Zbornik znanstvenih razprav Čast: identiteta in dvoumnost neformalnega kodeksa (Sredozemlje, 
12. - 20. stol.) obsega znanstvene razprave mednarodne znanstvene konference z istim naslovom, ki 
sta jo  v Kopru od 11. do 13. novembra 1999 organizirali Zgodovinsko društvo za južno Primorsko in 
Znanstveno-raziskovalno središče Republike Slovenije Koper, kot soorganizatorji pa Oddelek za 
zgodovino Univerze v Benetkah in Oddelek za pravne študije Univerze v Vidmu. Konferenca je bolj ali 
manj neposredno načela različne tematike in vprašanja, pri čemer je, kolikor je le bilo  mogoče, dala 
prednost interdisciplinarnemu pristopu in zgodovinskim vidikom, ki so omogočali prevrednotenje 
tradicionalno avtoreferenčnih študijskih področij. Upoštevaje hevristično kompleksnost govorice 
časti, je bila konferenca osredotočena na temeljna vprašanja, medtem ko je bil c ilj posameznih 
študijskih dnevov nizanje najrazl ičnejših tem, a tudi n jihovo neposredno povezovanje.
V skoraj vseh evropskih jezikih vsebuje izraz časftemeljno pomensko dvojnost. Po eni strani se čast 
posameznika navezuje na njegovo krepostno vedenje, na njegovo sposobnost sprejemanja vrednot in 
vedenja, ki jih  je mogoče zajeti v nenapisani kodeks miselne in splošne kulture določene družbene 
sredine. Po drugi strani pa je koncept časti posameznika tesno povezan s skupino, ki ji  pripada, z 
družbeno hierarhijo, ki opredeljuje njegovo vlogo in funkcijo. Čast torej, ki se nanaša tako na etične ali 
moralne vrednote, a tudi na merila, ki skupino, kateri posameznik pripada, opredeljuje. Tako 
razločevanje (oziroma taka nejasnost) navaja k razmisleku o zgodovinskem razvoju pojma časti, 
predvsem pa o odnosu med častjo ter naravo in značilnostmi institucionalnega, političnega in verskega 
sistema, katerih naloga je bila, da na različne načine in različno intenzivno uzakonjujejo legitimnost 
statusnih in premoženjskih razlik, a tudi rešujejosporevzvezi ssamo defin ic ijo  častnega obnašanja.
Izvirne razprave, ki jih  prinaša pričujoči zbornik, se v skladu z geografskim območjem in časovnim 
obdobjem, opredeljenem v naslovu, odlično umeščajo v te svojstvene študije civilizacijsko-kulturn ih 
odnosov in zato ne prinašajo novosti le v znanstvenih in metodoloških pogledih, temveč zastavljajo 
tudi nova vprašanja in odpirajo nove odgovore.
doc. dr. Darko Darovec
The Honour: identity and ambiguity o f an informal code (The Mediterranean, 12th - 20th centuries) 
is a collection of papers read at the international conference bearing the same name. It was held in 
Koper from November 11 th to 13th 1999, its principal organiser being the Littoral Historians Society 
and the Science and Research Centre of the Republic of Slovenia Koper, aided by Department of 
History of the University of Venice and Department of Law sciencies of the University of Udine. At the 
international meeting dedicated to the question of honour, different subjects and questions were dealt 
w ith more or less directly. Preference was given, as much as possible, to the interdisciplinary approach 
and historical aspects, which enabled a revaluation of the traditionally autoreferential spheres of study. 
By considering heuristic complexity of the language o f honour, the symposium focused on more or less 
basic questions, w hile the aim of separate academic days was to deal w ith as many subjects as possible 
as well as w ith the ird irect linking.
In almost every European language the term honour contains a basic significatory duality. An 
individual's honour is on one hand linked to his/her virtuous behaviour, to his/her ab ility  to accept 
values and behaviours that can be incorporated in un unwritten code of mental and general culture of a 
certain social circle. On the other hand, the concept of a person's honour is closely linked w ith the 
group to which he/she belongs, w ith social hierarchy which denotes his/her role and function - honour, 
therefore, which relates to ethical as well as moral values, and to the standards which define the group 
to which the individual belongs. Such distinction (or such indistinctness) makes us ponder about the 
historical development of honour, particularly about relationship between honour and nature and the 
characteristics of the institutional, politica l and religious systems, the duty of which was to legalise, in 
different ways and w ith different intensity, the legitimacy of the differences in people's status and 
property, as wel I as to settle disputes in connection w ith the definition of honourable behaviour itself.
The original treatises brought by the present bulletin are perfectly emplaced, in compliance w ith the 
stipulated geographical area and the period denoted in the title, in these unique studies of cultural 
relations and thus bring not only certain novelties in scientific and methodological aspects but also 
raise new questions and offer new answers.
doc. dr. Darko Darovec
ISSN 1318-0185
9771318018018