On the scientific elaboration of the history of Slavic law: Now and then

Abstract

Having been hired as the professor of History of Slavic Law at the Novorossiysk Faculty of Law in Odessa, famous legal historian and Monetenegrinian law maker Valtazar Bogišić held his accession lecture in 1870, later published under the title 'On the Scientific Elaboration of the History of Slavic Law'. In order to present the future of the new scholarly discipline he elaborates the origins, achievements, but also failings of the Historical School of Law. He points out the basic paths legal historians should follow and steps that legal history as a science should take in order to strengthen itself and remedy some of the weaknesses of the Historical School. This article compares the circumstances that Bogišić was describing to the modern ones, pointing out that some of his recommendations might have indeed been heeded a long time ago, but that some are certainly still applicable. Moreover, although considering the opinion that legal history's days are numbered in the era of globalisation and fast legal changes is extant and widespread, the author claims that position and goals of legal historians are greatly similar to the conditions of Savigny's and Bogišić's time. The historical approach to law, the connecting of historical and positivist disciplines, and the ever increasing number of ways of using the achievements and methods of legal history not only in academia, but also in the creation of law, are all indicators of favorable winds for legal history once again. Of course, legal historians should not take that for granted, but must always strive for perfection, listening both to the new voices that the future brings and the reliable counsels of the past, the like of which Bogišić presented in his work.