Teodor Filipović Serbian writer

Writer

A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....

, jurist

Jurist

A jurist or jurisconsult is a professional who studies, develops, applies, or otherwise deals with the law. The term is widely used in American English, but in the United Kingdom and many Commonwealth countries it has only historical and specialist usage...

 and educator, is also known by his pseudonym Božidar Grujović. одломци из дела Милован Ристић: Устанички законописац Теодор Филиповић (Божидар Грујовић), Просвета, Београд 1953.

Biography

Teodor Filipović was born in the town of Ruma

Ruma

Ruma is a town and municipality located in Vojvodina, Serbia at . In 2002 the town had a total population of 34,229, while Ruma municipality had a population of 60,006.-History:...

 in Srem

Srem

Śrem is a town on the Warta river in central Poland. It has been situated in the Greater Poland Voivodeship since 1999; from 1975 to 1998 it was part of the Poznań Voivodeship...

, then part of the Habsburg

Habsburg

The House of Habsburg , also found as Hapsburg, and also known as House of Austria is one of the most important royal houses of Europe and is best known for being an origin of all of the formally elected Holy Roman Emperors between 1438 and 1740, as well as rulers of the Austrian Empire and...

 dynasty, in 1778. He attended schools in Sopron

Sopron

In 1910 Sopron had 33,932 inhabitants . Religions: 64.1% Roman Catholic, 27.8% Lutheran, 6.6% Jewish, 1.2% Calvinist, 0.3% other. In 2001 the city had 56,125 inhabitants...

, Segedin, Pozun and studied law at the University of Pest

Pest

Pest may refer to:*Pest , an animal or plant detrimental to humans or human concerns*Pest, an archaic term for pestilence, originally the Black Death*Pest , an ice hockey player specialising in aggravating opponents...

. After graduation, he was appointed professor of law history at the University of Harkov

Harkov

Harkov may refer to:* Harkov , an alternative spelling for Kharkiv, a city in Ukraine* Admiral Harkov, a minor Star Wars character ; see List of minor Star Wars Imperial characters...

 in Imperial Russia in 1803. In 1804 he took the nom de guerre of Božidar Grujović before leaving his post as university professor to go to Karađorđe's Serbia to fight the Turks.

During the First Serbian Uprising

First Serbian Uprising

The First Serbian Uprising was the first stage of the Serbian Revolution , the successful wars of independence that lasted for 9 years and approximately 9 months , during which Serbia perceived itself as an independent state for the first time after more than three centuries of Ottoman rule and...

 in 1804, this lawyer from Ruma

Ruma

Ruma is a town and municipality located in Vojvodina, Serbia at . In 2002 the town had a total population of 34,229, while Ruma municipality had a population of 60,006.-History:...

 (then ruled by Austrian Empire

Austrian Empire

The Austrian Empire was a modern era successor empire, which was centered on what is today's Austria and which officially lasted from 1804 to 1867. It was followed by the Empire of Austria-Hungary, whose proclamation was a diplomatic move that elevated Hungary's status within the Austrian Empire...

), who received his doctor of law

Doctor of law

Doctor of Law or Doctor of Laws is a doctoral degree in law. The application of the term varies from country to country, and includes degrees such as the LL.D., Ph.D., J.D., J.S.D., and Dr. iur.-Argentina:...

 degree from the University of Budapest

University of Budapest

The Eötvös Loránd University or ELTE, founded in 1635, is the largest university in Hungary, located in Budapest.-History:The university was founded in 1635 in Nagyszombat by the archbishop and theologian Péter Pázmány. Leadership was given over to the Jesuits...

 and for a while taught History of Law with his fellow Serbs, law professor Gligorije Trlajić

Gligorije Trlajic

Gligorije Trlajić was a Serbian writer, poet, and professor of law at the universities of St. Petersburg and Kharkiv...

 and physicist Atanasije Stojković at the University of Harkov (then in Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

), joined his compatriots in Serbia

Serbia

Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...

 in their fight for independence

Independence

Independence is a condition of a nation, country, or state in which its residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory....

. In Belgrade in 1805 Grujović (Filipović) wrote the Decree of the Governing Council (Praviteljstvujušči sovjet as it was called in Serbian) and Slovo (Speech) in the spirit of France's Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen to rebellious Serbia and its people (who had enough of Turkish rule) especially pertaining to issues concerning liberty

Liberty

Liberty is a moral and political principle, or Right, that identifies the condition in which human beings are able to govern themselves, to behave according to their own free will, and take responsibility for their actions...

, property

Property

Property is any physical or intangible entity that is owned by a person or jointly by a group of people or a legal entity like a corporation...

, and human dignity. Grujović stood passionately for legality

Legality

The principle of legality is the legal ideal that requires all law to be clear, ascertainable and non-retrospective. It requires decision makers to resolve disputes by applying legal rules that have been declared beforehand, and not to alter the legal situation retrospectively by discretionary...

, rule of law

Rule of law

The rule of law, sometimes called supremacy of law, is a legal maxim that says that governmental decisions should be made by applying known principles or laws with minimal discretion in their application...

, and social justice

Social justice

Social justice generally refers to the idea of creating a society or institution that is based on the principles of equality and solidarity, that understands and values human rights, and that recognizes the dignity of every human being. The term and modern concept of "social justice" was coined by...

. The foundation of his decree

Decree

A decree is a rule of law issued by a head of state , according to certain procedures . It has the force of law...

 (and its laws) was based on democratic and liberal

Liberalism

Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...

 ideas of rationalism

Rationalism

In epistemology and in its modern sense, rationalism is "any view appealing to reason as a source of knowledge or justification" . In more technical terms, it is a method or a theory "in which the criterion of the truth is not sensory but intellectual and deductive"...

 and justice

Justice

Justice is a concept of moral rightness based on ethics, rationality, law, natural law, religion, or equity, along with the punishment of the breach of said ethics; justice is the act of being just and/or fair.-Concept of justice:...

. Grujović may also be credited for setting the bed stones of constitutionality

Constitutionality

Constitutionality is the condition of acting in accordance with an applicable constitution. Acts that are not in accordance with the rules laid down in the constitution are deemed to be ultra vires.-See also:*ultra vires*Company law*Constitutional law...

 during the resurrection of the Serbian state. He is, therefore, justifiably referred to as the first Serbian constitution maker. Grujević's principal stand was that there could be no freedom without economic independence while stressing the importance of education for everyone. He was Dositej Obradović

Dositej Obradovic

Dositej Dimitrije Obradović was a Serbian author, philosopher, linguist, polyglot and the first minister of education of Serbia...

's most ardent supporter when Dositej advocated agricultural development based on the use of modern technology. Filipović was part of a group of Serbian economic thinkers (such as Dositej Obradović, Zaharije Orfelin

Zaharije Orfelin

Zaharije Orfelin was an 18th-century Serb polymath who lived and worked in the Austrian Monarchy and Venice. Described as a Renaissance man, he was an educator, administrator, poet, engraver, lexicographer, herbalist, historian, winemaker, translator, editor, publisher, polemicist, and traveler...

, Jovan Muškatirović, Ivan Jugović, Pavle Solarić, and others)who supported the cameralist principles of rational economic conduct and the development of new sciences and methodologies.

Grujović wrote: Gdi nema slobode, tu nema života (Where there is no freedom; there is no future).

Grujović died of consumption

Tuberculosis

Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...

 at Belgrade

Belgrade

Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...

in 1807. He was 31.