The Code of Lekë Dukagjini (Albanian: Kanuni i Lekë Dukagjinit, also known as the Code of the Mountains (Kanuni i Maleve) is one of the variants of the Albanian customary law transmitted orally. Believed to be much older, it was initially codified by the 15th century Albanian Prince of Dukagjini, Lekë. It was only written and published by the Ottoman administration in the first half of the 19th century in Ottoman Turkish in an attempt to stop the blood feuds. It was then compiled by the Catholic clergy at the turn of the 20th century. The collections of the clergy were published in the Albanian language in the periodical magazines as Albania and Hylli i Dritës. The first complete codification of the usual subject saw its first publication in 1933 in Shkodër, a posthumous work of Shtjefën Gjeçovi (killed in 1929) who collected it mainly in the villages of Mirdita and its surroundings.
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Code of Lekë Dukagjini in the context of Lek Dukagjini
Lekë III Dukagjini (died after 1481), commonly known as Lekë Dukagjini, was a 15th-century Albanian nobleman who ruled the Principality of Dukagjini from 1446 until the Ottoman conquest in 1479. A member of the Dukagjini family, he was a contemporary of Skanderbeg and participated in the Albanian resistance against the Ottoman Empire. Dukagjini is best known for the Code of Lekë Dukagjini, a code of customary law that bears his name and governed the tribes of northern Albania for centuries.