Reflections on the Preliminary Draft of the Serbian Civil Code from 2019

Dudás, Attila (2024) Reflections on the Preliminary Draft of the Serbian Civil Code from 2019. In: Codification of Civil Law: Assessment, Reforms, Options. Legal Heritage . Central European Academic Publishing, Miskolc–Budapest, pp. 181-207. ISBN 978-615-6474-72-8 ISBN (epub) 978-615-6474-73-5 ISBN (pdf) 978-615-6474-74-2

Preview

Text Chapter 7.pdf - Published Version Download (328kB) | Preview

Abstract

In its recent history, Serbia, like its predecessors, the Kingdom of SHS/Yugoslavia and the socialist Yugoslav state, could not enact a new civil code, although numerous official and private initiatives to draft a civil code were undertaken, some even producing concrete drafts. Yet, enactment of a civil code, long after the 1844 Civil Code of the Principality of Serbia, could not be achieved because of political reasons or the division of legislative competence between the federation and federal units. On becoming a unitary state in 2006, these reasons ceased to exist. Thus, the very same year, a committee was formed by the Serbian Government tasked with preparing the draft of a prospective civil code. The committee progressively made available to the public the results of its work. The version of the draft, which can be considered final presently, was published in 2019, titled ‘Preliminary Draft of a Civil Code of the Republic of Serbia’. It has a five-partite structure, wherein a detailed general part is followed by separate books dedicated to the law of obligations, in-rem rights, family law, and inheritance law. In this chapter, the most important novelties proposed by the Preliminary Draft are analysed and, in some cases, critically reviewed. In the general part of the Preliminary Draft, the initiative to introduce the right to euthanasia is the most important talking point. Book II pertains to the law of obligations, convincingly relying on the Obligations Act of 1978. Book III is on in-rem rights, and Book IV deals with family law, influenced by the effective Family Law Act of 2005. Book V pertains to the branch of inheritance law, relying on the rules of the effective Inheritance Act of 1995. The most important novelties of the Preliminary Draft are subject of analysis in this paper.

Actions (login required)

Edit Item