Background

Founding and work

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.

Founders and Former Directors

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 to February 2024, the director of the Institute was Vladimir Čolović, PhD, scientific adviser.

Since 2024, the director of the Institute has been Jelena Ćeranić Perišić, PhD, scientific adviser.

Former employers

Vida Čok
Miodrag Jovičić
Miodrag Janjić
Olga Šuica
Jelena Vilus
Marija Toroman
Svetlana Arsenić
Vladislav Blagojević
Kosta Čavoški
Dušan Crnogorčević
Ivica Jankovec
Ljubiša Jovanović
Lucija Spirović Jovanović
Zlatija Đukić Veljović
Vrleta Krulj
Desanka Dugić Lazarevi
Dušan Lovrić

Ljubiša Lazarević
Đurica Krstić
Jasna Pak
Ljubiša Dabić
Milan Petrović
Dijana Marković Bajalović
Aleksandar Lojpur
Ilija Babić
Ksenija Sigulinski
Srđan Stojanović
Mihailo Stojanović
Radomir V.Lukić
Mitar Kokolj
Dragan Kostić
Zorica Radović
Žarko Milanović
Stevan Mijučić
Vesna Živković

Genc Trnavci
Katarina Damnjanović
Goran Dajović
Igor Vuković
Marija Karanikić
Ljubinka Kovačević
Dušan Popović
Dušan Vranjanac
Jovan Ćirić
Vladimir Cvijan
Robert Sepi
Katarina Damnjanović
Snežana Stojanović
Luka Breneselović
Vesna Rakić Vodinelić
Dragana Knežić- Popović
Silvija Panović Đurić

Dobrosav Mitrović
Jakov Radišić
Ratko Marković
Zoran Radović
Dragoljub Stojanović
Lidija Basta
Ana Đorić
Boris Krivokapić
Aleksandra Čavoški
Monika Milošević
Ljubiša Dabić
Dejan Šuput
Fernanda Fernadez Florentinо
Ivanka Spasić
Saša Gajin
Milena Vujić
Velimir Živković
Marina Matić Bošković
Stefan Andonović
Jovana Misailović
Iva Tošić
Vladimir Čolović

The 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.”