Legal characteristics of the form of government of medieval Budva

The criteria determining the scientific qualification of the variant form of government of the city-state – medieval Budva – are studied. The aim of the study is to analyse the legal position of the prince in the unified system of supreme power of the Budvan community, to examine its subordination to the sovereignty of the Ser-bian Nemanjic power and the Venetian Republic. Emphasis is placed on the content of princely regalia and the duties of the podestà to observe the laws and customs of Budva. Along with the prince, the state-legal status of the Great Veche (Great Council) and the Small Veche (Small Council), representing the interests of the municipal nobility (local patriciate), is examined. Importance is given to the judicial powers of the highest public au-thorities of Budva and its sovereign sovereigns. The main source of legal material on the peculiarities of the state system of Budva, used in the presented paper, is the Statute of Budva of the 14th century AD, still not translated into Russian, which determines its insignificant popularity and practically unexplored in the domestic theoretical and historical-legal science. The conclusion is made about the Padesto-Patrician or princely-boyar rule of medieval Budva, quite common in this historical period among the trading cities of the Adriatic coast of Dalmatia.