Since December 2019, the publishing activity of the Kopaonik School of Natural Law – Slobodan Perović, which has resulted in the compilation of a copious library of academic papers dedicated to legal theory and practice, has been represented also by the academic journal The Review of the Kopaonik School of Natural Law. The Review publishes academic articles, comparative studies, analyses of court decisions and arbitral awards, comments on national legislation, international conventions, and other uniform legal instruments, as well as book reviews and other scholarly contributions by eminent authors from Europe and across the world. As a periodical of the Kopaonik School of Natural Law – Slobodan Perović, the journal keeps track of the scholarly work and activities of the School, informing its readership about them.

The thematic subject matter of the contributions has been adjusted to the Hexagon of the Kopaonik School of Natural Law: the Right to Life, the Right to Freedom, the Right to Property, the Right to Intellectual Creation, the Right to Justice, and the Right to a State Ruled by Law, and the papers published have been arranged in accordance with the respective Departments of the Kopaonik School. The journal will be published biannually – in May and in December, in the Serbian language, while papers by foreign authors, including certain local ones, will be presented in English. The Review is intended for legal theoreticians from the academia and other scientific institutions, as well as legal practitioners. The papers published in the Review feature a pronounced comparative legal approach, in view of which this journal is particularly useful to those studying comparative la

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The first issue presents fifteen papers distributed in five sections: Contracts (I), Arbitration, Alternative Dispute Resolution, Courts (II), Commercial Companies (III), EU Law (IV), and International Trade (V).

In the first section, Prof. Dr. Bénédicte Fauvarque-Cosson, the author of the paper Does Review on the Ground of Imprévision Breach the Principle of the Binding Force of Contracts, analyses the issue of revision and termination for unforeseeable changes of circumstances, in the light of the reform of the French Civil Code, with special regard to the question whether the French courts will seize the power of contract revision. The second paper, the Right to a Clean Environment: Role of Contracts and Contract Law by Prof. Dr. Larry A. DiMatteo, analyses the use of contracts and contract law to advance sustainability goals; it discusses the problem of planned obsolesence—the intentional manufacture of products with shorter lifespans. In the area of contracts, the author reviews the use and enforceability of contractual sustainability clauses. The role of contracts in advancing sustainability is examined at different levels: government-to-government through bilateral investment treaties, public-private contracts (government procurement) and in private green contracts incentivised by government policy and programmes. The paper offers approaches to combatting the problem of planned obsolescence. Prof. Dr. Davor Babić, the author of the paper Contract Interpretation According to the Croatian Obligations Act, analyses the issue of interpretation of the contract in accordance with the contra proferentem rule, from the aspect of the solutions applied in the Croatian Obligations Act.  The Enforceability of Smart Contracts, a paper by Dr. Mateja Đurović and Franciszek Lech, discusses ’smart’ contracts as a new type of contract emerging as a result of the development of modern technologies. Dr. Jovan Nikčević, is the author of the paper Distinction Between Sale and Service Contracts, exploring the basic distinctions between sale and service contracts, proceeding from the criteria specified by the Serbian Law on Obligations and the UN Convention on the International Sale of Goods (CISG). This section ends with the paper by Ljubica Tomić, Key Issues in International Distribution Contracts, which analyses the international distribution contract from the aspect of the general rules of contract law, competition law, and international private law.

The keynote paper in the second section, Obligations of Arbitrators in International Commercial Arbitration is by Prof. Dr. Jelena S. Perović Vujačić. The paper focuses on the duties assumed by the arbitrator by his acceptance of the appointment, examining a) the principal duties of independence and impartiality and observance of the fundamental principles of arbitration and b) other major obligations of the arbitrator, namely, the duties of care, efficiency and expediency, adjudication of the dispute, the duty to disclose potential conflicts of interests, and the duty of confidentiality. This is followed by an analysis of the potential legal consequences of a breach of the arbitrator’s obligations: setting aside of the award, termination of the arbitrator’s functions and arbitrator’s civil liability. Prof. Dr. Milena Petrović is the author of the paper International Commercial Arbitration and International Private Law, exploring the impact of international private law on international commercial arbitration in all the segments and phases of the arbitration. Alternative dispute resolution is the subject of the paper Consumer ADR: The Albanian Experience in Transporting EU Directive 2013/11, by Prof. Dr. Nada Dollani. The author presents the basic principles of  EU Directive 2013/11 discussing the experience of Albania in transporting  the directive to its national legislation. Dr. Aleksandra Maganić, the author of the paper Model Proceedings or Procedure for Solving Contested Legal Issues – Similarities and Differences. The author notes that the amended Croatian Civil Procedure Act from 2019 has introduced a new type of proceedings for resolving contested issues, in the interest of a uniform application of the law, namely, model proceedings, and that Serbia, on the other hand, introduced so-called proceedings for resolving contested legal issues as early as 2004, which became a matter of public interest after a recent decision by the Serbian Court of Cassation annulling the contractual provisions stipulating Swiss francs. The paper focuses on the similarities and differences between these two types of proceedings. The section ends with the paper Trends in Respect of  Specialization of Commercial Disputes Judiciary by Prof. Dr. Goran Koevski and Dr. Darko Spasevski, in which the authors analyse the trends in the development of special jurisdiction courts in the sphere of commercial law, with reference to the Macedonian judicial experience in that respect.

Academician Prof. Dr. Jakša Barbić is the author of the paper Impact of the Voting Right Pool, which belongs to the third section addressing the sphere of commercial companies. The paper defines the concept of a voting rights pool in a company, as well as the legal nature of such a pool. It explains that such a pool may exist among shareholders of any company, and that, in legal terms, it represents a partnership. There may be several pools in a company, depending on the preference of certain groups of shareholders who thus protect their interests in the company and do not want uncontrolled decision-making, but rather wish to implement their own will. It is formed by a voting agreement entered into by the shareholders. There is a difference between the principal  company, i.e. the company in which the voting rights are exercised, and the pool of voting rights. The paper discusses issues relating to the conclusion and amendment of the voting agreement. It addresses the difference between the pool and the obligation-law relation  in connection with exercising the voting rights. The paper sets the boundaries within which such an agreement may be validly made, as well as presenting its contents and its form.

In the fourth section dedicated to EU law, the paper by Prof. Dr. Gian Antonio Benacchio, The Interpretation of Law Between Balancing and Reasonability in the Case Law of the Court of Justice of the EU, analyses the case law of the Court of Justice of the EU in the context of its capacity to model national rules in accordance with reasonability standards, which may lead to unfair or less balanced rulings. The author highlights the importance of interpretation activities of the Luxembourg Court which facilitate achieving a balance between the ’old rules and new problems’, as well as between values, rights and interests characteristic of societies undergoing constant and rapid transformation.

The fifth section includes two papers from the sphere of international trade. The paper Rules of Origin as a New Frontier of International Trade Liberalisation by Prof. Dr. Predrag Bjelić, points to the increasing significance of global production chains in international trade, in respect of which steps have been taken to liberalise the rules of origin of products, enabling different origin cumulation practices. Prof. Dr. Radovan Kovačević, the author of the paper US-Japan Trade Negotiations for New Bilateral Trade Agreement, presents a detailed analysis of the US-Japan negotiations on entering into a new trade agreement.

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These would be the basic outlines of the first issue of the Review. By presenting this journal to the legal profession, the Kopaonik School of Natural Law – Slobodan Perović adds one more element to its traditional portfolio of publications and continues thereby to strengthen its groundwork for the culture of legal writing. The idea of this development is to give a new perspective to law which has to serve justice as a pivotal virtue. This is because the Kopaonik School is committed to this mission due to its academic identity and integrity, and especially, due to the preeminent name of its Founder – Professor Slobodan Perović.

Prof. Dr. Jelena S. Perović Vujačić
Editor-in-Chief