The confraternities had a significant religious and secular role in the Dubrovnik Republic. With the fall of the Republic, begins the new legally turbulent period in which the state authorities that have changed through the centuries did not find the appropriate legal frame for the actual status and meaning of the confraternities. The thesis analyzes the activities of confraternities at that time, with a special focus on the question how this institute reflected the political and social changes from the 19th century until 2015. The legal personality of fraternities, between church and secular authorities, is reviewed based on regulations of associations, religious communities, cadastral and land registers, materials from the funds of the State Archives in Split, Zadar and Dubrovnik with records of plots of buildings and land as of 1837, documents of Demanio, cadasters, land registry entries, documents from archives of the Episcopal Ordinariate in Dubrovnik and other available documents. Particular attention is paid to the matter of the graves that belonged and still belong to the members of the confraternities, where often emerged the conflict of the state law and legal customs that shaped the practice. Thesis shows how legal norm can not only be viewed by its legal letter but also to acknowledge its true meaning and function in legal and social (traditional) surroundings.