Kanuni i Lekë Dukagjinit, The Code of Lekë Dukagjini. Albanian-English Language.

by | 5 Aug 2026

The Code of Leke Dukagjini translated from the Albanian by Leonard Fox.Hardback with glossy red dust jacket. Title and vignette (showing detail from the Coat of Arms of Leke Dukagjini) on the front cover of dj in black. Red cloth boards with title and vignette in gold gilt.Minimal shelf wear.Translated orally for generations, the laws of the Kanun served for more than five centuries as the foundation of social behavior and self-government for the clans of Northern Albania, even while the region was nominally under Turkish rule. The importance of the Kanun in the history of the Albanian people can scarcely be overestimated, and its precepts continue to exercise a very significant influence on Albanians living in Albania and Kosove, as well as in other countries to which Albanians have emigrated.Collected and arranged by Father Shtjefen Gjecov during the first quarter of the twentieth century, this new edition of the Kanun presents the Albanian text along with a parallel translation by Leonard Fox.A fascinating insight into Albanian culture with sections on marriage, work, the law regarding crimes, the church etc. Internally clean and unmarked. This is the first English translation of the customary laws, still followed to various degrees, by Albanians in northern Albania, Kosova/Kosovo, Montenegro, and Macedonia. That these laws have survived, and often replaced, the impositions of the Ottoman Empire and the Albanian Communist and Yugoslav governments, attests to their importance.The forward, the introduction, and the note on the translation, which precede the Code, and the Code itself are highly readable. Each page of the Code in English is preceded by a page of the same text in Albanian. The dust cover is red with the black Albanian eagle, duplicative of the Albanian flag, and the book itself has large illustrations of both Leke Dukagjini, an Albanian national hero to whom the laws are traditionally attributed, and his coat of arms.This work would not only make a fine present for Albanians living in English speaking countries, but is a necessity both for non-Albanians attempting an understanding of Albanian society, and, with the present situation in the southern Balkans, for the reference collections of all academic and larger public libraries.