The Poljica Statute is the most important historical source for the

Republic of Poljica The Republic of Poljica or duchy (, in older form ''Poljička knežija'') was an autonomous community which existed in the late Middle Ages and the early modern period in central Dalmatia, near modern-day Omiš, Croatia. It was organized as a "pea ...

. First mentioned in the late 14th century, and preserved in codified form since the 15th century, the

statute A statute is a law or formal written enactment of a legislature. Statutes typically declare, command or prohibit something. Statutes are distinguished from court law and unwritten law (also known as common law) in that they are the expressed wil ...

determined the law of Poljica, which is, by its form, style, content and establishment of social-economic relations, totally different from the rest of Croatian statutes. It is written in short, picturesque sentences that include the norms of Poljica's society from those regarding the highest political authorities to those that include all Poljicians' interests. Besides the laws written in this statute, the Poljica Statute also contains various decisions and verdicts of authority that, in a few occasions, refer to individuals. The Poljica Statute was changed as the society of Poljica changed. Another important value of the Poljica Statute is its archaic form, which can be used to study the people from Poljica and those from Croatia in general at the time it was formulated. Typical features of the Poljica Statute are guarantees of freedom but also acceptance of responsibility to protect Poljica.

Dating

The statute had various redactions. With possible uncodified

customary law A legal custom is the established pattern of behavior within a particular social setting. A claim can be carried out in defense of "what has always been done and accepted by law". Customary law (also, consuetudinary or unofficial law) exists wher ...

of Poljica dating to the 13th century, the first probable mention of existence of a codified statute is from 1383 (sometimes wrongly dated to the 1333) letter by

Elizabeth of Bosnia Elizabeth of Bosnia ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=/, Elizabeta Kotromanić, Јелисавета Котроманић ; ; ; – January 1387) was queen consort of Kingdom of Hungary, Hungary and Croatia in personal union with Hungary, Croat ...

wife of king

Louis I of Hungary Louis I, also Louis the Great (; ; ) or Louis the Hungarian (; 5 March 132610 September 1382), was King of Hungary and Croatia from 1342 and King of Poland from 1370. He was the first child of Charles I of Hungary and his wife, Elizabeth of ...

. In the letter published in

Zadar Zadar ( , ), historically known as Zara (from Venetian and Italian, ; see also other names), is the oldest continuously inhabited city in Croatia. It is situated on the Adriatic Sea, at the northwestern part of Ravni Kotari region. Zadar ...

and sent to Stephen II Lackfi the

Ban of Croatia Ban of Croatia () was the title of local rulers or office holders and after 1102, viceroys of Croatia. From the earliest periods of the Croatian state, some provinces were ruled by Ban (title), bans as a ruler's representative (viceroy) and sup ...

, is mentioned complaining of the citizens of

Split Split(s) or The Split may refer to: Places * Split, Croatia, the largest coastal city in Croatia * Split Island, Canada, an island in the Hudson Bay * Split Island, Falkland Islands * Split Island, Fiji, better known as Hạfliua Arts, enter ...

that the citizens of Poljica insist to abide and judge by their own laws, hence queen ordered that the ban sues them according to the Croatian laws and not their own laws. The oldest preserved redaction, with first 18 articles usually dated to 1440, mentions that was made from an older one, and since 1475 was updated with new redactions.

Basic features

The Poljica Statute is a document of priceless value. Besides matters of law, it is useful to study historical, economical, political and other social relations from that time. The law of Poljica was based on

s of Croatia and was influenced by church, feudal,

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

and commercial law. In the Poljica Statute, a clear difference was made between public and individual rights. Public rights were manifested in the relations between serfs and their masters and in the impossibility for citizens to be elected to the Table of Poljica (the government). The Statute had little influence on citizens, because they had village autonomy inside of their districts, so they had, through their village princes, an influence on election of new princes, and there were almost no serfs. Laws for serfs were very strict, and for some violations commoners were more severely punished than nobles. For example, if a tenant cursed his landlord his tongue was cut out, and if he dared to rise a hand against him, his right arm would be chopped off.Dositey Obradovich Circle. ''The South Slav journal'', p. 5. Dositey Obradovich Circle., 1987

Script

The earliest redaction from the 15th century Poljica Statute is written in

Cyrillic The Cyrillic script ( ) is a writing system used for various languages across Eurasia. It is the designated national script in various Slavic, Turkic, Mongolic, Uralic, Caucasian and Iranic-speaking countries in Southeastern Europe, Ea ...

(

Bosančica Bosnian Cyrillic, widely known as Bosančica, is a variant of the Cyrillic alphabet that originated in medieval Bosnia. The term was coined at the end of the 19th century by Ćiro Truhelka. It was widely used in modern-day Bosnia and Herzegovin ...

) under influence of

Glagolitic script The Glagolitic script ( , , ''glagolitsa'') is the oldest known Slavic alphabet. It is generally agreed that it was created in the 9th century for the purpose of translating liturgical texts into Old Church Slavonic by Saint Cyril, a monk fro ...

Language

The language of the redactions is a mixture of steadily receding Čakavian dialect and increasingly mode widespread

Štokavian dialect Shtokavian or Štokavian (; sh-Latn, štokavski / sh-Cyrl, italics=no, штокавски, ) is the prestige dialect, prestige supradialect of the pluricentric language, pluricentric Serbo-Croatian language and the basis of its Serbian langu ...

(specifically Western Ikavian) and, given that Glagolite clergymen contributed to the text, a considerable number of Church Slavonicisms are present. In the statute and other public and private documents from Poljica both the script and language are called as Croatian.

References

Sources

*{{cite book , last=Laušić , first=Ante , date=1991 , title=Postanak i razvitak Poljičke kneževine: (do kraja XV. stoljeća) , trans-title=The inception and development of the Principality of Poljica (up to the end of the 15th century) , language=hr , location=Split , publisher=Književni krug , isbn=86-7397-082-2

External links

Poljica Statute (English translation)Poljica Statute is of priceless value
1440 in Europe 1440s in law 15th century in Croatia Culture of Croatia Medieval documents of Croatia Legal history of Croatia Medieval legal codes Old Croatian inscriptions Bosnian Cyrillic texts