The Law of Serbia is the system of legal rules in force in Serbia, and in the international community it is a member of. Serbian legal system belongs mainly to the Germanic branch of continental legal culture (civil law). Major areas of public and private law are divided into branches, among them civil, criminal, administrative, family and labour law.
Serbia is the fourth modern-day European country, after France, Austria, and the Netherlands, to have a codified legal system.
Saint Sava (Serbian Cyrillic: Свети Сава, romanized: Sveti Sava, Serbian pronunciation: [sʋɛ̂ːtiː sǎːʋa]; 1169 or 1174 – 14 January 1235), known as the Enlightener or the Illuminator, was a Serbian prince and Orthodox monk who became the first Archbishop of the autocephalous Serbian Church. He was also a writer, diplomat, and the founder of Serbian law.
Sava, born as Rastko Nemanjić (Serbian Cyrillic: Растко Немањић), was the youngest son of Serbian Grand Prince Stefan Nemanja (founder of the Nemanjić dynasty), and ruled the appanage of Zachlumia briefly in 1190–92. He then left for Mount Athos, where he became a monk and took the monastic name Sava (Sabbas). At Athos he established the monastery of Hilandar, which became one of the most important cultural and religious centres of the Serbian people. In 1219, the Patriarchate exiled in Nicea recognized him as the first Serbian Archbishop, and in the same year, he authored the oldest known constitution of Serbia, the Zakonopravilo nomocanon, thus securing full religious and political independence. Sava is regarded as the greatest figure of Serbian medieval literature and author of the first Serbian "biography". Specifically, he wrote the life of his father, the Serbian ruler Stefan Nemanja.