The subject of this analysis are the mechanisms of possession according to the Serbian Civil Code and the Code of Civil Procedure from 1929, during the period between 1844 and 1941. The development of the protection of possession during this period is mostly reflected in the fact that possession in the Principality of Serbia and the Kingdom of Serbia was protected, first of all, by means of criminal justice, while in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, this role was played by civil law. Although possession and its protection in the Principality of Serbia and the Kingdom of Serbia were also regulated by civil-law norms, the people were still relying on the criminal justice system to get protection. Beside the many ambiguities in the Serbian Civil Code related to it, the protection of possession was not regulated separately from standard civil procedures in the Code of Civil Procedure from 1865. Thus, only when the Yugoslav Code of Civil Procedure went into effect did possession get proper, civil-law protection on the territory of Serbia.
Legal and historical overview of the protection of possession in Serbian law