INSURANCE IN THE SERBIAN CIVIL CODE FROM 1844 – CONTRIBUTION TO THE HISTORY OF LEGAL REGULATION OF INSURANCE CONTRACTS IN SERBIA

Comparative legal and normative analysis of the Serbian Civil Code provisions from 1844 (hereinafter referred to as the SCC) on insurance contracts is the subject of this paper. Since it is a Serbian legal tradition from the period of restoration of the Serbian statehood and the struggle for fi nal liberation from the Ottoman Empire, the SCC could not refl ect achievements of domestic legal theory and case law. Jovan Hadžić, the author of the Code, given his legal education and positive law in Vojvodina at the time, modelled the SCC on the Austrian Civil Code (hereinafter referred to as the ACC). Such an outcome was caused by the absence of previous regulations or business customs that applied to insurance contracts. Therefore, in this paper we compare legal provisions of both codes relevant to insurance contracts. The paper analyses the rules of certain aleatory contracts of the SCC, especially insurance, the regulation and subject matter of insurance contracts, the form and conclusion of insurance contracts. Obligations to protect and salvage property according to the SCC were analysed separately, having in mind that they could be applied accordingly in marine insurance.

Key words: the Serbian Civil Code, the Austrian Civil Code, aleatory contract, insurance, risks