The Statutes of Scutari (, ) were the highest form of expression of the self-government of Scutari (Shkodër) during Venetian rule. There were other cities in Albania which had statutes but only those of Scutari are preserved in their fullest form. They are composed of 279 chapters written in the Venetian language of the 15th century. They were held in two copies, one in the treasury office of the city and the other on the city court office. Although similar to other Italian and Dalmatian city statutes, they have been incorporated into many Albanian elements and institutions, such as Besa and Gjakmarrja. The original document is a parchment consisting of 40 pages, hand-copied by a certain Marino Dulcic in the 15th century. Its existence was mentioned in an Italian bibliography in 1907, but the content itself was only widely published in 1997, when it was found in the archives of the Museo Correr in Venice by historian Lucia Nadin. History According to Oliver Schmitt, the Statutes in their current form date to the early 14th century. Historian Pëllumb Xhufi considers them an accurate record of life in Shkodër from 1330 until the Ottoman conquest in 1479. The consensus of Nadin, Schmitt, Giovan Battista Pellegrini, and Gherardo Ortalli is that the Statutes were drafted and implemented before Stefan Dušan’s conquest of Shkodër and remained in force with the Venetian conquest. Although the population of the city was at first mainly Dalmatian, the Black Death devastated the city in 1348 and drove Albanian and Slavic immigration to the area. Content Similar legal codes were written in 1369 in Bar, in 1379 in Ulcinj, in 1392 in Durrës, and in 1397 in Drisht. They have not all been preserved, however, and efforts to find them were stymied until the Shkodër example’s discovery. 279 ordinances regulated the life of the city, including government, construction, handicrafts, agriculture (both crops and livestock), trade, lawsuits, family law, citizenship, etc. Violators were fined and the proceeds split between the zupan (count representing the King of Serbia) and either the municipality or the aggrieved party, depending on the nature of the offense. Schmitt classifies them into sections, such as chapters 1-7 on relations between King and subject, or chapters 8-50 on relations between neighbors and land division. Other sections focus on citizen qualifications for the popular assembly, the council, the courts, city posts, military service, property obligations, criminal sanctions,