PRAVNOISTORIJSKI OSVRT NA USTANOVU BRANIOCA U SRPSKOM PRAVU

Abstract

The paper provides a legal-historical overview of the institution of defense counsel in criminal proceedings, which were applied in the territory of Serbia, from the second half of the 19th century to the first half of the 20th century. The institution of a defense attorney was introduced on the territory of Serbia on the basis of the Code of Judicial Procedure in Criminal Offenses from 1865. According to the Code from 1865, the institution of the defender was regulated very narrowly; defense counsel was provided only for a certain group of defendants. In 1868, the Code was amended, introducing a mandatory formal defense for those accused of a crime and a group of people determined by the Code, while an optional formal defense was possible for anyone accused of a crime, but only during the main proceedings. The shortcoming, which implied the impossibility of the defense counsel's participation in the previous proceedings, was remedied on the territory of Serbia only on the basis of the Yugoslav Code of Criminal Procedure. However, the Yugoslav Code of Criminal Procedure also had certain shortcomings regarding the institution of defense counsel. Therefore, the paper will analyze the question of which European models the domestic legislator looked up to and what shortcomings were observed in terms of the way of regulating the institution of the defender, both in the Principality and the Kingdom of Serbia, and in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.