Full text of the paper:
Proceedings of the Faculty of Law, Novi Sad
2025, vol. LIX no. 1, p. 101-137
working language: Serbian
Review paper
342.4(497.11)“1808/1838“
327:321.727(470+497.11)
doi:10.5937/zrpfns59-55514
Author:
Zoran Čvorović
University of Kragujevac
Faculty of Law in Kragujevac
zoranrcvorovic@gmail.com
ORCID ID: 0000-0001-6579-8146
Summary:
The work is devoted to the role and attitudes of official Russia in the process of forming the organization of government in Serbia, in the period from the Erfurt Convention in 1808 to Haticerif in 1838. The central problem explored in the paper based on historical sources and recent literature is the role of Russia in the establishment of a limited monarchy in Serbia after the Second Serbian Uprising. The author decided to investigate this problem primarily because of the diametrically opposite assessments in Serbian legal and historical science about the role of Russia in the constitutional development of Serbia during the first four decades of the 19th century. Starting from the thesis that for the establishment of a limited monarchy and the opening of the constitutional issue in Serbia, Russia’s advocacy for the introduction of a Soviet with immovable members was key, the author shows on the basis of archival material that such advocacy was part of the long-term strategy of Russian foreign policy at the time. It is about the policy of “constitutional diplomacy” of Emperor Alexander I. At the same time, the author shows that the basic principles of this policy did not change with regard to Serbia, even after Emperor Alexander I and his successor Nicholas I officially abandoned this policy. The paper presents a different view of official Russia’s relationship to the Sretenja Constitution than the one that dominates Serbian social science. The Russian protest against the Sretenji Constitution is linked to the then policy of preserving the “weak neighbor” that the official Petrograd followed in relation to Turkey, as well as to consistent Russian support for the introduction of a limited monarchy in Serbia, which was an obstacle to the Sretenji Constitution.
Keywords:
law, criminal law, balance, justice, legal certainty, language.