Slobodan Jovanović - life, work, times : on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of his birth

Abstract

The monograph on Slobodan Jovanović (1869–1958), published on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of his birth, represents a unique account of his life, scientific work, society and the times in which he lived. Jovanović’s work and his personality have always attracted the attention of the general public. The work he left behind is remarkably voluminous and versatile. It should be noted that a great number of his works was not included in the volumes of his collected works that have been published to date. Slobodan Jovanović worked as a university professor at the Faculty of Law in Belgrade for over forty years. He performed the duties of the dean of the Faculty of Law and the rector of the University of Belgrade. He was the president of the Serbian Royal Academy, legal expert at the Paris Peace Conference, president of the Commission for drafting the Constitution of the new state in 1920, president of the Serbian Cultural Club, president and vice-president of the Ministerial Council of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. In view of the duties he performed, social and political activities represent an important part of the picture of this great scientist of ours. As the president of the Serbian Cultural Club and the pivotal personage of the Serbian people he was delegated to assume the responsibilities of the second vice-president of the Ministerial Council in the government of 27 March 1941. He was the president and vice-president of the government in the country and later in exile. He died in emigration in London in the late 1958, almost a hundred years since his father Vladimir Jovanović, one of the leading Serbian Liberals, had first arrived in the British capital as a political emigrant. Even though Slobodan Jovanović advocated parliamentary bicameral multiparty system, he had never participated in party politics. However, he took part in state politics, as Jovan Dučić wrote in 1942: “Slobodan Jovanović has never been a member of a party, a member of government, or a participant in any plot. He always kept himself at a distance from ruling politics, and yet for this very reason he stood close to its side, as its yardstick, its judge, and its state prosecutor. He used to be called ‘the conscience of the Serbian people’. He was not a political person, but a statesman: always at the helm, and from there always taking in sweeping views that lie ahead of him.” In the aftermath of the war, Slobodan Jovanović was convicted at the political trial organized by the new communist rule in Belgrade in 1946. His personality and work were expelled from the educational system and scientific circles and consigned to oblivion. He was rehabilitated in 2007. This monograph first presents the biography of Slobodan Jovanović including the chronologically presented works that can be said to represent the milestones of his scientific develop- 8 ment, as well as his own theoretical viewpoints. Subsequently, the individual chapters trace the scientific areas he dealt with and scientific achievements he accomplished. The account starts with his theory of the state related to the subject he had taught, that is, General and Special Constitutional Law. It is followed by an account of the special legislation, that is, constitutional law, and an assessment of Slobodan Jovanović as a constitutional-legislative writer. The books in which he interpreted the constitutions of the Kingdom of Serbia and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (Vidovdan Constitution) are analyzed and reviewed. The following part of the monograph is devoted to the historiography of Slobodan Jovanović, to the multi-volume political history of Serbia of the 19th century, which is often justifiably regarded as his best-known work. If his other works to do with national history are also taken into account, it can be seen that he encompassed a period from the late 18th to mid-20th century. The subsequent part of the monograph deals with Jovanović as a literary scholar and critic. Special praise is given to his sophisticated language and well-known Belgrade literary style. The final part of the monograph contains Jovanović’s bibliography. With a view to making the text of the monograph easier to read, all footnotes, that is, notes, are to be found at the back of the book. We thank all the authors for the texts published in the monograph dedicated to the 150th anniversary of the birth of our renowned scientist Slobodan Jovanović. Kosta Čavoški and Aleksandar Kostić