The oldest kept statute of the Boka Navy dates to 1463. At that time, the Navy was called “Fraternity of Boka Seafarers of St. Nicholas”, while the original title of the statue was “Liber fraternitatis divi Nicolai marina­riorum da Catharo“. The scientific consensus suggests this was not Boka seafarers’ organization first statute. Apparently, an earlier one had existed before 1463, but it was not preserved. The manuscript contains 72 pieces of parchment; only the title is in Latin, followed by translation into Italian in Venetian dialect (Qua comenza la matricola de la congregation di misser san Nicolo di marinari di Catharo) and the rest of the document is in Italian.

Beside its historical significance, the artistic aspect of this manuscript is also important, since the first page of the Statute contains a small figure of St. Nicholas in the initials. This exquisite miniature was crafted by the great Kotor painter Lovro Marinov Dobričević.

In this Statute, the Fraternity considered how to fully professionalize the structure of its management by removing shipbuilders and other non-seafaring members, who were only willing to participate in maritime affairs through their capital. On the other hand, a seafaring monopoly had been formed, which resolutely declared that no one could sail and trade if they were not a member of the Kotor Fraternity, a decision that triggered resistance in Prčanj and other adjacent villages.

All fraternities had statutes and strong internal organization, as was the case with Kotor Navy. At its head was the gastald, followed by two legal counsels, three proctors, guardians and chaplain. Of note are the aspects which distinguished Kotor Navy, namely merging the position of gastald (a sort of an expert leader of the Navy) with the position of port admiral – who, among other things, commanded the sailor division. A document from 1493 specifies Alegretus Nigro as the “admiratus et gastaldus fraternitatis Sancti Nicolai marinariorum”. A practice was formed where the same individual who was appointed to be the port admiral (port captain) was chosen as the gastald in the seafaring Fraternity. This meant that the person who commanded an armed squad was also the head of a professional organization.

Other than numerous humanitarian and religious elements, the Statute also underlined: 1) keeping and regularly updating registry of sailors ready for military and trade operations, 2) acting as maritime police in the Bay of Kotor, 3) when needed, participating in naval operations carried out by the Republic of Venice, 4) taking over the authority of the town during the three days of patron saint festivities, as well as organizing and protecting the event, 5) participating in sanitary services by controlling ships that arrived from contaminated regions and 6) organizing naval postal service.

For reasons stated above, the admirals were held in high regard, equal to town officials. They were also occasionally sent to the Great Council in Venice to act as town delegates.

In the Middle Ages, when the state still had no control over social care for the sick and the poor, this was done by the church and gilds. These professional organizations provided for their members, while the statutes prescribed exact cases when relief was to be distributed.

This was the case with the seafaring Fraternity, where the 1463 Statute describes special cases of relief in poverty (Per il poveri fradelli), for providing dowry for female children, in case of insufficient funds for burial of a sailor or transport of the body if death occurred in a port abroad, and especially in cases of sickness and hunger. The Statute also stipulates how to act should death of a foreign sailor occur in the port of Kotor.

From that time until the present statute from 2016, Boka Navy adopted a number of statutes, including important ones from 1873, 1934, 1964, 1979 and 1991.