О ПРЕВОДИМА УГАРСКОГ МЕНИЧНОГ ЗАКОНА, ЊИХОВИМ АУТОРИМА И КРИТИЧАРИМА
ON THE SERBIAN TRANSLATIONS OF THE HUNGARIAN BILL OF EXCHANGE LAW, ITS AUTHORS AND CRITICS

Summary/Abstract: Immediately after the adoption of the Hungarian Bill of Exchange Law in 1840, two translations into Serbian were made in 1840 and 1841. The translators were Evgenije Đurković and Pavle Ars. Popović. E. Đurković was a respectable lawyer with conservative views and an opponent of Vuk’s language reform; P. Ars. Popović was a lawyer, literary critic, later secretary of the State Council of the Principality of Serbia, editor of the official Serbske novine (Serbian newspapers), and a supporter of Vuk’s reform. The translations were criticized by Teodor Pavlović, editor of Serbski narodni list (Serbian national magazine), and Konstantin Bogdanović, a distinguished lawyer and literary critic. Pavlović’s criticism was in the first place directed towards the Slavonic-Serbian language used by E. Đurković, but also towards some terms used in translation. Both translations were criticized by K. Bogdanović, also a supporter of language reform, who objected to the Slavonic-Serbian language used by E. Đurković, and to an inadequate translation resulting from the insufficient knowledge of legal matters. Regarding Popović’s translation, he thought that many of the terms Popović coined did not correspond to the meaning of the relating legal conceptS and that some old foreign terms used in that field should have been retained. The translation of laws was innovatory, sensitive and difficult, especially at the time of turbulent language changes, Vuk’s language reform, when Serbian literary language was actually in the process of growing and developing, and also changing during that process. In Serbian language at that time legal terminology was not developed, not only in the field of bill of exchange legislation, but also for some other basic legal concepts. Therefore, the translations of the Hungarian Bill of Exchange Law and the discussions about them were extremely important for the development of Serbian legal terminology, especially since they were made before the adoption of the Civil Code in the Principality of Serbia in 1844. Although it was only the question of translations, a number of basic issues related to Serbian legal language and legal terminology were opened in connection with that.

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