Развој институције имунитета у српској средњовековној држави до краја владавине краља Милутина
Development of the Institution of Immunity in the Serbian Medieval State Until the End of Reign of King Milutin

Summary/Abstract: The Serbian medieval rulers granted to church institutions and the nobility a different kind of immunities, which allowed them to increase their revenue. The main sources for the study of immunity are the charters of Serbian rulers. Most of these are related to the most prominent Serbian monasteries. It may be noted that the earliest surviving acts mentioned the granting of judicial immunity, which was not complete. However, Nemanjić monarchs conceded to the monasteries judicial fees in the litigations conducted before the Royal Court. The groundbreaking period in the development of immunity was the reign of King Milutin (1282–1321). In his charters he freed monasteries’ possessions from “all kinds of labor, small and great”. In that manner, he granted these properties complete tax exemption. Also, he forbade his officials and noblemen to jeopardise the financial and judicial immunity of monasteries. It seems that the king still kept the right to judge in certain cases such as a murder, infidelity, rape of girls and takeover of men and horses. At that time, the Byzantine holders also received broad immunity rights. Such practice certainly influenced Serbian King Milutin, who conquered a large part of the Byzantine territory in Macedonia. Further development of immunity rights in medieval Serbia took place during the reign of King and Emperor Stefan Dušan (1331–1355).

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