On the Prospects of Civil Law Codification in the Former Yugoslav Republics

INTRODUCTION. The article analyses the prospects for the codification of civil law in the states that emerged on the territory of the former Yugoslavia within the framework of the Romano‑Germanic legal family and contemporary trends towards systematic codification of private law. The study covers Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Serbia, Slovenia, Croatia and Montenegro, and identifies how historical development, the Yugoslav legal legacy and post‑socialist transformations have shaped their current codification agendas. It is shown that, despite decades of discussion and the preparation of draft codes, these states still lack a unified civil code, and the regulation of private‑law relations remains fragmented.

MATERIALS AND METHODS. The methodological basis of the study consists of comparative‑law, historical‑legal and institutional analysis. The empirical basis includes the national legislation of the six post‑Yugoslav states, primarily statutes governing property, obligations and family relations, as well as official documents and materials of codification commissions. The research further relies on academic literature in several languages, including works on civ‑il‑law codification in Central and Eastern Europe; in the historical‑legal part particular attention is paid to the impact of the Austrian Civil Code and the broader Austro‑Hungarian legal legacy.

RESEARCH RESULTS. The analysis shows that the six post‑Yugoslav states display different models of civil‑law development. In North Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro large‑scale codification projects are underway, yet progress towards the adoption of civil codes remains uneven and politically vulnerable. Slovenia and Croatia continue to rely on the Yugoslav Law on Obligations, modernising it through incremental reforms instead of enacting a single civil code. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, state‑wide codification is seriously hampered by its complex constitutional structure. Throughout the region, the Yugoslav model of regulating private law through a set of specialised statutes retains its influence; this is complemented, in several jurisdictions, by the historical impact of Austria‑Hungary and reliance on the Austrian Civil Code in the development of property‑ and obligations‑law institutions.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS. The analysis demonstrates that the post‑Yugoslav states are at different stages of civil‑law codification: from advanced civil‑code projects in North Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro to a more cautious strategy of step‑by‑step reforms in Slovenia and Croatia and significantly constrained state‑wide codification in Bosnia and Herzegovina. A key condition for progress is political will, without which even thoroughly elaborated drafts remain at the level of expert initiatives. At the same time, the academic communities in all the countries considered are broadly unanimous in viewing civil‑law codification as a necessary and desirable goal that enhances the coherence and predictability of legal regulation. The codification process is shaped by persistent historical patterns: the Austro‑Hungarian legal heritage and the specific socialist trajectory of the Yugoslav federation, which relied on the Law on Obligations instead of a classical civil code. These layers of tradition determine differing starting points and models of possible codification, but do not negate the basic direction of development: movement towards civil‑law codification in all the countries analysed, albeit in asynchronous and institutionally diverse forms, is largely predetermined by their belonging to the Romano‑Germanic legal family and by the requirements of European integration.

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