The Kanun or formally the Kanuni
i Lekė Dukagjinit
(English: The Code of Lekė Dukagjini)
is a set of laws developed by Lekė Dukagjini and used
mostly in northern Albania and Kosovo from the 15th century until the 20th century and
revived recently after the fall of the communist regime in the early 1990s.
This set of
laws was a customary one, passed down through generations, and not codified and
written down until the 19th century by Shtjefėn Gjeēov. Although Kanuni
is attributed to the Albanian prince Lekė
Dukagjini, the rules evolved over time as a way to
bring laws and rule to these lands. The code was divided into several sections:
Church, Family, Marriage, House, Livestock and Property, Work, Transfer of
Property, Spoken Word, Honor, Damages, Law Regarding Crimes, Judicial Law, and
Exemptions and Exceptions.
Some of the
most infamous rules specified how murder was supposed to be handled, and it
often led to blood feuds that lasted until all the men of
the two involved families were killed. In some parts of the country, the Kanun resembles the Italian vendetta.
These rules have recently resurfaced in northern
The specified
gender roles sometimes led to women pledging virginity and living their life as
a man, allowing them to take on male responsibilities and rights.
Prime Minister Enver Hoxha tried to stop
the practice of Kanun. 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.
Notably, the
current Albanian Penal Code does not contain any provisions from the Kanun that deal with blood feuds, and no acknowledgment of
this code is made in the contemporary Albanian legal system.
Materiali ėshtė marrė nga: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanun