Code of Lekë Dukagjini

The first complete codification of the usual subject saw its first publication in 1933 in Shkodër, a posthumous work of Shtjefën Gjeçovi (killed in 1929) who collected it mainly in the villages of Mirdita and its surroundings.

[10] The Kanun is divided into twelve sections,[11] and Gjeçovi's version has 1262 articles regulating all aspects of the mountainous life: economic organisation of the household, hospitality, brotherhood, clan, boundaries, work, marriage, land, and so on.

[9] Some of the Kanun's most controversial rules (in particular book 10, section 3) specify how murder is to be handled, which in the past (and sometimes still now) would lead to blood feuds lasting until all men of the two involved families were killed.

Some organizations try to mediate between feuding families and get them to "pardon the blood" (Falja e Gjakut), but often the only resort is for adult men to stay in their homes permanently, as they are considered a refuge, or flee the country.

[15] The Albanian Bytyqi, Gashi, Gruda, Trieshi, Hoti, Kastrati, Kelmendi, Krasniqi, Shkrel, and Kuçi tribes are known to follow the Kanuni i Malësisë së Madhë, a variant of the Kanun.

[13][17][18][19][20] The Kanun contains several customary concepts that have their origins in paganism, including veneration of the dead, animism, and totemism, which date back long before the period of Lekë Dukagjini.