State and Legal Traditions of the Northern Adriatic Through European Influences and Digital Historiography

Project title: State and Legal Traditions of the Northern Adriatic Through European Influences and Digital Historiography
Project acronym: HIDI (HIstoriographia DIgitalis)
Project number: uniri-mzi-25-212
Project financing: European Union – NextGenerationEU
Project duration: 1 October 2025 – 30 September 2029
Total value of the project (EUR): 40.331,27
Legal disclaimer: The project is financed by the European Union – NextGenerationEU. The views and opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official position of the European Union or the European Commission. Neither the European Union nor the European Commission can be held responsible for them.

Name and surname: Prof. Dr. Željko Bartulović
E-mail: zeljko.bartulovic@pravri.uniri.hr

• Assoc. Prof. Ines Matić Matešković, ines.matic@pravri.uniri.hr 
• Prof. Dr. Budislav Vukas, budislav.vukas@pravri.uniri.hr 
• Dr. Maja Polić, polic@hazu.hr 
• Prof. Dr. Marko Kambič, Marko.Kambic@pf.uni-lj.si

Doctoral students:

• Luka Nalis, luka.nalis@pravri.uniri.hr

The project focuses on the exploration of the development of legal and governmental structures in the Northern Adriatic region, spanning from antiquity and the Middle Ages to the 20th century. It integrates the analysis of European legal influences with the application of contemporary digital methods in the processing of historical sources. Although this area represents a significant crossroads of Roman, Venetian, Germanic, and Slavic legal heritage, the legal traditions of the Northern Adriatic remain underexplored within the context of European legal history, particularly with regard to their continuity, hybridity, and regional specificity. The motivation for this research stems from the need for a systematic analysis of legal sources that have shaped local administrative structures, social relations, and the international legal position of the region – sources which are often scattered, unpublished, or inaccessible to the broader academic community. Previous research has largely been fragmented and focused on isolated entities, lacking a comparative approach and thereby hindering a deeper understanding of the region’s legal identity and its place within the European legal tradition.

The project brings together a team of experts from Croatia and Slovenia who, through the analysis of medieval statutes, the influence of Roman and Venetian law, international legal documents, and regional reforms from the 19th and 20th centuries, aim to reconstruct the legal dynamics of the region and shed light on the continuities and ruptures in its state and legal traditions. The research will also involve the digitisation and interpretation of original sources, the creation of a virtual collection, and the development of new methodological approaches within digital historiography, making key documents available to scholars for future research.

The main goal of the project is to valorise and increase the visibility of the Northern Adriatic’s legal heritage within a broader European context and to contribute to the understanding of the region’s complex legal identities, shaped by multiple historical layers and transformations. In doing so, the project fosters interdisciplinary scientific collaboration and promotes cultural and legal dialogue in the region.

Project goals:

• To analyze the state-legal traditions of the northern Adriatic, with an emphasis on their historical transformations, European legal influences, and local specificities.
• To digitize, transcribe, and process selected legal-historical materials with metadata.
• To create an open-access online platform as a virtual collection of legal-historical sources, enabling research, education, and the cultural valorization of the legal heritage of the northern Adriatic.
• To contribute to the development of digital historiography in legal sciences through the application of modern digital tools in the processing and interpretation of legal-historical sources.

Expected results:

• The main goal of the project is the valorization and visibility of the legal heritage of the northern Adriatic within a broader European context, as well as the contribution to understanding the complex legal identities of a region marked by multiple influences and transformations. In doing so, the project strengthens interdisciplinary scientific collaboration and promotes cultural-legal dialogue in the region.

Key words:

• Northern Adriatic, digital historiography, Roman law, medieval law