ИНСТИТУТ САМОПОМОЋИ У ФРАНАЧКОМ; РУСКОМ И СРПСКОМ ПРАВУ
THE INSTITUTE OF SELF-AID IN FRANKISH; RUSSIAN AND SERBIAN LAW

Summary/Abstract: Self - aid is any kind of self-willed action taken by an individual in order to obtain a certain subjective right but excluding the legal governement authorities and legal proceedings. The norms of Lex Salica, Ruskaya Pravda, some Serbian rulers' charters and contracts with Dubrovnik, as well as the Code of Dusan regulate the above mentioned institute. Special attention is given to the institutes of the Serbian medieval law, like "udava" (debtor's temporary arrest until the debt is paid) or "izam" (taking away debtor's things or arresting people connected to him) and the institutions pertaining to Frankish and Russian common law. As an institute of law, self-aid is not provided by modern legal systems and jurisprudence today and therefore represents an exception from the rule. On the contrary, in medieval times this institute, whether forbidden or allowed, was mentioned in almost every legal document; which represents a reliable proof that self-aid did exist in the law practice of the medieval states. Had that not been the case, there would have been no need for the incoming laws to explicitly forbid repeal or sanction that kind of self-willed action. Moreover, self-aid represents the connection between early (but well- developed) medieval states and the primitive society, which indirectly provides knowledge on the evolution of social relations and development of other legal institutes. This comparative study of self-aid in Frankish, Russian and Serbian law indicates that this institute partly differs from one system to another, but it also explains the mutual relations among these three medieval laws including the legal and historical sources in these states. Self-aid is not only characteristic of common law. In statute law, it is mainly punishable and prohibited by legal practices.

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