Zoran Čvorović, LLD*
RELATIO IN THE ARTICLE 181 OF THE DUSHAN’S CODE AND IN MEDIEVAL RUSSIAN LEGAL SOURCE
Summary
In the paper, the author analyzes the regulation of Article 181 of the Dushan’s Code on the exclusive right of the ruler to judge in those cases which, due to the factual complexity of a particular case or the existence loophole in the law, were transferred from regular courts to the ruler's court. In the first part of the paper, the author presents the views of some of the most important commentators on the Dushan’s Code, which differ from one another depending on whether they qualify the institution referred to in Article 181 of the Code as a relation or an appeal. These theses, as well as the content of Article 181 of the Dushan’s Code itself, the author illuminates from the perspective of the application of the institution of relation, as well as of related procedural institutions, in the first instance of supplication, in Byzantine law and the practice of the Byzantine ruler's court. Since the ruler appropriates a significant part of the judicial power through the relation, the regulation of Article 181 of the Dushan’s Code is analyzed by comparison with other articles of the Code, which, on the one hand, broaden, and on the other, narrow the possibilities of the ruler’s interference with the regular course of court proceedings. The role that the ruler played in the judiciary under the Dushan’s Code can only be objectively judged when the provisions of the Dushan’s Code of relation and supplication are compared with similar regulations in other Slavic laws. Therefore, the paper compares the relevant regulations of the Dushan’s Code with those of the relation and supplication of Moscow and Lithuanian-Russian law.
Key words: relation, supplication, Dushan’s code, Russian law, Byzantine law.