Arduous Path to Constitutionalism: Serbian Constitutional Developments in the First Half of the Nineteenth Century
Sažetak
Serbian nation building began in 1815, with the achievement of home rule. The Sultan granted autonomy to the Serbs in 1830 and the first constitutional ideas emerged immediately within the framework of designing autonomous institutions by the Serbs themselves. Those ideas were prevailingly modern, although the authors of the constitution drafts for the Serbian vassal state, who remain unknown to date, did not properly understand some western concepts. That was evident in the contacts with foreign diplomats.
The National Assembly adopted the first constitution in 1835. It was a mixture of the liberal ideas of its drafter with the aspirations of the Prince who favoured unchecked exercise of power. The foreign powers were dissatisfied with the 1835 Constitution and urged the Prince to suspend it only a month after the adoption. In 1838 the Sultan gave a constitution to the vassal state of Serbia. It provided for oligarchy as the form of government and remained in force for decades.
Neither of the two constitutions relied on a liberal settlement. However the ideas were slowly developing as regards the pillars of constitutionalism – the separation of powers, fundamental rights and the rule of law. When teaching of law set foot in Serbia in the 1840s the constitutional concepts exposed in the university were far ahead of the provisions of the constitution in force.
Key words: Serbia, human rights, separation of powers, rule of law.
Reference
Cunibert, B., 1901, Srpski ustanak i prva vladavina Miloša Obrenovića 1804–1850, Beograd.
Gavrilović, M., 1908, Miloš Obrenović, knj. I, Beograd.
Gavrilović, M.,1926, Suspendovanje prvog srpskog ustava, Iz nove srpske istorije, Beograd.
Jevtić, D., Popović, D., 2003, Narodna pravna istorija, Beograd.
Jovanović, S., 1990, Jovan Hadžić, Političke i pravne rasprave I–III, Beograd.
Kandić, Lj., 1972 a, Neobjavljeni nacrti ustava u Srbiji u prvoj polovini XIX veka, Anali Pravnog fakulteta u Beogradu, 5–6.
Kandić, Lj., 1972 b, Položaj sovjeta po ustavnim projektima i ustavima u prvoj polovini XIX veka do ustavobranitelja, Istorijski glasnik, 1.
Karadžić, V., 1969, Prvi i drugi srpski ustanak; Život i običaji naroda srpskog, Novi Sad–Beograd.
Karadžić, V., 1985, Istorijski spisi, Beograd.
Krkljuš, Lj., Proekt Ustava za Vojvodovinu Srbsku Stefana Radičevića, in: SANU, 1990, Ustavni razvitak Srbije u XIX i početkom XX veka, zbornik radova, Beograd.
Lukić, R., 1957, Jovan Sterija Popović – profesor prirodnog prava na Liceju, Anali Pravnog fakulteta u Beogradu, Vol. V, No 1, januar–mart.
Ljušić, R., 1986, Kneževina Srbija (1830–1839), Beograd.
Marković, B. S., 1977, Dimitrije Matić – lik jednog pravnika, Beograd.
Matić, D., 1851 a, Javno pravo Knjažestva Srbije, Beograd.
Matić, D., 1851 b, Načela umnog državnog prava, Beograd.
Milićević, M. Đ., 1888, Pomenik, Beograd.
Nenadović, M., 1969, Memoari, Novi Sad – Beograd.
Novaković, S., Srbija u 1834 – pisma grofa Boa-le-Konta De Rinji, ministru inostranih dela o tadašnjem stanju u Srbiji, 1894, Spomenik SKA, XXIV, Beograd.
Novine Srbske.
Popović, D., 1996 a, Prapočetak srpskoga parlamentarizma, Beograd.
Popović, D., Položaj građanina u srpskim ustavima (1835–1903), in: Obradović, K. and Paunović, M., 1996 b, Pravo ljudskih prava – nove teme, Beograd.
Popović, D., Dimitrije Davidović – od narodne k pojedinačnoj slobodi, in: Trkulja, J. and Popović, D., 2001, Liberalna misao u Srbiji, prilozi istoriji liberalizma od kraja 18. do sredine 20. veka, Beograd.
Popović, D., 2004, Sretenjski ustav – oruđe vladavine i vesnik slobode, in: SANU, Ustav Knjažestva Serbije, Beograd.
Popović, D., 2014, Les droits fondamentaux dans les deux premières constitutions serbes (1835 et 1838), Etudes balkaniques, 19-20/2013-2014.
Popović, D., The Dawn of Human Rights in Serbian Legal Thought, in: Simon, T. (ed.), 2017, Konflikt und Koexistenz – Die Rechtsordnungen Südost Europas im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert, Band II, Frankfurt am Main.
Popović, J. S., 1995, Prirodno pravo, Novi Sad.
Popović-Obradović, O., 2013, The Parliamentary System in Serbia, translated by Branka Magaš, Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia, Belgrade.
Prodanović, J., 1936, Ustavni razvitak i ustavne borbe u Srbiji, Beograd.
Radičević, S., 1849, Proekt ustava za Vojvodovinu Srbsku sa državoslovnim primetbama, Zemun.
Zöpfl, H., 1841, Grundsätze des allgemeinen und des konstitutionel-monarchischen Staatsrechts, Heidelberg.