Milovan Milovanović

Milovan Đ. Milovanović also Milija Milovanović (17 February 1863 – 18 June 1912) was a Serbian politician, diplomat, writer and constitutional lawyer, who served as 45th Prime Minister of Serbia.

Early life and education Milovan Đ. Milovanović was born in Belgrade on 17 February 1863 as the second son of Đorđe Milovanović, a renowned judge, former Minister of Justice and member of the State Council (Državni savet). Milovanović finished high school in Belgrade and went to Paris Law School in 1881, on a state scholarship approved in 1882 by the Minister of Education Stojan Novaković. Milovanović graduated from Paris Law School in 1884 and received a doctorate from the same university in 1888, with the thesis Les Traités de garantie au XIXe siècle. His thesis was awarded the golden medal the same year.

Scholarly career In February 1888, Dr. Milovanović became a professor at the University of Belgrade's Law School, which was called the Belgrade Higher School at that time, where he taught state law and constitutionalism.

Milovanović wrote numerous articles on foreign policy and the national question in various Radical dailies and journals, like Echo (Odjek) and Self-Government (Samouprava), including the influential fortnightly review Work (Delo), that he founded with other radical intellectuals in 1892. The provisions of the Serbo-Bulgarian alliance called for a joint action against any power (i.e. Austria-Hungary) that might try to “annex, occupy, or event temporarily to invade with its arms” the Ottoman-held Balkan provinces. A secret annex to the treaty of the alliance considered the contested and non-contested zones in Slavic Macedonia, with the contested zone of northwestern Macedonia (the region between the Šar Mountain and Lake Ohrid) left up to the arbitration of the Russian Emperor, and the uncontested southeastern zone (east of the Lake Ohrid–Kriva Palanka line) intended to become part of Bulgaria, free of any Serbian claims.

Milovanović died on 18 June 1912, just several months before the First Balkan War against the Ottomans that started in October 1912 and led to the liberation of the Balkan nations from Ottoman domination.

He was awarded the Russian Order of the White Eagle with brilliants.

Selected works Les Traités de garantie au XIXe siècle, Paris 1888. Naša ustavna reforma (Our Constitutional Reform), Begrad 1888. Srbi i Hrvati (Serbs and Croats), Beograd 1895. Srbi i Bugari (Serbs and Bulgarians), Beograd 1898. Jedan ili dva doma (One or Two Chambers), Beograd 1901. Državno pravo (State Law), Filip Višnjić, Beograd 1997, 310 p.