Kanun (Albania)

The Kanun or Doke is a set of traditional Albanian laws. The Kanun was primarily oral and was published in writing only in the 20th century.[1] The Kanun of Lekë Dukagjini (Kanuni i Lekë Dukagjinit) was codified in the 15th century. Six later variations eventually evolved:

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Culture of Albania

The Kanun of Skanderbeg is the closest in similarity with the Kanun of Lekë Dukagjini, and the latter is usually the most known and is also regarded as a synonym of the word kanun. The Kanun of Lekë Dukagjini was developed by Lekë Dukagjini, who codified the existing customary laws.[5] It has been used mostly in northern and central Albania and surrounding areas formerly in Yugoslavia where there is a large ethnic Albanian population; Montenegro, Kosovo and North Macedonia. It was first codified in the 15th century but the use of it has been outspread much earlier in time. It was used under that form until the 20th century and revived after the fall of the communist regime in the early 1990s.

Etymology

The term kanun comes from the Greek "κανών" ("canon"), meaning amongst others "pole" or "rule"[6] and was transported from Greek to Arabic and then into early Turkish.[7] It must have been divulgated during the Ottoman rule.[8] It was so randomly used that when something was legal it was said "it's kanun",[9] and when it wasn't "the kanun doesn't give it". The consuetudinary law was called "kanun".[10] Baroness Von Godin thought that it was the Ottomans that gave the name kanun and that the Albanian name Lek (latin. lex) was only afterly perceived as a proper name that was attributed to the late Medieval nobleman of the Dukagjini family.[11]

Other terms

Except the term kanun there were used other words of turkish extract (usull, itifak, adet, sharte) or in the Albanian periphrase "rrugë" or "udhë" (way or path).[11] In Martanesh and Çermenikë it was known as "kanun",[12][9] in Toskëria it was known as "The Kanun of the Adet", in Labëria "The sharte of Idriz Suli",[13][14] in the Bregu district Venomet e Himarës.[15] but in Dibër, Kurbin, Bendë e Tamadhe it was called zakon (from slavonic законъ).[16] According to Çabej,[17] Camaj[18][19] and Schmidt-Neke, the oldest Albanian word by which the customary law was known was doke,[20] meaning "custom", "usance", "tradition" in Albanian.[21]

Origin

The practice of the oral laws that Lekë Dukagjini codified in the Kanun was suggested by Edith Durham as dating back to the Bronze Age.[22] Some authors have conjectured that the Kanun may derive from ancient Illyrian tribal laws.[23] Other authors have suggested that the Kanun has retained elements from Indo-European prehistoric eras.[24]

However several stratifications can be easily observed in the code, beginning with pre-Indo-European, Indo-European, Ancient Greek, Ancient Roman, general Balkan and Osmanli.[25]

Development and usage

The Kanun of Lek Dukagjini was named after the medieval prince Lekë Dukagjini who ruled in northern Albania and codified the customary laws of the highlands.[5] The code was written down only in the 19th century by Shtjefën Gjeçovi and partially published in the Hylli i Drites periodical in 1913.[1] The full version appeared only in 1933 after Gjeçovi's death in 1926.[1] In 1989 a dual English-Albanian version was published.[1][26] and then replicated in a 1992 version.[27]

Although the laws are attributed to Lekë Dukagjini, the laws evolved over time as a way to bring law and rule to these lands. The Kanun is divided into 12 sections,[28] and Gjeçovi's version has 1,262 articles which regulate all aspects of the mountainous life: economic organisation of the household, hospitality, brotherhood, clan, boundaries, work, marriage, land, and so on.[1] The Besa (personal honour, compare with Lat. fides) and nderi (family honour, Lat. honor) are of prime importance throughout the code as the cornerstone of personal and social conduct.[1][29] The Kanun applies to both Christian and Muslim Albanians.[1]

Some of the most controversial rules of the Kanun (in particular book 10 section 3) specify how murder is supposed to be handled, which often in the past and sometimes still now led to blood feuds that last until all the men of the two involved families are killed.[30] In situations of murder tribal law stipulates the principle of koka për kokë (head for a head) where the relatives of the victim are obliged to seek gjakmarrja (blood vengeance).[5] Women are only seen as producers of offspring and are referred to in a discriminatory manner and so are not considered worthy targets.[30] The Albanian name for blood feud is Gjakmarrja. In some parts of the country, the Kanun resembles the Italian vendetta.[31] These rules have resurfaced during the 1990s in Northern Albania, since people had no faith in the powerless local government and police. There are organizations that try to mediate between feuding families and try to get them to "pardon the blood" (Albanian: Falja e Gjakut), but often the only resort is for men of age to stay in their homes, which are considered a safe refuge by the Kanuni, or flee the country. Tribal also held that thieves would need to pay fines to the relative amount that was stolen.[5]

Albanian tribes from the Dibra region (known as the "Tigers of Dibra") governed themselves according to the Law of Skanderbeg.[32]

Former communist leader of Albania Enver Hoxha effectively stopped the practice of Kanun with hard repression and a very strong state police. However, after the fall of communism, some communities have tried to rediscover the old traditions, but some of their parts have been lost, leading to fears of misinterpretation. In 2014 about 3,000 Albanian families were estimated to be involved in blood feuds and this since the fall of Communism has led to the deaths of 10,000 people.[30]

Content

The Kanun is based on four pillars:

The Kanun of Lekë Dukagjini is composed of 12 books and 1,262 articles. The books and their subdivisions are the following:

  1. Church;
    1. The Church
    2. Cemeteries
    3. Property of the Church
    4. The Priest
    5. Church workers
  2. Family;
    1. The family make-up
  3. Marriage;
    1. Engagement
    2. Wedding
    3. The Kanun of the groom
    4. In-laws
    5. Separation
    6. Inheritance
  4. House, Livestock and Property;
    1. The house and its surroundings
    2. Livestock
    3. Property
    4. The boundary
  5. Work;
    1. Work
    2. Hunting
    3. Commerce
  6. Transfer of Property;
    1. Borrowing
    2. Gifts
  7. Spoken Word;
  8. Honor;
    1. Individual honor
    2. Social honor
    3. 'Blood' and gender; brotherhood and godparents
  9. Damages;
  10. Law Regarding Crimes
    1. Criminals
    2. Stealing
    3. Murder (discussion of sanctioning of blood feuds)
  11. The kanun of the elderly
  12. Exemptions and Exceptions
    1. Types of exceptions
    2. Death

Kanun in literature and film

Albanian writer Ismail Kadare evokes the Kanun several times in his books and has it as the main theme in his novel Broken April.[33] He also evoques the kanun in his novel Komisioni i festës[34] (English: The Celebration Commission), where Kadare literally describes the Monastir massacre of 1830 as the struggle between two empires: the Albanian Kanun with its code of besa and the Ottoman Empire itself.[35] According to Kadare in his literary critique book Eskili, ky humbës i madh (English: Aeschylus, this big loser),[36] where loser refers to the great number of tragedies that were lost from Aeschylus, there are evident similarities between the kanun and the vendetta[31] customs in all the Mediterranean countries.

Barbara Nadel's Deep Waters refers to Kanun and Gjakmarrja.[37]

Joshua Marston's 2011 film The Forgiveness of Blood, a drama set in modern-day Albania, deals with the Kanun. The film relates a blood feud between two families in Northern Albania, focusing primarily on how the feud affects the children of one family.

The Kanun is referred to in season 6, episode 9 of Law & Order: Criminal Intent ("Blasters") as the explanation for the sudden retreat of a group of Albanian assassins.

The Kanun plays a major role in the Belgian movie Dossier K.

Elvira Dones' Sworn Virgin refers to Kanun and women's practice of swearing celibacy in return to being accepted as men by all local villagers.[38]

Belgian TV maker Tom Waes visited Albania during one of the shows in his series Reizen Waes. He was served spit roasted goat and was offered the head of the goat. According to Kanun rules, this is how they honor a guest during dinner.[39]

The Kanun is referred to in "The Closer" Season 6 | Episode 14 "The investigation into the Albanian blood feud" [40]

See also

References
  1. Cook, Bernard (2001). Europe since 1945 an encyclopedia. Garland Publishing. p. 22. ISBN 0-8153-4057-5. Retrieved 2010-07-01.
  2. R. Zojzi The Code of Labëria (Albanian: "Kanuni i Labërisë" Tirana (Institute of Folk Culture Archives
  3. Ilia, I.F. Kanuni i Skenderbegut (1993) The Code of Skanderbeg Shkoder Publisher:Archbishop of Shkodra.
  4. Young, Antonia (2000). Women Who Become Men Albanian Sworn Virgins. Bloomsbury Academic. p. 732. ISBN 978-1-85973-340-0.
  5. Gawrych 2006, p. 30.
  6. κανών, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, on Perseus
  7. Marii͡a Nikolaeva Todorova (2004). Balkan Identities Nation and Memory. NYU Press. p. 111. ISBN 978-0-8147-8279-8.
  8. Vlora, Eqrem bej; Von Godin, Amelie (2010) [1955-56]. Ndihmesë për historinë e sundimit turk në Shqipëri v. I. Tiranë: 55. pp. 64–65. ISBN 978-99943-56-83-6.
  9. Martucci, Donato (2017). "Le consuetudini giuridiche albanesi tra oralità e scrittura". Palaver. 2. pp. 73–106. ISSN 2280-4250.
  10. Hasluck, Margaret (2015). The Unwritten Law in Albania. Cambridge University Press. pp. 14–15. ISBN 9781107586932.
  11. Reinkowski, Maurus (2005). "Gewohnheitsrecht im multinationalen Staat: Die Osmanen und der albanische Kanun". Rechtspluralismus in der Islamischen Welt: Gewohnheitsrecht zwischen Staat und Gesellschaft. 16. Walter de Gruyter. pp. 121–142. ISBN 9783110184556.
  12. Hasluck 2015, p. 118.
  13. Dojaka, Abaz (1979). "Zgjidhja e martesës në Shqipëri". Etnografia shqiptare. 10. Tiranë: Akademia e Shkencave e RPSH, Instituti i Historisë, Sektori i Etnografisë. p. 10.
  14. Martucci, Donato (2010). I Kanun delle montagne albanesi: fonti, fondamenti e mutazioni del diritto tradizionale albanese. Edizioni di Pagina. p. 20. ISBN 9788874701223.
  15. Habazaj, Albert (2015). Krahina e Himarës në studimet albanologjike të prof. Dr. Jup Kastratit. Vlorë.
  16. Omari, Anila (2012). Marrëdhëniet gjuhësore shqiptaro-serbe. Kristalina KH. pp. 323–324.
  17. Martucci 2010, p. 16. Citim: Secondo Eqrem Çabej, oltre ai termini sopra elencati, veniva utilizzato anche un altro vecchio termine per indicare il diritto consuetudinario albanese, doke, che veniva da 'dukem', apparire, comportarsi. “Doket” (al plurale) significherebbe “raccolta di leggi che determinano come comportarsi con conoscenti e forestieri".
  18. Camaj, Martin (1989). "Foreword". The Code of Lekë Dukagjini. Translated by Leonard Fox. New York: Gjonlekaj Publishing Company. pp. xiii-. ISBN 9780962214103. The old Albanian term, however, is doke, derived from dukem 'appear, behave'. Doket (plural) means "a collection of laws which determine how one behaves with acquaintances and strangers."
  19. Galaty, Michael L. (2018). Memory and Nation Building: From Ancient Times to the Islamic State. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 100. ISBN 9780759122628.
  20. Bardhoshi, Nebi (2013). "The Ethnography of Law in a Dictatorial Situation". In Aleksandar Boskovic; Chris Hann (eds.). The Anthropological Field on the Margins of Europe, 1945-1991. LIT Verlag Münster. p. 175. ISBN 978-3-643-90507-9. Under the influence of linguist Eqrem Çabej and ongoing concerns for language purification (which reached a high point in the 1970s and 1980s), some scholars have preferred to use e drejtë dokësore; such a choice also helps to deny the claims of Yugoslav scholars that the customary law found in Northern Albania originated from Tsar Dusan's Code of 1349 CE [...]
  21. Xhemal Meçi (2002). Kanuni i Lekë Dukagjinit: në variantin e mirditës. Geer. p. 12.
  22. Foyer-Merib, the (2006). Kolor. Journal on moving communities. Garant. p. 10. ISBN 90-441-2008-5.
  23. Dukagjini, L., Gjecov, S., Fox, L. Kanuni i Lekë Dukagjinit. Gjonlekaj Publishing Co., 1989. p. xvi.
  24. Cancik, Hubert; Schneider, Helmuth (2002). Brill's New Pauly Encyclopaedia of the Ancient World. Classical Tradition. Brill. p. 92. ISBN 90-04-14221-5.
  25. Sellers, Mortimer; Tomaszewski, Tadeusz (2010). The Rule of Law in Comparative Perspective. Springer Verlag. p. 205. ISBN 978-90-481-3748-0.
  26. Dukagjini, Lekë; Gjeçov, Shtjefën; Fox, Leonard; Shtjefën Gjeçovi; Leonard Fox (1989). Kanuni i Lekë Dukagjinit. Gjonlekaj Pub. Co. ISBN 978-0-9622141-0-3. Retrieved 2010-07-01.
  27. Dukagjini, Lekë; Gjeçov, Shtjefën; Fox, Leonard (1992). Anton Logoreci (ed.). Code of Leke Dukagjini. Translated by Martin Camaj. Gjonlekaj Publishing Company. ISBN 0-9622141-0-8. Archived from the original on 2005-10-27. Retrieved 2010-07-01.
  28. Religion and Society in Present-Day Albania by Antonia Young
  29. Gawrych 2006, p. 115.
  30. "'We'll Get You': An Albanian Boy's Life Ruined by Blood Feuds". Spiegel Online. Spiegel Online GmbH. June 6, 2014. Retrieved 12 June 2014.
  31. Angélique Kourounis; Thomas Iacobi; Jean Christophe Georgoustsos; Nikos Arapoglou (17 November 2012). "Reportage : Albanie, la Bible contre la vendetta" (video). Faut pas croire (in French). Geneva, Switzerland: Radio télévision suisse. Retrieved 25 January 2013. Des jeunes catholiques, soutenus par une religieuse, ont brisé la loi du silence pour combattre le « kanun », un code d'honneur ancestral qui justifie la vengeance et le meurtre.
  32. Gawrych, George (2006). The Crescent and the Eagle: Ottoman rule, Islam and the Albanians, 1874–1913. London: IB Tauris. p. 36. ISBN 9781845112875.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  33. "Broken April - Ismail Kadare". Longitude. Archived from the original on 2017-02-02. Retrieved 2007-10-07.
  34. Kadare, Ismail (1980). Komisioni i festës. Prishtinë: Rilindja.
  35. Colafato, Michele (1998). Emozioni e confini per una sociologia delle relazioni etniche. Meltemi Editore srl. p. 82. ISBN 88-86479-69-7. Retrieved 2010-07-01.
  36. Kadare, Ismail (2006). Eskili, ky humbës i madh. Tirana: Onufri. ISBN 99943-32-63-5. Retrieved 2010-07-01.
  37. Nadel, Barbara (2002). Deep Waters. Headline Book Pub Limited. ISBN 0-7472-6719-7.
  38. Dones, Elvira (2014). Sworn Virgin. And Other Stories. ISBN 978-1-908276-34-6.
  39. NWS, VRT (2015-02-20). "Deze keer koos Tom Waes zélf de bestemmingen van "Reizen Waes"". vrtnws.be (in Dutch). Retrieved 2019-10-24.
  40. Living Proof: Part Two, retrieved 2019-10-24

Sources
  • Anonymous: Lek Dukagin Kanunu (The Kanun of Lekë Dukagjini, in Ottoman Turkish). Prizren, 1289 A.H. [1872]. 31 pp.
  • Shtjefen Konstantin Gjeçov (Pashk Bardhi, Gjergj Fishta eds.): Kanuni i Lekë Dukagjinit: Veper postume. Permbledhë e kodifikue. Me parathâne Gjergj Fishtës e biografí Pashk Bardhit. Shtypshkroja françeskane, 1933.
  • Hasluck, Margaret. The Unwritten Law in Albania, edited by J.H. Hutton, Cambridge University Press, 1954
  • Cook, Bernard (2001). Europe since 1945 an encyclopedia. Garland Publishing. p. 22. ISBN 0-8153-4057-5. Retrieved 2010-07-01.
  • Albania Takes Aim at a Deadly Tradition
  • The criminal law in the "Kanun of Lekë Dukagjini"
  • "High Albania", Edith Durham.
  • Elsie, Robert (2001). A Dictionary of Albanian Religion, Mythology, and Folk Culture. NYU Press. p. 149. ISBN 978-0-8147-2214-5.
  • Genc Trnavci, The Interaction of Customary Law with the Modern Rule of Law in Albania and Kosova, The Rule of Law in Comparative Perspective Series: Ius Gentium: Comparative Perspectives on Law and Justice, Vol. 3, Baltimore, 2010
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