THE PATH TOWARDS THE CODIFICATION OF CIVIL LAW IN NORTH MACEDONIA AND THE BALKAN COUNTRIES - THE DILEMMA BETWEEN MODERN AND TRADITIONAL

Abstract

The codification of civil law represents one of the most significant legal and civilizational 
achievements in the history of law. Codification as a notion represents the process of collecting 
and scientifically arranging the laws that regulate legal and social relations into a single legal 
document, i.e code, officially promulgated by the legislative organ of the state. The codification of 
civil law remains one of the greatest challenges of our legislation, with our legislation being among 
the rare legislations that deviates from the European tradition of codification of civil law, and 
struggles with the dilemma between modern and traditional. The complexity of the contemporary 
legal systems, and the rapidly changing social aspects, create many challenges that require a 
constant review of the legal frameworks and innovative solutions to overcome the challenges with 
which our legal systems are confronted. Тhe aim of this paper is to contribute to our knowledge 
regarding the process of the codification of the civil law internally, regionally and internationally. 
The focus of the author is particularly on providing a comparative analysis of the process of the 
codification of the civil law in the Republic of N. Macedonia, the Western Balkan countries, and 
the European tradition of codification of the civil law.  The objective of this analysis is to highlight 
the benefits of the enactment of the Civil Code in general, and in our state in particular, considering 
it as a step that would contribute in the improvement of the legal system, the facilitation of 
interpersonal legal relations, and the work of legal practitioners. The results presented through the 
elaboration and study of the findings from the domestic and foreign literature, from the 
comparative analysis of the various legal solutions in the above-mentioned research, emphasize 
the need for the swift adoption of the Civil Code and the importance of abandoning the habit of 
our legislators to separately regulate civil law regulations, as well as accepting the European 
tradition of codification of the same. This will enable greater legal and economic certainty, 
systematization of legal regulations and harmonization of domestic and European legislation.