University of Belgrade Faculty of Law

The University of Belgrade Faculty of Law (Serbian: Правни факултет Универзитета у Београду) is an accredited law school within the University of Belgrade, Serbia. The building is located in the heart of the old part of Belgrade, in the urban neighborhood of Palilula, contiguously to the city park Tasmajdan, on Bulevar kralja Aleksandra, the longest street within the urban part of the city.

History

The Faculty of Law, established in 1808 as part of the University of Belgrade, is one of the largest law schools in the region, with a long tradition of being a leader in the country’s legal education. In the beginning, the Countess Ljubica's Residence was home to this educational institution, which was at that time within the so-called Great School. The Faculty of law has always rallied distinguished scholars and lecturers. Since its founding, it has educated almost 50,000 law graduates, around 1,200 magistri iuris and 830 doctores iuris, as well as hundreds of specialists in various areas. A great many Faculty of Law alumni have become recognized experts and scholars in all branches of law, law professors and high ranking government officials. Distignuished scholars include authorities, such as Slobodan Jovanović, Alexander Soloviev, Radomir Lukić and Mihailo Đurić.

The Faculty’s historic building, built prior to World War II, was upgraded in 1995 with additional premises, and now comprises about 12,000 sq. meters of space. All the faculties of law, established subsequently in Serbia (Subotica, Novi Sad, Pristina, Nis, Kragujevac), Montenegro (Podgorica), and in other parts of the former Yugoslavia (Sarajevo, Skoplje) were formed from the University of Belgrade Faculty of Law as a core. There is a large number of professors at the various faculties of law in all the countries of the former Yugoslavia, who had obtained their academic titles at the University of Belgrade Faculty of Law.

The Faculty of Law

Library

The finest academic law library in the region is located in the very Faculty building, occupying the area of around 2,000 sq. meters, with 600 sq. meters of reading rooms, one of which is reserved for researchers and teachers only. The Library collection comprises 138,000 monographs, 2,670 titles with 32,600 years of serial publications, reference collection with over 400 encyclopaedias, lexicons, dictionaries and other reference books, and a priceless collection of 91 rarities (featuring several XVII and XVIII century editions of Justinian’s Codification, a singular edition of Corpus Iuris Canonici, etc.).

Law Journal "Annals of the Faculty of Law in Belgrade"

The first journal established by the Faculty of Law in 1908 was named "Arhiv za pravne i drustvene nauke" ("Archive for Legal and Social Studies") and "Anali Pravnog fakulteta" "(Annals of the Faculty of Law in Belgrade") emerges as its sequel in 1953. It offers professional articles, critical analyses, commentaries of judicial rulings, articles concerning international scholarly activities and book reviews written by the academic staff of the Faculty and distinguished scholars from Serbia and abroad. The journal is available in Serbian and English. The Serbian edition enloses résumés of the articles in English. Editors-in-Chief of this publication are renowned professors Sima Avramovic and Alan Watson, who is credited for coining the term "legal transplants". In honor of Watson's worldwide scholarship, the Faculty of Law also established the [http://www.alanwatson.org Alan Watson Foundation] .

Аcademic and professional gatherings

The faculty participates in numerous scholarly and professional events (both national and international) and regularly present their papers at conferences held annually by the national lawyers’ associations such as the Kopaonik School of Natural Law, the Commercial Lawyers' Convention, numerous criminal law symposia, etc.

Academic staff

The University of Belgrade Faculty of Law has among its faculty some of the most eminent experts in various legal disciplines, as well as in a range of other social sciences (economy, sociology, philosophy, political science, legal history, etc.) Amongst them, there have been 19 members of the Academies of Sciences, 15 presidents of the University of Belgrade, six judges of the Constitutional Court of Serbia, a large number of names recognized within the domestic and international academic community, as well as several dozens of high government officials – Prime Ministers, Deputy Prime Ministers and Ministers, Ambassadors, etc. Miroljub Labus, Dejan Popovic, Gaso Knezevic and Kosta Cavoski are some of the current faculty.

Competition in Oratory

The traditional annual student Belgrade Competition in Oratory has become an event that attracts interest of the entire University and the general public. Following the example of the Faculty of Law in Belgrade, a number of other faculties organize their own competitions, the winners of which participate in the Serbian universities wide finals.

International competitions

Participating in inter-faculty competitions in different fields of practice at the national and international level is a great challenge to students. The student teams are coached by professors and teaching assistants, and they have achieved notable success in the past. Apart from national competitions in various fields, for a number of years now the Faculty of Law has enabled its students to participate in international competitions: William C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot (in international commercial and arbitration Law), Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition (in international public law), Jean Pictet International Humanitarian Law Moot (in international humanitarian law), Clinical Legal History Competition (simulation of a court proceeding in ancient Athens), etc.

tudent life

Student life at the Faculty does not merely revolve around lectures and exams, as there is a diverse array of student activities. There are many student organisations, of which Belgrade chapter of the The European Law Students' Association, is one of the most active ones, organizing student exchange programmes throughout Europe. Students elect their representatives (Student Vice-Dean and the Student Parliament) to coordinate various student activities, represent their interests in the Faculty bodies, participate in the evaluation of studies and the faculty, and secure the involvement and participation of students in all matters and issues of interest to them. Students publish their own journal – "Pravnik" (The Lawyer), take part in various competitions through their sports club Pravnik, stage plays through a drama society, organize discussion forums through the long lasting UN Club, whereas Oratory Centre "Institutio oratoria" gathers all those interested in developing public speaking skills and prepares them for competitions. The Society for Roman Law and Classics "Forum Romanum" has a particularly long and fine tradition. Established in 1970, it organizes discussion forums and social activities on a weekly basis. Over the years dozens of internationally renowned professors have participated in its activities, e.g. the late Regius Professor of Civil Law Peter Birks from Oxford.

Notable alumni

*Vladan Batić, Serbian Minister of Justice (2000-2003)
*Džemal Bijedić, Prime Minister of SFR Yugoslavia
*Vuk Drašković, Serbian Minister of Foreign Affairs
*Kiro Gligorov, First President of the Republic of Macedonia (1991-1999)
*Miroljub Jevtić, Serbian political scientist
*Dragan Jočić, Serbian Minister of the Interior (2004-2008)
*Vojislav Koštunica, President of FR Yugoslavia (2000-2003) and Serbian Prime Minister (2004-2008)
*Laza Lazarević, Serbian writer and psychiatrist
*Dimitrije Ljotić, Yugoslav Minister of Justice (1931-1931) and German collaborationist during World War II
*Slobodan Milošević, President of Serbia (1989-1997) and President of FR Yugoslavia (1997-2000)
*Lazar Mojsov, President of the United Nations General Assembly (1977-1978) and President of Presidency of SFR Yugoslavia (1987-1988)
*Branislav Nušić, Serbian novelist, satirist, essayist and founder of modern rhetoric in Serbia
*Milan Parivodić, Serbian Minister of International Economic Relations
*Fredy Perlman, American author, publisher and activist
*Dušan Petrović, Serbian Minister of Justice (2007-2008)
*Vida Petrović-Škero, President of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Serbia
*Milan St. Protić, Serbian Ambassador to the United States and Mayor of Belgrade
*Ivo Lola Ribar, Croatian communist politician in Yugoslavia
*Ivan Stambolić, President of the Presidency of Serbia (1985-1987) and President of the Executive Council of Serbia (1978-1982)
*Borisav Stanković, Serbian writer
*Zoran Stojković, Serbian Minister of Justice
*Goran Svilanović, Minister of Foreign Affairs and member of the Stability Pact for Southeastern Europe
*Ljubomir Tadić, Professor of Philosophy and member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts
*Dimitrije Tucović, Yugoslav social democrat
*Marko Vidojković, Serbian novelist of young generation
*Miodrag Vlahović, Montenegrin Ambassador to the United States
*Filip Vujanović, President of Montenegro
*Svetozar Vukmanović-Tempo, Montenegrin communist

External links

* [http://www.ius.bg.ac.yu Belgrade Faculty of Law Homepage] "(Serbian, English)"