CHARTER AS A SOURCE OF LAW AND A REGULATOR OF EQUALITY IN SOCIAL-LEGAL RELATIONS (A SOCIOLOGICAL CONTRIBUTION TO FOUNDATIONS OF THE SOCIOLOGY OF LAW)

In the introductory section, we begin from the premise that the medieval period in the social development of the Serbian people was an era marked by profound shifts in collective “identity,” and that the formation of the first Serbian state in the 12th century represents one of the most significant phases in the political and cultural flourishing of medieval Serbia. During this time, customary law gradually lost its dominance as a major source of legal authority, and its role was increasingly assumed by medieval charters. These charters effectively served as the ruler’s authoritative commands regulating legal and social relations within a given Serbian estate, as well as responses to specific social circumstances, processes, and relations. The subject of this paper lies in the description and analysis of the major state-building undertakings of rulers of the medieval Serbian state, viewed through selected gift charters. These charters—issued to regulate relations among the population, establish patronage over monasteries, and promote the development of cultural life—functioned as instruments for ensuring equality within broader social and legal relations. The methodological framework of the paper includes the comparative-historical method and methods pertaining to the internal understanding of law (Saša Bovan, 2020).The aim of the paper is to highlight the legal provisions of the Gračanica Charter and the charter of King Stefan Dušan donating the Church of St. Nicholas in Vranje to the Hilandar Monastery. In this regard, these charters remain exemplary documents and a meaningful field of inquiry for scholars and educators engaged with socio-legal history and university-level legal education. They illustrate the social significance of charters and demonstrate how rulers, through acts of donation, exercised control over the rights and obligations of dependent populations toward monastic communities. Relying on legal provisions, charters also served to secure equality in social relations, taking into account not only wealthy and notable families, but also the poor, soldiers, ethnic minorities such as the Vlachs, as well as monks and abbots.The contribution that this modest paper offers to the course Foundations of the Sociology of Law lies in its explanation and distinction of historical and real events, social processes, and social relations within the medieval Serbian state, as well as the mechanisms through which the state successfully defended itself from spiritual and political pressures, including external threats originating from Greek and papal spheres of influence. The paper demonstrates that more stable social relations and the establishment of social balance among all strata of the population were achieved primarily through adherence to the legal norms and obligations set forth by rulers in their acts of donation, recorded in charters. As sources of law, charters are sociologically significant because they encompass an essential social value—social equality—which is crucial for maintaining the functioning of the community and its social equilibrium.