User:Sanja Milivojević/Institut za uporedno pravo/The Institute of Comparative Law

 [iup.rs/en/about The Institute Of Comparative Law], with over 60 years of continuous work, is one of the oldest institutions for comparative law research in the world.

In addition to scientific research and publishing activity, the Institute contributes with its expertise to the development of legal science, modern legislation and quality solutions for contemporary legal challenges in Serbia and the Western Balkans region.

1.	Activity

The main activity of the Institute of Comparative Law is comparative research, and its mission is to analyze critically and present to the public legislative solutions in other countries and supranational organizations, as well as the latest developments in international law, contributing with its expertise to the development of legal science, modern legislation and quality solutions of contemporary legal challenges in Serbia and the Western Balkans region.

The Institute of Comparative Law performs the following activities: The Institute of Comparative Law participates in the Basic Research Program funded by the Serbian Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development. In the evaluations of the projects participating in the competitions of the relevant Ministry, the Institute has been traditionally rated the highest, topping all others competing with topics in the field of legal sciences.
 * collects, translates, and researches data on legislation, legal science and practice in other countries, and analyzes relevant issues of international and comparative law;
 * researches the European Union law, and is engaged in the harmonization of the national law with the European law;
 * through its publications and in other ways, informs the professional public in the country about foreign and international law, and informs the foreign public about the status of the national legislation, practice, and achievements in legal science;
 * performs fundamental research in the comparative and international law domains;
 * participates in the reform of legislation, especially by drafting legislation in various fields, proves expert opinions, prepares elaborates, studies, analyses, etc.;
 * publishes monographs, periodicals, and other publications;
 * organizes scientific conferences and expert meetings regarding especially significant and current issues;
 * cooperates with corresponding scientific and expert institutions in country and abroad;
 * collects and keeps relevant documentation (collections of regulations, official gazettes, books, periodicals, etc.).

The Institute employs some 30 researchers with research and scientific titles and administrative staff. The Institute's associates have been trained at the most prestigious universities in the world, including Harvard, Berkeley, Oxford, University of Freiburg, European University Center of Nancy, London School of Economics and Law, etc.

2.	Partners 

The Institute of Comparative Law has a standing cooperation with: In addition, the Institute of Comparative Law occasionally cooperates with many other similar institutions and NGOs in Serbia.
 * Institute of European Studies
 * Institute of International Commerce
 * Institute of Criminology and Sociology Research
 * Institute of Humanity Sciences Faculty of Law in Belgrade
 * Faculty of Law in Novi Sad
 * Faculty of Law in Kragujevac
 * Faculty of Law in Osijek
 * Pan-European University “Apeiron”, Banja Luka
 * Institute of Economic and Social Research
 * Belgrade Centre for Human Rights
 * Centre for Advanced Legal Studies
 * Faculty of Public Administration Faculty for European Law and Political Studies, Novi Sad, Singidunum University
 * Serbian Agency for Restitution Serbian Port
 * Governance Agency Trade Union of Doctors and Pharmacists of Serbia
 * Union of Court Experts of Serbia Centre for Evaluation in Education and Science
 * Provincial Ombudsman
 * Intermex
 * Sociological Society of Serbia
 * Faculty of Philosophy in Novi Sad
 * Association of Serbian Insurers
 * Southern European Center for Legal Research
 * Toplica Center for Democracy and Human Rights
 * Assembly of the Serb Diaspora of Southern France
 * City of Novi Sad

The Institute’s foreign partners include: In addition, the Institute of Comparative Law cooperates occasionally with other similar foreign institutions.
 * Centre Européen Universitaire de Nancy - France
 * Institute for Federalism, Fribourg, Switzerland
 * Aire Centre, London, UK
 * Central European University, Budapest, Hungary
 * Europe Institute, Zurich, Switzerland
 * CIDS
 * Institute for Education, Documentation and Research of Holocaust – Shem Olam (IHSO)
 * Agency of Public Administration and Government of Norway
 * UNCITRAL
 * UNIDROIT
 * UNICRI

From 2001, the Institute of Comparative Law has been supported on various bases by the following: 3.	Library
 * Serbian Ministry of Science and Technological Development
 * Serbian Ministry of Education
 * Serbian Ministry of Culture
 * Serbian Ministry of Diaspora
 * Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation
 * Centre culturelle français
 * GTZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit, GmbH)
 * Heinrich-Boell-Stiftung
 * Open Society Fund -	USAID
 * Jugoimport Company Belgrade
 * Dunav Insurance Company Belgrade
 * Gerontological Society of Serbia
 * Human Rights and Democracy House
 * Institute for Textbook Publishing
 * Alter Company
 * Svetigora Publishing House
 * Centre for Evaluation in Education and Science
 * State Lottery of Serbia
 * European Council

The Institute’s library contains over 24.000 titles, and during the decades-long exchange and otherwise, the library book fund has been enriched by some 200 journals. Considering its characteristics, it is one of the richest legal libraries in the country.

All legal areas are included: theory and philosophy of law; international, public, and private law; comparative law; all segments of civil law (real, obligatory, family-hereditary, commercial, maritime, aviation, and labor law); intellectual property law; as well as civil procedure; constitutional and administrative law; social protection; and insurance. The library safeguards a somewhat more modest book fund of recent editions in criminal law, considering that in 1962 the Institute ceded all the books (592) and publications (15) in this field to the Institute for Criminological and Criminal Research.

In addition to legal literature, mostly foreign, the library contains also a considerable number of titles in the areas related to legal sciences: sociology, politics, political economy, public finance, culture, education, religion, etc.

The library includes also many lexicons, encyclopedias, dictionaries, and other handbooks.

In addition to books, the library contains also scientific and professional journals, mostly foreign.

Until 1990s, the library received regularly publications and official gazettes from thirty countries. Unfortunately, in the recent decades, the Institute has not been able to afford regular subscription to these editions or pay access to specific data banks, and has had access to their contents, on needs basis, most frequently thanks to the kindness of their external associates.

The most important publications of the Institute of Comparative Law, issued mainly over the last 10 years, are publicly available in electronic form.

4.	Background

The Institute of Comparative Law was founded in 1955 by a decree of the Federal Executive Council, signed by the then President of the Federal People’s Republic of Yugoslavia, Josip Broz Tito.

The Institute of Comparative Law became operational on January 1, 1956, as one of the first institutions of its kind in the world. Based on that same model, institutes for comparative law were established in Switzerland and Japan.

Comparative research peaked in the mid 1950s, and after that, the strengthening of the European Community and other regional integrations shifted the focus in the Western Europe from comparative to unilateral, communal law.

On the 60th anniversary of its existence and work, on the Candlemas Day, in 2016, the Institute of Comparative Law was awarded a gold medal for outstanding merits in the development of legal science.

Throughout history, the Institute of Comparative Law has been awarded also the Order of Merit for the people with Silver Wreath, while the founder and the first director of the Institute, Prof. Borislav Blagojević, Phd, was decorated with the Order of the Republic with Golden Wreath. His closest associates - Vida Čok, PhD, Miodrag Janjić, PhD, Marija Toroman, PhD, and Jelena Vilus, PhD were awarded the Orders of Labor with Golden Wreath.

The institute is located in a building dating from 1883, built in accordance with the project of the famous architect Svetozar Ivačković and his associate architect Jovan Subotić, and declared a cultural monument, in 1965, by the decision of the Government of the Republic of Serbia.

The founder of the Institute of Comparative Law and its longtime, unforgettable director from 1956 to 1978 was Borislav Blagojević, PhD, full-time professor and rector of the University of Belgrade.

Vladimir Jovanović, PhD, who was director from 1979 to 1993 and full-time professor at the Faculty of Law in Belgrade, has also left a permanent mark on the work of the Institute.

From od 1993 to 1997, the Institute was headed by Prof. Milorad Josipović, PhD, full-time professor at the University of Novi Sad.

From 1997 to 2001, the director of the Institute was Oliver Antić, PhD, full-time professor and dean of the Faculty of Law in Belgrade.

The director of the Institute from 2001 to 2007 was Vesna Rakić Vodinelić, PhD, associate professor at the Faculty of Law in Belgrade, and full-time professor and dean of the Faculty of Law of the UNION University in Belgrade.

During 2007, the director of the Institute was Vesna Besarović, PhD, full-time professor at the Faculty of Law in Belgrade.

From 2007 to 2016, the director of the Institute was Jovan Ćirić, PhD, scientific adviser and a Constitutional Court judge.

From 2016, the director of the Institute has been Vladimir Čolović, PhD, scientific adviser.

6.	About the Architecture of the Institute Building 

The Institute of Comparative Law has offices in the courtyard section of the building in the back of a stately palace and an exceptionally important work of architecture, in downtown Belgrade, at number 41 Terazije Street. The building was declared a cultural monument in 1965, and subsequently a cultural good of great importance.

The two-purpose palace, originally built for the needs of the Ministry of Justice of the Kingdom of Serbia and the Terazije Court Administration, is the work of architects Svetozar Ivačković and Jovan Subotić, and was built between 1882 and 1883, in the peripheral block of the Belgrade Terazije Court, bordering with the court complex in King Milan’s Street. In terms of architectural and cultural-historical significance, it stands out among the administrative buildings in the Serbian capital. It is one of the first stately public buildings built in the Kingdom of Serbia and one of a small number of preserved buildings from the period of prosperity and development of its state administration.

This Ivačković’s and Subotić’s anthological achievement has been referred to affirmatively in the national architecture historiography. It is rightly noted that it is one of the most beautiful buildings of its time, and the most beautiful examples of modern Renaissance in the Serbian architecture of the 19th century, representing "the most important work of the profane architecture of Svetozar Ivačković and probably the most representative work of Jovan Subotić."

7.	Publications

One of the essential characteristics of the Institute of Comparative Law is a rich tradition of issuing monographs, anthologies, and other publications based on comparative law research in almost all legal areas. These publications are a significant contribution to the development of legal science, legislation and practice in Serbia and the Western Balkans region.

The liveliness and wealth of the Institute’s scientific-research and publishing activity are reflected in more than 300 published monographs and thematic anthologies. These include: "Introduction to the United States Law" (Uvod u pravo Sjedinjenih Američkih Država), "Introduction to the German Law" (Uvod u pravo Nemačke), "The Hague Tribunal" (Haški tribunal), "Natural Disasters - Emergency Situations" (Elementarne nepogode – vanredne situacije), "OSCE - 40 Years of the Helsinki Final Act" (OEBS – 40 godina završnog akta iz Helsinkija); as well as two important anthologies, one marking the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the First World War, and another entitled "Religion - Politics - Law" (Religija – politika – pravo).

In Serbian and international scientific circles, The Institute is known also as the publisher of a very significant journal “Strani pravni život” -"Foreign Legal Life", which has been published for more than 60 years and belongs to scientific journals of exceptional national importance. Most of these publications are available in electronic form.

8.	Strani pravni život – Foreign Legal Life

"Foreign Legal Life" is a scientific journal that has been published since 1956, and deals with comparative law. The publisher is the Institute of Comparative Law in Belgrade. Articles published in the journal refer to comparative law and judicial practice, that is, to the laws and legislation, as well as the practice in other countries. "Foreign Legal Life" is a category M51 journal and it belongs to scientific journals of exceptional national importance.

"Foreign Legal Life" journal is published four times a year, of which 3 issues are in Serbian and one (the 4th) in English.

The editor-in-chief is Vladimir Čolović, PhD, and the members of the editorial board are distinguished professors and other experts from the country and abroad. All articles, as well as all other inputs to the journal, go through a double anonymous review process.