COLLECTION OF PAPERS, FACULTY OF LAW NIŠ

URBAN PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT AND THE NEED FOR BALANCING PUBLIC AND PRIVATE INTEREST

2025-12-26T10:50:27+01:00

Urban planning and development are processes which can be observed from many different aspects. One of the most essential issues regarding urban planning and development concerns creating a system that provides sustainable urban development. The functionality of such a system is measured primarily by its capacity to provide urban development that is in line with the environmental, social and economic requirements of modern living. Reaching such requirements calls for balancing public and private interests, which more often than not tend to collide. Although there are many contributing factors to the system's functionality, this paper focuses on the regulation concerning urban planning and development and its role in sustainable urban development. The main focus of this paper's research is the regulation of urban planning and development in the Macedonian legal system and its capacity to create a fair balance between public and private interests in the pursuit of sustainable urban development.

STRICT FORMALISM OF WILLS OR SOVEREIGNTY OF TESTAMENTARY INTENT: WHICH SHOULD PREVAIL?

2025-12-26T10:26:34+01:00

The paper examines the tension between strict formalism and testamentary intent in the law of wills. Traditionally wills are strictly formal acts (forms ad solemnitatem): any deviation, even minor, renders the will invalid and triggers intestacy. Against this backdrop, Anglo-American theory and practice have advanced flexible approaches that prioritize testamentary intent over strict compliance, chiefly the harmless error doctrine and the dispensing power doctrine. These have influenced legislation and case law in common-law jurisdictions and spurred debate in continental European theory over whether priority should be given to strict formalism or to testamentary intent. The development of digital technologies further complicates the issue because electronic wills are not regulated, creating a real risk that such wills will be annulled despite the existence of clear testamentary intent. The paper cautions, however, against an overly liberal model, especially broad dispensing powers, which can erode the protective and evidentiary functions of form. Form still matters: it deters fraud, structures deliberation, and provides reliable proof. The author proposes a middle path: preserve essential formal elements that serve these functions, but allow courts, in favorem testamenti, to excuse minor defects when testamentary intent is proven. Such flexibility would better honor decedents’ last wishes without sacrificing core safeguards, and it would create doctrinal space to validate technology-assisted wills even before comprehensive legislation on electronic wills is enacted.

JUSTIFICATION OF THE RIGHT TO BUILD ON AGRICULTURAL LAND

2025-12-26T13:42:52+01:00

Agricultural land, as defined by comparative law, the Macedonian Ownership and Other Real Rights Act, and the subject-specific laws on agricultural land, is considered a thing of public interest and should be used for agricultural purposes. The Agricultural Land Act promotes its rational use, with the primary aim of producing agricultural products. Regarding this aim, the Law allowed the construction of facilities on that land, which should enable the cultivation of agricultural products and benefit from it. Also, the Macedonian legal system has expanded the list of types of facilities that may be built on that land. In practice, this expansion has led to extensive construction on that land. As a result, nowadays, the agricultural land is used more for tourism and sports, rather than increasing the yield of agricultural production. In addition, these legal norms have contributed to the increase in the import of agricultural products from abroad, creating disadvantages for domestic production. Therefore, in this paper, we will address the issue of how the Macedonian legal system can resolve this social conflict through new legal norms.

Keywords: law, agricultural land, construction, public interest.

LEGAL EFFECTS OF RECOGNITION OF SAME-SEX UNIONS: APPLICATION OF EUROPEAN STANDARDS

2025-12-26T13:43:33+01:00

The ECHR requires that persons of the same-sex be in a stable and lasting union in order to determine the existence of family life between them. In order for family life to exist, it is not enough for persons of homosexual orientation to be in a short-term and transient relationship, but a stable union is required, which can be manifested through assumed union, shared place of residence, joint business, acquisition of property in the union.

Unlike the previous practice of the ECHR, which until 2010 and the judgment in Schalk and Kopf v. Austria, refused to recognize a relationship between persons of the same sex as a relationship that can be considered in accordance with the rules of family life. considers this relationship as family life, and characterizes the lack of legal regulation and legal protection of these relationships as a violation of the right to respect for family life. Despite the fact that family life is established, the state is not obliged to provide for the conclusion of marriage by a person, but, according to the adoption of the practice of the ECHR, it has an obligation to somehow, i.e. through a certain form, recognize these unions, and in this respect it leaves the home states a wide margin of appreciation. Since the judgment in Schalk and Kopf v. Austria, a relationship between homosexual persons living together indisputably constitutes family life.

THE PRINCIPLE OF AUTONOMY OF STATE ADMINISTRATION AUTHORITIES IN THE REPUBLIC OF SERBIA

2025-12-26T13:43:48+01:00

The principle of autonomy constitutes a legally regulated relationship between administrative authorities and other state bodies or non-state entities. It entails relative—objectively determined by law—organizational and functional autonomy of administrative authorities, as well as the functional autonomy of authorized officials. Following a lexical-semantic analysis of the term and the delineation of related concepts, the paper first presents a theoretical and legal framework of the autonomy of administrative authorities, followed by a historical and legal overview and an analysis of the normative framework in the Republic of Serbia. The author concludes that constitutional and statutory provisions provide a solid normative basis for the autonomy of administrative authorities, yet there remains a need for its further enhancement. More importantly, there is a constant need to improve political practice and legal tradition in the consistent application of legal norms, that is, to develop a firmly established understanding and general consensus regarding the inadmissibility of undue influence on the work of administrative authorities.

STATE-CHURCH LAW IN THE KINGDOM OF THE SERBS, CROATS, AND SLOVENES UNTIL 1930: LEGISLATIVE ACTS ON RECOGNIZED RELIGIONS

2025-12-26T13:44:03+01:00

The plurality of state-church relations points to the need for a typology of possible relations within which it is possible to recognize the specificities of our time and space. In this paper, the reflections are directed towards a legal-historical approach to state-religious regulation in the First Yugoslavia. The “new state” established a special policy of state-religious law. By eliminating the concept of a “state church” and changing the model of state-church relations, the effect of resolving complex issues of the legal status and activities of churches and religious communities was achieved. Systematic legislation ensured consistent treatment of traditional churches and religious communities, which made the complex mutual relations of distant communities follow the process of integration and mutual coalition. State-religious law in Yugoslavia and the concept of state and national unity, promotes a flexible relationship between different confessions and balance in communication with other religious communities.

CIVIL LIABILITY FOR DAMAGE ARISING FROM TERRORIST ATTACKS, PUBLIC PROTESTS AND PUBLIC EVENTS

2025-12-26T13:44:17+01:00

The Civil Obligations Act governs civil liability for harm resulting from social conflicts, including terrorist attacks and public protests. Damages incurred at public events are covered under the same legal standard. The state is burdened by strict liability. This case of liability is restricted to specific types of harm brought on by individual death, physical harm, or property destruction. The paper examines the conditions of this liability case, with a focus given to the causal link.

Some states that were part of the former SFR Yugoslavia regulate this case of state liability because, upon separation, they enacted laws based on the 1978 federal Civil Obligations Act. Others have abandoned or moderated this case of state liability. A comparable instance for this kind of damage is uncommon in comparative law. The injured party in the criminal acts have the right for compensation, which includes terrorist attacks. In the case of damages during the public protests, state is liable only for the harm that police officers inflict on protesters. With exception to that situation, the rule is that the person who produced the harm is liable for damage caused during public protests, which means that individuals are responsible for any damage they do to other participants during the demonstrations and other public events.