The University of Belgrade Faculty of Law is opening an essay contest for the Alan Watson Prize in the 2025/26 academic year for the best paper dealing with legal transplants. The contest is open to all the students of undergraduate and master’s studies of the University of Belgrade Faculty of Law.
The main subject that we wish to propose to all candidates interested in this year’s contest is:

EMPIRES AND LEGAL TRANSPLANTS

Empires are regularly associated with a great number of legal transplants — both through conquests, the imposition of their own legal systems and the establishment of colonies, as well as through the authority that their law and culture acquire over the centuries. It is also not uncommon for new, young empires to decide to model their legal systems after those of their illustrious predecessors. History offers ample testimony to this: legal transplants in cuneiform law, the Hellenistic blending of legal traditions, Roman conquests — as well as the later reception of Roman law, the emulation of the Rhomaian (Byzantine) model by Slavic Orthodox empires, the spread of codifications by the great European powers in the modern era to smaller neighbours and distant colonies alike… Not to mention the transmission of political and economic influence by the great powers in our own time.
Naturally, we also welcome papers on other subjects related to legal transplants, whether they are concerned with Serbian law or foreign legal systems alone, focusing on legal history or positive law, primarily practically oriented or focused on theory. Both new, unpublished works will be accepted, along with works that were published throughout 2025. The papers can be written in Serbian or in English.
The papers can be submitted at awf@ius.bg.ac.rs until the 20th of January, 2026, along with the personal data of the participant. The winner of the contest will be announced at the celebration on St. Sava’s Day, the 27th of January, 2026, when they will also receive a cash prize. The winning paper will be published in the journal “Vesnik pravne istorije / Herald of Legal History”, in the first issue of 2026.

The Alan Watson Prize for the best paper related to legal transplants was established in 2005, at the initiative of Professor Watson himself, who has long been a friend of our Faculty and held an honorary doctorate of the University of Belgrade. Now, after his passing in 2018, the University of Belgrade Faculty of Law continues to award this prize, under the guidance of Prof. Emeritus Sima Avramović, encouraging research in the field of legal history among the students of the University of Belgrade Faculty of Law.