in which someone emits into environment something that poses a threat to a wider community. The work also points out the need to more precisely regulate problems regarding erosion of soil, changing of water flows, servitudes, etc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author focuses on inheritance position that relatives, spouse and concubinage partner as intestate successors have in the laws of the countries of the former Yugoslavia (Serbia, Slovenia, Macedonia and Montenegro) as well as the entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina - the Republic of Srpska law, in cases when a corrective to ordinary rules of succession in certain intestacy classes applies, that is in case of application of the so-called exceptions to the rules of intestacy. The importance given to the fact of kinship (that is, the particular category of kins), marriage and concubinage in each of these laws may be observed based on the way each of these laws approach the regulation of a number of questions related to this issue, from the circle of heirs whose intestacy share can be increased or decreased, the existence of reciprocity in terms of the possibility to increase or decrease the shares of intestate successors covered by this possibility, as well as regarding the particular way (in terms of the type of inheritance authority) and the possible scope of increasing or decreasing the share of a particular heir. Therefore, all of these questions present the subject of analysis of this study which aims to determine the intensity of the changes in the hereditary position of certain intestate successors with respect to the one that they have upon application of the ordinary rules of intestacy (which was a subject of analysis of the previous article) in each of these laws. The purpose of the study is also to point out the advantages and some of the remaining weaknesses of the existing legal provisions in the relevant laws, and ultimately, to note the different and similar or even identical solutions adopted by the mentioned group of legislations in regulating this matter. In the sense of the forthcoming Civil Code of Serbia, author emphasizes certain changes regarding the regulation of some important issues in the domestic law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In addition to confiscation of proceeds of crime in the criminal or its associate procedure, as exists in national law, the author suggests the existence of other models in the seizure of property whose legal origin is suspected, represented in foreign legal systems. Recognizing this fact, the central part of his work is about the civil law confiscation or seizure of proceeds of crime in the administrative proceedings and taxing criminal profit, as alternative or corrective forms of action present in comparative legal systems. Briefly has been given an overview of basic principles on which they are based, and pointed out the problems faced by entities engaged in the field of their practical application. After a brief presentation and analysis of these systems the author raises a rhetorical question: whether the use of civil law or administrative proceedings legitimate tool in the fight against crime or a shortcut that states use to mitigate the lack of efficiency of the instruments used in crime fighting? In doing so, he reminds that confiscation and forfeiture and the criminal or its associated procedure is exactly the kind of civil law Institute (prohibiting unjust) used in the realization of the goals of the criminal law. Essentially, it is a desirable tool, which can help to achieve (partial) restorative justice. However, putting discussed aspects of confiscation in the view of the domestic law, the author concludes that the decision which has been opted by domestic legislator is currently the best way for the practical implementation of the principle of prohibition of unlawful enrichment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At the time when the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction was passed, that was a very logical step and a goal that this Convention is set before it, and that is prompt return of children wrongfully removed or retained children, was a necessary consequence of the circumstances of that time. Namely, in most cases, men, that is fathers, were those, who illegally took or kept the children. More than thirty years later, the situation in that field has changed in the sense that mothers are now abductors in most cases, mostly seeing that this is the only way to escape from the violence they, or their children, are facing with. In that sense, the question is whether the achievement of the objective of this Convention is still justified, that is would it be justified any other interpretation of the Convention in situations where the unlawful removal or retention of children is a result of domestic violence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unlike the French Civil code, the German Civil code belongs to the group of so-called anti-causalistic codifications, since it explicitly does not govern the issue of purpose (cause) of contract. Due to this very reason, the delineation between abstract and causal juridical acts gains special importance in German law. The German Civil Code governs a number of juridical acts and other acts of legal importance that are abstract in their nature. Among them the abstract nature of the promise to fulfill an obligation (Schuldversprechung) and the acknowledgement of a debt (Schuldannerkennung) is traditionally considered the most prominent. However, the relation to the purpose for which they are concluded is not entirely interrupted, since in the case of frustration of their purpose, any asset given to the other party is subject to restitution under the rules of unjustified enrichment. The fact that the issue of purpose of contract is not explicitly governed in the German Civil Code, does not lead to the conclusion, though, that it is legally irrelevant. It gains legal relevance in two different aspects: as a licit and as an illicit purpose. On the one hand, juridical acts concluded with the aim to achieve illicit purposes are considered void, for which the Code's sections on the general confines of the principle of freedom of contract serve the statutory basis - such juridical acts infringe the institution of "good customs" (gute Sitten), usually referred to as public policy, while the performance of other factual or legal acts in order to achieve illicit purposes are sanctioned under the rules of unjustified enrichment. On the other hand, lawful purposes of the parties gain legal relevance in relation to a range of various institutions. Concerning some of them the Code itself contains formulations implying the necessity to ascertain the purpose of contract, while in other cases the case law and the doctrine have come to such conclusion. The determination of the purpose of contract in the context of these institutions either secures the fulfilment of the purpose of assumption of contractual obligation of one of the parties or rectifies the consequences of the frustration of the fulfilment of that purpose. In this range surely the most important institutions are the collapse of the basis of transaction or frustration of purpose (Störung der Geschäftsgrundlage), a special case of discharge of contract due to impossibility, whereby the purpose of contract is realized without the performance of debtor's obligation, a special case of unjustified enrichment due to frustration of the result aimed by the purpose of the transaction and the invalidity of standard business terms that jeopardize the fulfillment of the purpose of contract. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Principle of legality and legal certainty, as key notions even of the thinnest concept of rule of law, are largely endangered in our times by widening of judicial discretion range. That trend is more and more at hand in European states as well, due to convergence of common law and civil law legal systems. Judicial decision acquires higher and higher factual importance in European legal systems, although it is generally not considered as a source of law. After analysis of standings by leading scholars of legal realism theory, the author admits that a very high level of tension frequently exists between judicial decision and legal norm. Within that conflict often and relatively easy decision succeeds to tear off by the strict letter of the law. In application of general legal rules upon concrete case, by creative adjustment of the law to life, due to necessary general and abstract character of legal norms, judge becomes more creator of law, rather than the one who applies it. The author points to danger of subjective and prejudiced attitudes of the judges, as they, due to their wide discretion, make a decision more upon their own feeling of justice, rather than upon law itself. In that way the law transforms itself in judicial decision based upon subjective understanding of justice and fairness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The history of Serbian mortgage law is not too long. The mortgage law began in first half of XIX century. The first Act about mortgage was The Intabulation Law from 1839. year. Mortgage is a right of lien on an immovable which autorhorises the creditor to seek satisfaction of his claim for the value of such immovable before of other creditors that do not have mortgage on it, as well as before creditors who have acquired mortgage on such immovable subsequent on him, irrespective of a contingent change of owner of the encumbered immovable. The mortgage was based on some rules. The mortgage is accessory rights. One of the basic features of a security right is its dependence on the claim. The mortgage creditor is entitled to request satisfaction of the claim from the value of immovable encumbered by mortgage, regardless of whether it is still in possession of the mortgage debitor or it has been convened into ownership of a third party. This The Intabulation Law is changed twice. For the first time in 1842 year, and second time in 1853. year. The lack of both changes was missing the principle of speciality. Principle of speciality marks the fact that a guarantee (security), may secure only a definite claim of one creditor and that the guarantee may exist only on a definite set of objects (assets). On one hand speciality of real security interest forbids securing an indefinite number of claims or an indefinite amount of claim, and, on the other, forbids the prospect of indefinite assets, or all assets of the debitor be subject of to such a security interest. This lack are eliminate in the new Intabulation Law from 1854. year, which was incorporated into Serbian Civil Code from 1844. year. The subject of this article is The Intabulation Law from 1854. year. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainable development, determined by social, economic and environmental goals, comprises a balance of social, industrial and technological development on the one hand, and preserving and improving the environment on the other. In pursuing the principles of sustainable development a fundamental role of impact assessment and strategic environmental assessment. These are specifically prescribed procedure in accordance with generally accepted standard, with the participation of competent authorities and all interested persons with the same goal which is the preservation and improvement of the environment while achieving economic development. Estimates of the impact on the environment are mainly directed in part towards finding the optimal measures to prevent, mitigation or compensate damages. This work is dedicated to the positive legal regulations pertaining to this issue in our country, their compliance with relevant international regulations with special emphasis on the effect that they achieved, how to determine the necessary measures of prevention, mitigation and compensation of damages, their advantages and disadvantages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article sheds light on some unfamiliar details related to Penal Code Draft for Serbia from 1839, authored by the mayor of Zemun Vasilije Lazarevic. As this document to a large extent remained neglected in monographs and articles in relation with codification of criminal law in Serbia in 19th century, the author resolved to explore this topic thoroughly. Archival materials provided solid basis to learn more information in terms of what occurred to forgotten draft after Ministry of Justice had received it. Lazarevic consigned his draft to Minstry of Justice between the end of July and beginning of October 1839. Not long afterwards, the Ministry proposed State Council to form a committee tasked with revision of the draft. State Council rejected the proposal, instructing the Ministry to appoint persons to revise the draft on its own. Only when they have finished revision, the draft would be examined by the State Council's committee. In the following year, 1840, Ministry of Justice requested Prince Mihailo Obrenovic (1839-1842, 1860-1868) to elect members of the committee to revise Lazarevic's draft. Not having jurisdiction over fullfillment of such request, the prince recommended State Council to do so. State Council opted for Minister of Justice Stefan Stefanovic-Tenka, legislator Jovan Hadžic, judge of Appellate Court Lazar Zuban and head of Department of Police and Economics in Ministry of Internal affairs Stefan Radicevic. However, due to turbulent political climate in Serbia, the committee was unable to execute its duty. In 1841, a new committee was formed by State Council. It was made up of member of State Council Golub Petrovic, Minister of Justice Stefan Radicevic, head of Department of Quarantine and Sanitation in Ministry of Internal Affairs Jovan Stejic and professor of law Jovan Raic. Existing historical sources and literature reveal contradictory data regarding the committee's activity. The last commission was appointed in 1843, and it included member of State Council Lazar Zuban, head of Department of Ministry of Justice Sava Šilic, president of Belgrade District Court Lazar Arsenijevic-Batalaka and legislator Jovan Hadžic. The committee had only partly revised the draft, after which it lied in the archives of State Council. At initiative of Department of Justice, State Council adopted the resolution that new drafts of Penal Code and Code of Criminal Procedure should be composed, which meant Lazarevic's work ceased to represent basis for codification of criminal law. Lacking information on the contents of the draft and observations of committees, available archival materials do not allow to draw resolute conclusions on the topic. Nevertheless, the records of Petrovaradin Border Regiment kept in Croatian State Archives in Zagreb, some of which contain data on early codification of criminal and civil law in Serbia, may potentially offer more explanations to this subject. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental protection is undoubtedly one of the priorities of today, both nationally and internationally. Environment is understood as the totality of natural and man-made values. Environment is primarily protected through administrative and civil law. However, intensive development of industry, engineering and technology has caused the need for environmental protection through criminal law, because the individual elements of endangering the environment can no longer be protected in any other way efficiently. In this article, the author deals with the environmental protection through criminal law at EU level, legislation governing the criminal-legal protection of the environment, as well as some basic issues related to this topis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]