Ragusa Statutes

medieval feudal statutes of the Romano-Slavic city of Dubrovnik (Ragusa) in Dalmatia (now Yugoslavia). They included the statutes of 1335 (Liber omnium reformationum) and 1357 (Liber legum civitatis Rhacusii dictus visidis). However, the principal statutes were those of 1272, compiled at the initiative of Venice, which dominated Ragusa at the time.

The Ragusa Statutes were based on ancient Slavic common law and Roman and Byzantine law. They consolidated Venice’s monopoly over east-west trade and protected the interests of the ruling patrician class in maritime transport, handicrafts, agriculture, and trade. The statutes contained regulations on municipal administration, courts and legal proceedings, the family and paternal authority, and the division and inheritance of property. Other regulations dealt with matters relating to land and laws against smuggling, piracy, and poisoning. The Ragusa Statutes were influenced by Venetian maritime statutes and by the Rhodian Sea Law.