Female position on the right of Inheritance. A comparative overview between the Canon of Lekë Dukagjini and the Canon of Labëria

• Author: Alfred Balla
• Position: Member of the Albanian Superior Council of Prosecutors
• Pages: 76-80

Vol. 4 No. 1

January, 2020

European Journal of Economics, Law and Social Sciences

IIPCCL Publishing, Graz-Austria

ISSN 2519-1284

Acces online at www.iipccl.org

76

Female position on the right of Inheritance

A comparative overview between the Canon of Lekë Dukagjini and the

Canon of Labëria

PhD (C.) Alfred Balla

Member of the Albanian Superior Council of Prosecutors

Abstract

Albanian women today, apart from legal equality to men, which is guaranteed to them by

laws and bylaws, strive to achieve gender equality in every sphere of life. But how has the

position of women throughout centuries in Albania been inheritance-wise? What have the

unwri en but applied laws by Albanians foreseen in years? The focus of this material is going

to be zoomed in the Canon of Leke Dukagjini as the largest compilation of customary laws in

Albania. Then, it is going to be analyzed through a comparative lens with the Canon of Laberia

(Northern Albania).

By viewing at only one article it is understood how the Canon of LekwDukagjini treats the

inheritance of women. Node 20 titled “The Inheritance of the Albanian Woman” foresees that:

“The Albanian woman has no right to inherit from their parents, neither outfi ts, nor property. The

Canon sees woman as merely an extra object at home. The parents do not have to worry for a dowry or

anything else for their daughter; whoever takes her needs to take care of everything. The parents of the

boy who marries the girl needs to think of everything that is needed for her marriage.”1

The analysis of this logic is going to be thoroughly explained in the rest of this material.

Keywords: Hereditary Law, The Canon of Lekë Dukagjini, The Canon of Labëria.

Introduction

The Albanian customary law derives from antiquity and consists of one of the

oldest legal systems in Europe. This right is not only a feature of the Albanian

people, but it has also acted upon other populations around the world. It is an

unwri en right, transmi ed generation a er generation through oral traditions

that served as enhancers of legal relations in Albania throughout centuries.

During periods of domination from various foreign powers (e.g. The Roman Empire,

The Byzantine Empire, The O oman Empire, etc.), the customary right was not

assimilated. It preserved its original peculiarities, thus surviving and continuing to

be implemented and applied in practice (Elezi, 2003). Such power of law derived

from the function that this right had in the community and the aim of protecting it.

However, the customary rights involved in the Canon have not always been static.

They have gone through changes in accordance to their historical development;

change and supplied with new norms in order to fi t the specifi c requirements of the

socio-economical development.

1 Original: Kanuni i Leke Dukagjinit, Nye I njizetet ,faqe 14, Shtepia Botuese Kuvendi, 2001.