The legal system of Kievan Rus

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The legal system of Kievan Rus
The legal system of Kievan Rus
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The concept of a system of law implies a structural set of formal prescriptions that exist in the state. Such prescriptions, unlike other social norms such as public morality or historical tradition, are clear prescriptions of government structures. Moreover, the government is the guarantor of their implementation. At the same time, the established system of law is often the result of

system of law
system of law

formalization in legal documents of public morality. One way or another, the government must rely on the concept of its own people about justice in the codification of laws. The medieval Russian state was no exception in this respect.

The system of law in Kievan Rus

Rus was a typical feudal state of the Middle Ages, formed as a result of the forced unification of East Slavic tribes that outgrew tribal relations. Actually, the local system of law was largely formed from these premises. Its sources were based on a very extensive base of general and special laws. As in the cases of Western European states, the Russian system of law had fairly typical main sources:

  • The so-called customary law. It was formed over the centuries in the form of unwritten prescriptions and traditions in the societies of the Slavic tribes,
  • the concept of a system of law
    the concept of a system of law

    that have been passed down from generation to generation. Of course, these prescriptions did not disappear with the emergence of statehood. On the contrary, for the most part they were integrated into the new system of the social organism and eventually codified in a legal form.

  • Perhaps the most important source of medieval Russian law was state documents of an official nature. Among them are the following:
  1. Princely treaties and agreements. They could be both external and internal. The former include, for example, trade agreements with Byzantium (Oleg in 907, Igor in 944 or Svyatoslav in 971). By the way, most of the campaigns against Constantinople of the early Russian period were carried out precisely with the aim of forcing Tsargrad to conclude trade deals that were beneficial for princely merchants. This also includes the internal agreements of the specific princes among themselves (for example, the well-known congress in Lyubech).
  2. Princely statutes. They were decisions of a legislative, tax, financial or punitive nature. The most famous among them is Russkaya Pravda by Yaroslav.
  • To a large extent, the system of law in Kievan Rus was formed under the influence of Byzantine Christianity. As in other deeply religious
  • legal system is
    legal system is

    states of Europe, canonical (church) prescriptions played an important role here. In addition, the princes themselves issued church charters, some of which have survived to this day. The most important of these documents are the church charters of Vladimir and Yaroslav. In the era of princely rule, they were extremely important as documents of church legal proceedings. In general, canon law regulated the following relationships:

  1. Between state and church.
  2. Between the flock and the church.
  3. Inside the church itself.
  4. In addition to the above, the clergy were responsible for concluding and dissolving marriages, as well as overseeing the moral and ethical side of the life of society and its individual representatives.

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