The Centre for Legal Research of the Institute of Social Sciences has been steadily promoting the study of law and the current legislation by exploring the issues concerning the rule of law, human rights and contemporary global legal tendencies. The Centre’s activities are relevant for the development of the legal system in Serbia, since the Centre monitors and studies the development of Serbian legal institutions, while it also engages in comparative legal studies of European and other countries.
The Centre defines and studies relevant scientific fields in the domains of civil, medical and public law, with a special emphasis on the current human rights standards in these fields. Its medical and health law research projects have made the Centre a recognizable and distinguished institution in scholarly and professional circles.
The Centre for Legal Research is characterized by comparative research, following scientific trends and constant improvement of legal science in Serbia, both in terms of teamwork and individual scientific engagement in different projects. The Centre is also dedicated to legal science professionals’ development and publication of scientific papers.
As a part of the Institute of Social Sciences, as well as through engagement of its researchers by invitation, the Centre cooperates with scientific and educational institutions such as the Faculty of Law of the Maribor University, the Faculty of Law of the Banjaluka University, the Faculty of Law of the Split University, the School of Law of the Erasmus University in Rotterdam, John Hopkins University, University in Bremen. When it comes to the University of Belgrade, the Centre cooperates with the Faculty of Law and Faculty of Medicine, and in terms of postgraduate mentoring, also with the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Serbia, as well as with different international organisations (Council of Europe, UN agencies). Associates of the Centre also actively work with NGOs on different projects concerning medical, ecological and labour law.
The Centre for Legal Research (CLR) has been a part of the ISS since its establishment in 1957. Its work has been managed by academician Jovan Đorđević (1958–1962), academician Ljubomir Tadić (1962–1965), Dimitrije Prodanović, (1965–1970 and 1985–1989), Slavoljub Popović (1970–1973), Svetislav Aranđelović (1974–1980), Ljiljana Đurović (1980–1984), Mijat Damjanović (1990–1992), Ljiljana Krulj (1992–2000), Zorica Mršević (2000–2008), Hajrija Mujović (2008–2022), and Marta Sjeničić (2022–).
