Dušan's Code is the most important legal document of the Serbian state from the time of the Nemanjić Dynasty. The Code was promulgated at a state council in Skopje in 1349 (the first 135 articles), and in 1354 in Sérres it was amended with another 66 articles, so that it had a total of 201 articles. Original Dušan's Code is not saved, but many copies (over 20), made in the period from the fourteenth to the sixteenth century, have survived the turbulent centuries. It testifies of its use not only in the Middle Ages, but also in churches during the Turkish occupation. Dušan's Code was written in the old Serbian language, unlike other codes of that era that were written in Latin. Dušan's Code is not entirely an original work, since there are many sources from which articles were taken over, such as: old Slavic and Serbian common law, earlier Charters of the Serbian rulers, Byzantine law, statutes of the coastal towns, and so on. One of the most important tasks of the Dušan's Code was to consolidate the large Emperor Dušan's state, to approximate legislation of the different areas of the Kingdom and to make a stronger bond between the Serbian state and the newly conquered cities and regions.
By its content, Dušan's Code represents a set of regulations in various areas of law. Most of the provisions in it are about the organization of the state and the authorities - the rulers and nobility, secular and ecclesiastical, of their obligations and rights, their mutual relations and their relations to sebri (peasants, workers). After the regulations on the state and social order, Dušan's Code has the most provisions on criminal offenses and penalties. The Code provides severe punishment for theft and robbery, arson in the village and outside the village, violation of others' property boundaries and general violation of other people's land rights. The Code provides penalties for offenses against the person, for murder, for bodily injury, rape, insult, etc. Finally, especially in its first articles, Dušan's Code provides punishment of all those who are working against the church or do not respect the rules of the church.