Slobodan Jovanović

Slobodan Jovanović
Portrait of Slobodan Jovanović by Uroš Predić, 1931
19th Prime Minister of Yugoslavia
In office 12 January 1942 – 26 June 1943
Preceded by	Dušan Simović
Succeeded by	Miloš Trifunović
Personal details
Born	(1869-12-03)December 3, 1869 Novi Sad, Austria-Hungary
Died	December 12, 1958(1958-12-12) (aged 89) London, United Kingdom
Occupation	jurist, historian, politician

Slobodan Jovanović (Serbian Cyrillic: Слободан Јовановић) (December 3, 1869, Novi Sad, Austria-Hungary – December 12, 1958, London, United Kingdom) was one of Serbia's most prolific jurists, historians, sociologists, journalists and literary critics. He distinguished himself with a characteristically clear and sharp writing style later called the "Belgrade style".

Liberal in his social and political views, he was perhaps Yugoslavia’s greatest authority on constitutional law; also a master of Serbian prose style, he was for nearly half a century a leader of the Serbian intelligentsia. He graduated law in Geneva in 1890. In 1905, he was a professor at the University of Belgrade's Law School until 1941. He was also a politician while in exile in London during World War II.

Slobodan Jovanović was born in Novi Sad, then part of Austria-Hungary, on 3 December 1869 to Vladimir Jovanović and his wife Jelena. He was reportedly the first Serbian male to be named "Slobodan" (sloboda means "freedom" in Serbian), while his sister was named Pravda ("Justice"). He received an excellent education in Belgrade, Munich, Zurich, and Geneva, where he graduated with a law degree. From 1890 to 1892, he took post-graduate studies in constitutional law and political science in Paris before entering the Serbian foreign service. In 1893 he was appointed political attaché with the Serbian mission to Istanbul, where he remained for a couple years. It was at this time that he began to write and have his articles on literary criticism published in various publications throughout the land. He eventually left the diplomatic service in favour of academia and literary pursuits. In 1897 he was appointed professor at the University of Belgrade's Faculty of Law. For more than four decades, Jovanović taught at the law faculty gaining a reputation as an authority on constitutional law and Serbian language and literature. He was Rector of the University of Belgrade shortly before his retirement in 1939.