From 23 to 25 May 2025, The University of Belgrade Faculty of Law organized an international scientific conference dedicated to the 150^th anniversary of the birth of Teodor Taranovski (1875-1936).

The conference was opened by Prof. Dr Milena Polojac, Head of the Department of Legal History at the University of Belgrade Faculty of Law, and Prof. Dr Zoran Mirković, President of the Organizing Committee of the conference. They reminded the audience of some basic facts from the life of Prof. Taranovski, his great contribution to the study of legal theory, as well as the legal history of several European nations, during his life and work in Russia and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes/Yugoslavia (from 1920), where he arrived as a distinguished legal theorist, and where he would particularly stand out as a legal historian. He first took the Chair of the History of Slavic Law at the Faculty of Law of the University of Belgrade (vacant since 1903, after the death of Prof. Mijušković), wrote the Serbian edition of his “Encyclopedia of Law” and dozens of scholarly papers and other contributions, in order to crown his career with a magnum opus: the aforementioned “History of Serbian Law in the Nemanjić State” in four volumes. Unfortunately, shortly after the publication of the last volume, he suddenly died, in early 1936, leaving an immeasurable loss in several areas of legal science that he dealt with and works that would, decades later, be the starting point for many researchers.

Over the course of two working days (May 24 and 25), 25 participants from Serbia, Republika Srpska, Russia, Poland, Hungary and Slovenia presented their research, both on Prof. Taranovski himself, his relationship with colleagues from abroad and from other scientific fields, and on the topics he dealt with. The most common starting point for this research were the two most famous works with which Teodor Taranovski endowed two areas of legal science. These are “History of Serbian Law in the Nemanjić State” for legal history, and “Encyclopedia of Law” for legal theory and philosophy. At the closing of the conference, the gathering was addressed by Emerita Prof. Dr Vida (Taranovski) Johnson, granddaughter of Teodor Taranovski, via video message.

From the University of Belgrade Faculty of Law, the following teachers participated in the conference with their papers: Prof. Dr Zoran Mirković, Prof. Dr Vladimir Vuletić, Prof. Dr Valentina Cvetković-Đorđević, Prof. Dr Dalibor Đukić, Prof. Dr Miloš Stanković, Prof. Dr Nina Kršljanin, Assoc. Prof. Dr Dušan Rakitić and Asst. Đorđe Stepić, MA.

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