Slobodan Jovanović 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 critic s . 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 . Biography . Slobodan Jovanović was born at Novi Sad , then part of Austria - Hungary , on the 3rd of 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 . He had some influence on political life in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia due to his well established authority in the field of law and history , but he entered directly political life only in 1939 when the Serbian Cultural Club was established , and he was appointed as Club ' s president . He was a pro - Western politician and when a pro - Western military coup took place in Belgrade on March 27 , 1941 , a pro - Western , essentially pro - British government was installed headed by General Dušan Simović . Jovanović was deputy Prime Minister in that government . The Third Reich attacked the Kingdoms of Yugoslavia and Greece on April 6 , and soon defeated Yugoslav and Greek forces . Jovanovic moved in mid April together with King Peter II and other cabinet ministers to Jerusalem and he reached London in July . He became prime minister of the Yugoslav government in exile during World War II on January 11 , 1942 and remained in that position till June 26 , 1943 . Tried in absence by Josip Broz Tito ' s communist regime together with general Draža Mihailović , he was sentenced to twenty years in jail which he never served , as well as the loss of political and civil rights for a period of ten years , and confiscation of all property and loss of citizenship . He spent his later years in exile in London ( 1945 – 1958 ) . A memorial plaque in honour of " Professor Slobodan Yovanovitch . Serbian historian , literary critic , legal scholar , Prime Minister of Yugoslavia " may be found in London at 39b Queens Gate Gardens , Kensington . After unofficial rehabilitation in 1989 , his collected works were published in 1991 . In Serbia , he is universally regarded as one of the most influential political thinkers of the turn of the century . Leading Serbian quality daily Politika on the occasion of his 70th birthday concluded that " his name has been carved as the highest peak of our culture up to now " . In the same issue four most prominent Serbian intellectuals assessed very highly his accomplishments as a historian , jurist , sociologist and writer . His analysis of the Karađorđević and Obrenović rulers ranks among the clearest and most astute . In Serbia , he initiated discussion about previously little known subjects ( such as the question of cultural patterns ) . He also distinguished himself with literary criticism and essays on topics ranging from art to culture and politics . Jovanović became a full member of the Serbian Royal Academy in 1908 , and its President from 1928 till 1931 . He was also a correspondent member of the Yugoslav Academy of Science in Zagreb from 1927 . He was one of the most prominent intellectual s of his time . In his career , he was a lawyer , historian , writer , president of the Serbian Royal Academy ( now Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts ) , professor and rector at Belgrade University , and finally , deputy prime minister and prime minister of the Royal Yugoslav government - in - exile . His collected works were published in 17 volumes in 1939 - 1940 . It contains the results of his unremitting labour as a writer , professor and politician for sixty years , and throws considerable light on Balkan history of the first half of the 20th century , as well as on the author himself . Although his works were not officially banned , any new issue of his books was not permitted in communist Yugoslavia until late 1980s . Finally , a new edition of his collected works was published in Belgrade in 12 volumes in 1991 . Since 2003 his portrait is shown on the 5000 dinar banknote , and his bust stands at the Faculty of Law in Belgrade . Official rehabilitation occurred on October 26 , 2007 by the court in Belgrade . Since December 10 , 2011 , plateau in front of Faculty of Law in Belgrade bears his name . References . 1 " Politika " , December 4 , 1939 , p . 9 .