Законник Душана: Свод законов сербской империи XIV века

14th century Serbian set of laws

Dušan's Code (, known historically as Закон благовјернаго цара Стефана – Law of the pious Emperor Stefan) is a compilation of several legal systems that was enacted by Stefan Uroš IV Dušan of Serbia in 1349. It drew upon Roman law, Byzantine law, as well as elements of customary and canon law. It was used in the Serbian Empire and the succeeding Serbian Despotate. It is considered an early constitution, or close to it; an advanced set of laws which regulated all aspects of life such as family relations, property rights, contracts, and crimes.

On 16 April 1346 (Easter), Dušan convoked a huge assembly at Skopje, attended by the Serbian Archbishop Joanikije II, the Archbishop of Ochrid Nikolaj I, the Bulgarian Patriarch Simeon and various religious leaders of Mount Athos. The assembly and clerics agreed on, and then ceremonially performed the raising of the autocephalous Serbian Archbishopric to the status of Serbian Patriarchate. The Archbishop from then on was titled Serbian Patriarch, although one document called him Patriarch of Serbs and Greeks, with the seat at the Monastery of Peć. Emperor Dušan added a series of articles to it in 1353 or 1354, at a council in Serres. This second part was half the size and at times cited issues from the first part, referring it to the "first Code".

The code continued as the constitution under the rule of Dušan's son, Stefan Uroš V, and during the fall of the Serbian Empire, it was used in all provinces. It was officially used in the successor state, Serbian Despotate, until its annexation by the Ottoman Empire in 1459. The code was used as a reference for Serbian communities under Turkish rule, which exercised considerable legal autonomy in civil cases. Noel Malcolm has argued that an article in Dušan's Code can be considered speculatively as an early attempt to clamp down on the self administered Albanian customary law of the mountains (Kanun), and if so, this would be an early evidence that such customary laws were in effect. Dušan's Code regulated all social spheres, thus it is considered the second oldest preserved constitution of Serbia. The original manuscript is not preserved, but around twenty copies of the transcript, ranging from the 14th to the 18th century, remain.

The Popović family from Dvorane, which generated 18 or 21 generations of village priests, were important in the preservation of medieval Serbian literature: they had the Charter of Our Lady of Ljeviš, written by Serbian King Stefan Dečanski (r. 1321–1331), in their direct property; the Russian consul in Prizren, Jastrebov, found it at the house of the last descendant of the family, Jovan Dvoranac Popović in Prizren, who gave it to the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts. In 1859, Prizren teacher Nikola Musulin found the Dušan's Code there, and in 1860 the Saint Archangels Charter was found in the St. Nicholas Church in the village of Koriša. Today 24 manuscripts of Dusan's Code are known. The oldest extant is the Struga manuscript from 1373; which is not preserved in full; only 100 articles remain. The Athos and Studenica manuscripts date from around 1418. The Hilandar, Bistrica and Prizren manuscripts, which have the most complete texts, date to the 15th century. The Rakovac manuscript, dating to around 1700, comprises only the last 12 articles and the Emperor's comments.