Dušan's Code

Timeline

1. 1346–1349Skopje · SkopjeAfter being crowned emperor in Skopje in 1346 and establishing an independent church, Dušan set about integrating the newly conquered Greek and Albanian regions through written law, convening legal scholars to consult Byzantine codes and Serbian custom in preparation for the assembly's promulgation.
2. 1349Skopje · SkopjeIn 1349 the imperial assembly at Skopje promulgated the code's first set of articles, establishing church privileges, the status order of nobles and dependent peasants, judicial procedures, and punishments, marking Serbia's shift from customary law to an emperor-promulgated written legal system.
3. 1354Serres · SerresIn 1354 Dušan supplemented the code at Serres, refining its application to social relations, commerce, and criminal norms in the Greek regions, so that the code better covered the newly annexed Byzantine-style cities and villages in the empire's south.
4. 1355Serbian states · SerbiaAfter Dušan's death in 1355 the empire rapidly fragmented, and the code was no longer fully enforced as the current law of a unified empire; however, manuscripts continued to be copied in monasteries and noble archives, becoming a legislative model in later Serbian legal history and national memory.