The Legal Status Of Slavery In The Romanian Lands During 15th–19th Centuries
The Legal Status Of Slavery In The Romanian Lands During 15th–19th Centuries

Summary/Abstract: This study examines the legal and social status of slavery in the Romanian principalities from the fourteenth to the nineteenth century within the broader Byzantine and Balkan legal traditions. Drawing on the Syntagma of Matthew Blastares, the Moldavian and Wallachian legal codes, and later codifications such as the Ipsilanti Code (1780), Caragea Code (1818), and Calimah Code (1817), it argues that slaves were conceived simultaneously as property and as persons protected by law. While the owner held extensive rights of use and transfer, the killing or sexual assault of a slave was treated as a capital crime. Legal sources also attest to limited patrimonial capacity, marriage rights, and possibilities of manumission through service, religious vows, or marriage to a free person. Comparative evidence from Byzantine, Serbian, and Bulgarian law highlights regional continuities and variations. By tracing the gradual legal transformation culminating in the abolition of slavery between 1843 and 1856, the study reveals the influence of inherited Byzantine norms.

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