Vojislav Bačanin*
FINANCIAL AND LEGAL ASPECT OF LOCAL (SELF)GOVERNMENT IN THE KINGDOM OF SERBIA BEFORE 1903
Summary
Financial independence of local territorial and administrative entities has always been the essential characteristic of local self-government. The necessary prerequisite for realizing local self-government relies upon local entities generating profits, as well as having the right to dispose with them. When it comes to local self-government in the Kingdom of Serbia before 1903, legal history literature is rife with diverging viewpoints, ranging from those defining the Kingdom of Serbia as a state characterized by a traditionally developed local self-government to those absolutely negating the actuality of self-government principles. The analysis focuses on the financial and legal status of administrative and territorial entities comprising the Kingdom of Serbia before 1903 in order to examine the hypothesis concerning the existence of local self-government during the said period which would further contribute to clearer understanding and more general apprehension of the evolution of this public law institution in Serbia.
Key words: Kingdom of Serbia, local self-government, local government, financial independence, municipalities, regions, provinces