"Pravda Russkaya" - this is what this ancient source calls itself - the first set of laws compiled in Russia. It was introduced to the scientific community by Tatishchev, who rediscovered the text of the code in 1737.
The peculiarity of Russian historical sources is that they exist, as it were, in two time periods - the first, when they were actually created, and the second, when they were rediscovered. This existence is characteristic of Tales of Bygone Years and for Russkaya Pravda - medieval manuscripts that disappeared from the pages stories for several centuries and then newly acquired.
Russian Truth has been studied by historians, sociologists, paleographers, jurists and linguists. The time at which the Truth was compiled was determined with the help of linguistic analysis, which was carried out A. A. Shakhmatov... The monograph by A. A. Zimin, which will be frequently cited in this article, has become a fundamental work on Russkaya Pravda as a historical source. Zimin's goal, we believe, was to study the position of dependent categories of the population in the Old Russian state, at least this is how he defines the tasks of his work in the preface to the publication.
Academic meeting of the leading figures of Russian literature under the chairmanship of the Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich Romanov. Among those present: A. A. Shakhmatov (far left), I. M. Grevs, A. F. Bychkov, A. N. Veselovsky, A. N. Pypin. Photo: 1900
The text of Russkaya Pravda is known to us in three versions. The oldest of them, called Kratkaya Pravda (43 articles), was preserved in two copies (or copies of the text) of the Novgorod first chronicle of the younger edition in its Commission (written in 1453-1462) and Academic (written in the 40s of the 15th century .) options. The Brief Truth dates from the annals of 1016.
Earlier copies of the texts of Russkaya Pravda have not survived to our time
Another text of Russkaya Pravda - Extensive Pravda (123 articles in total) is recorded in the Pilot Books of the 13th-15th centuries, in Meryl Pravda (collection of laws) and other chronicle sources. Full text Extensive Pravda was restored from several sources, which Zimin divides into three groups: the Synodal Trinity Chronicle (75 different copies), the Pushkin group of chronicles (6 copies) and the Karamzin group (13 copies). Merilo Righteous - a code of laws written at the end of the 13th century, refers to the Synodal Trinity Chronicles.
The extended truth is, in fact, a separate code of laws of the ancient Russian state, which includes the text of the Brief Pravda. It was compiled, according to historians, at the beginning of the 12th century, when Vladimir Monomakh(1113-1125) or his successor Mstislav the Great (1125-1132). An innovation in the Prostrannaya Pravda is the charter of Vladimir Monomakh, which articles from the code are this charter has not yet been decided.
Mstislav Vladimirovich the Great. Miniature from the Tsar's Titular. Source: Noble families Russian Empire... T. 1. Princes. SPb., IPK "Vesti", 1993
Finally, we find the text of the Abridged Truth in the Pilot Books of the 17th century.
In fact, each subsequent version of Russkaya Pravda is a correspondence of already existing laws that were formed, according to historians, during the period of being in power. Yaroslav the Wise, with the addition of new ones, reflecting the realities of the legislator's modernity. So the Extensive Truth can be called the Russian Truth with additions, and the Abbreviated Truth - Extensive with cuts.
The Brief Truth, in turn, consists of four parts: the Truth of Yaroslav (the oldest part), the Charter of the Yaroslavichs, Pokon Virny and the Lesson to Mostnikov. The last two parts each consist of one article.
Naturally, before the creation of the written code of laws proper, which is the Russian Pravda, there were other legal norms and laws that served as the basis for it. In historiography, the question of the origin of this historical source is still open. Some scholars believe that the Truth was compiled by Yaroslav the Wise (this is directly indicated by the chronicles, placing the text of the laws during the time of this prince), others - that Yaroslav only wrote down the ancient laws and made additions to them, and they themselves arose in pre-princely times. LK Getz did a great job of dating the Kratkaya Pravda. He analyzed the socio-economic structure of society, reflected in the text of laws (dependent categories of the population, fines in favor of representatives of the authorities, blood feud, etc.), and came to the conclusion that the norms of law in Pravda date back to the 8th-9th centuries. in particular, he explains this by the fact that the Brief Truth, for example, does not know vir - deductions in favor of the ruling prince, which means that it was drawn up much earlier than the time when the princes sat down to rule this or that table. It is important to note that there are fines for insult in the Ancient Truth, there are no deductions in favor of the prince.
A natural question arises: why was the first written code of laws drawn up precisely during the reign of Yaroslav? After all, earlier charismatic personalities were on the throne, like his father, Vladimir Krasnoe Solnyshko, perpetrated a great church reform, as a result of which Russia received a single faith. Why didn't Vladimir need the Russian Truth? Most likely before Vladimir Svyatoslavich there were no tasks similar to those that faced his son. Firstly, there were not so many contenders for the throne - Vladimir himself and his brother Yaropolk. The latter was treacherously killed by the squad of Vladimir, who has now become a perfectly legitimate contender for the Kiev table. The court in the newborn state took place according to communal unwritten laws, and when they were not enough, then the last word was always behind the prince. The need to create a legal framework was not ripe at that time.
Zimin identifies the following sources that influenced the text of the laws of Russian Pravda:
Community laws before the formation of the Old Russian state (customary law). They are, in particular, reflected in the articles of Pravda regulating blood feud, the principle of "tit for tat", community court, male inheritance, attitude towards slaves, etc.
Statutes the first Kiev princes... Basically, this is a casual right from trade agreements, truces and individual cases, which were then clothed in the rules of law, since they were typical. Princely law replaces blood feud with a fine, brings convicts to an oath (oath), defines the term “damage”, recognizes the legitimacy of “confiscation of property”.
... "Charters" and "lessons" of Princess Olga. Princess Olga carried out extensive administrative, economic and religious reforms, the order that was established in Russia as a result was reflected in new legal norms. Charters are princely acts, the essence of legislative power, mandates are legal acts related to the administration of legal proceedings.
It is curious that in the list of sources of Russkaya Pravda there is no Byzantine laws, but at this time the ties between Russia and the Byzantine Empire were quite close. Trade routes "from the Varangians to the Greeks" continued to operate, the princes took Byzantine princesses as wives, even the faith was borrowed from Byzantium... Klyuchevsky believes that Pravda Russkaya is a compilation of case law, which was in the interests of the local church elite (most likely, the historian means later lists of Pravda), and since the Russian Church was striving with all its might to independence from the Byzantine canon, therefore, she did not want , could not and did not borrow any Byzantine legal norms. By the way, at the specified time Byzantine law was a fairly well-developed state institution. In general, historians agree that the norms of Byzantine law had no practical application in Russia, therefore they were not used in Russian Pravda.
Blachernae icon Mother of God from the church with. Vlakhernsky (currently in the Tretyakov Gallery). Belonged to the Stroganov family, and from the middle of the 18th century. Golitsyn and was kept in their estate - s. Vlakhernsky (Kuzminki) near Moscow. The first documentary mention of it dates back to 1716; according to the dating by G.V. Sidorenko, it belongs to the 7th century.
It is important to note that Russkaya Pravda has never been a frozen set of laws that once and for all established certain legal norms. The truth can rather be presented in the form of a "puff cake", with a mass of layers at different times. Each scribe introduced into the text of the code the realities of the place and time when he lived, even the division into articles, which became canonical in all reprints of Pravda Russkaya, the later invention, in fact, the article-by-article reading of the source is already its interpretation.
Let's take a closer look at each of the parts of the Brief Truth.
Yaroslav's Truth is the most ancient part of the Short Pravda, according to the chronicles, it was given to Novgorod by Yaroslav the Wise in 1016. It contains many benefits to the city's population, which helped Yaroslav in the fight against Svyatopolk. The Ancient Truth includes 17 articles, which can be divided into three groups: articles regulating responsibility for murder, for insult and for violation of property rights. This composition of the code is explained by the realities of the time in which it was created. The squad, which rampaged in Novgorod after the death of Prince Vladimir in 1015 and was subjected to repression by Prince Yaroslav Vladimirovich for this, had to be limited by the legal field from the repetition of murders, debauches and violence. In Pravda Yaroslav there are no articles about inheritance, lackeys, etc., since such "peaceful" goals did not stand before the prince, who was constantly in a state of war, either with his brother, or with the Varangian retinue.
Yaroslav's truth provides Novgorod residents with significant legal benefits and privileges and protects their lives and private property from the arbitrariness of the Varangian squad. Penalties (mostly fines) were introduced for insults, beatings and theft. In exchange for legal protection, the Novgorodians helped Yaroslav to seize the Kiev throne and win the war with Svyatopolk. Zimin believes that thanks to this, the Russian Truth can be considered a fundamental document that laid the legal foundations of the Old Russian state. The power of the prince now extends not only to his army (squad), which feeds on the cities that this prince occupies, but also to the cities themselves. The local sedentary population is equal in rights with Varangian warriors, if not entirely endowed with important prerogatives. If earlier (in the era of Olga, Vladimir, etc.) the squad lived according to the usual (communal) laws, and the cities according to the barely arisen feudal law, now the new appanage order extended to everyone.
Hood. A. Vasnetsov. "Novgorod bargaining". Source: Pictures on Russian history, published under the general editorship [and explanatory text] by SA Knyazkov. 1909 g.
Zimin emphasizes that Yaroslav was not faced with the task of systematizing the previously existing laws into one code, the prince's goal was to provide support for the Novgorodians in the fight against Svyatopolk, and this goal was achieved. The "side" effect of this was the beginning of the process of formalizing new feudal laws, which resulted in the compilation of the Russian Truth.
"Yaroslav the Legislator". Lithograph by B.A.Chorikov. Source: Picturesque Karamzin, or Russian history in pictures: Part 1. / Published by Andrei Prevost. - St. Petersburg, 1836
The Truth of the Yaroslavichs is the second part of the oldest Pravda, articles 19 to 41 belong to it. The chronicles, however, place the truth of the Yaroslavichs under 1016, the time when Yaroslav ruled. In this regard, difficulties arise in determining by whom exactly these articles were written and for what purposes. It is assumed that the code was adopted at the Vyshgorod congress of the children of Yaroslav the Wise, held on May 20, 1072. The congress was held in Vyshgorod (hence the name), it was attended by the higher clergy, headed by the Metropolitan. The task of the congress was to transfer the relics princes Boris and Gleb to the stone chapel. Side effect was the adoption of a code of laws, later called Pravda Yaroslavichi. In the annals, articles of the charter of the Yaroslavichs are preceded by a list of the names of those who had a hand in compiling them. Here they are: Izyaslav, Vsevolod, Svyatoslav, Kosnyachko Pereneg, Mikyfor Kyyanin, Chyudin Mikula. Izyaslav, Vsevolod and Svyatoslav are the children of Yaroslav the Wise, the rest of those listed are noble boyars.
Hood. S. Ivanov. Congress of Princes in Uvetichi, 1910, Kostroma State United Art Museum, Kostroma
Zimin points out that the charter of the Yaroslavichs, in contrast to the charter of Yaroslav himself, is more casual and considers a rather narrow range of issues related directly to the prince's patrimony. Articles of the charter are practical, regulating penalties for theft, fights, etc. Curious is the system of fines established for the murder of members of the princely squad, such fines (viras) are several times greater than for the murder of a simple community member. Within the squad, the categories of warriors are also distinguished, whose death (and therefore value) is estimated higher. So, for example, for the murder of a fireman (princely manager, executive director in modern terminology) and an old groom (commander-in-chief of the troops), in addition to a fine for the prince himself, compensation was paid to the relatives of the deceased. For the murder of a grid (an ordinary prince's squad) and a swordsman (a bailiff of the prince), they were entitled to a fee of 40 hryvnias. As you can see, the social and property stratification in the ranks of the princely squad takes place precisely at this time - its upper estates form a sedentary boyars, allotted with land, the lower ones - a mobile guard.
Monument to the squad of Alexander Nevsky on the town of Sokolikha in Pskov (1993, sculptor Kozlovsky I.I., architect Butenko P.S.)
If in Pravda Yaroslav the fine for the murdered was paid only if there were no relatives ready to take revenge, then the truth of the Yaroslavichi completely cancels blood feud and replaces it with a vera. Now, if the corpse was found on the territory of the community, outside the princely domain, then the fine was collected from all members of the community.
The charter of the Yaroslavichs seeks to protect the princely property, in connection with which a number of articles in it regulate the procedure for punishment for damage and theft of the prince's property. This is related to the emergence of a new type of fines called “sale”. Selling is a theft penalty, while vira is a murder penalty. The largest fine was punishable by violation of the princely territory (illegal plowing of fields, hunting in princely lands) and theft of servants (servants). The charter of the Yaroslavichs also operates with the concept of duty, meaning the court duty - "emtsa", given to the one who carries out legal actions, in this case, the emtsa is paid to the one who seizes the stolen goods.
Hood. I. Bilibin. "Court in the time of Russian Truth." Chromolithograph. Source: "Pictures on Russian history". Ed. I. Knebel, 1909
Zimin believes that Pravda Yaroslavichi laid the foundations of the domain (patrimonial, feudal) law and contributed to the legislative consolidation of social inequality. The charter of the Yaroslavichs had as their jurisdiction only the princely estates (domain) and did not apply to others cities... We can say that Pravda is in this case a code of economic law that regulates the economic, social and administrative aspects of the prince's possessions. Many researchers believe that Yaroslav the Wise was directly involved in drawing up this code of laws, and the Yaroslavichs, together with several eminent boyars gathered at the congress in Vyshgorod, only once again confirmed its legitimacy.
Yaroslav the Wise. Reconstruction on the skull of M. Gerasimov, 1939
The remaining parts of the Russian Truth are presented by Pocon Virny and the Lesson to Mostniki. Vira, as mentioned above, is a penalty for murder. Pocon (from "from time immemorial" - long ago) - a list of virs for the murder of a person, depending on his social status(vigilante, boyar, servant, servant, etc.). We can say that pocon is a kind of application to the code, taken outside the limits of the articles themselves, since it contains statistical material. The lesson is the amount of tribute in cash, in kind or in time. Lessons in Russia were established by Princess Olga during the administrative reform that divided Novgorod into churchyards. In Pravda Russian, the lesson is compensation for the victim or his family. Bridges in Ancient Rus named the builders, paving roads and repairing bridges. Researchers have debated a lot about the authorship of Pocon and Lesson. Most are inclined to believe that these articles appeared in the code already in the time of Yaroslav.
An interesting question about the name of the source. The chronicles indicate that Yaroslav Vladimirovich gave the Novgorodians a law - Pravda Russkaya, which means that Novgorod now belongs to the Russian state, although before that it was actually considered a "free" city and republic. Thus, Russkaya Pravda becomes the first feudal code and forms a new legal space - Russia. The prince becomes the guarantor of this law, but he himself obeys it. In addition, in the very first article of the new code, “Slovenin” is equal in rights with “Rusyn”. Historians believe that the Slovenian is a community member, a person who was not part of the princely domain, not a vigilante. The fact that now any commune member can count on the protection of his rights made Pravda Russkaya the first in a series of subsequent written laws.
In addition to the fact that Pravda Russkaya denotes the legal field of the emerging Russian state, it also serves as an excellent source of information about the political, economic and social life of society in the era of its creation. The very fact of finding the text of the code in all Russian chronicles already testifies in favor of its reliability. At the same time, in contrast to the narrative language of the chronicles, which was undoubtedly influenced by the character and characteristics of the people who created them, and therefore there may be significant errors in the description of certain events, Truth is devoid of this bias, since it retained the accuracy of the formulations. It was important for the legislator to use the names of realities in the form in which they are known to the whole society, while the chronicler in his story could well call enemies, for example, "Moabites", and generations of historians fought to find out which tribe was meant. And you author perhaps used a metaphor at all.
Hood. V.M. Vasnetsov, Nestor the Chronicler, 1919, watercolor, State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow
So, Pravda Russkaya makes it possible to survey social structure Old Russian society in its entirety. As can be seen from the text, at the indicated time there are three categories of citizens - the highest nobility (the prince and his privileged servants), free people (townspeople, the younger squad, outcasts, ordinary residents, officials), dependent (peasant breadwinners of the squads or smerds; ryadovichi, hired people, dependent on the contract; purchases - people who sold themselves into slavery as collateral; slaves or slaves).
Smerd, according to the Russian Truth, is a peasant farmer. IN middle Ages in Russia, the peasants were free and only with the development of the system of estates did they become serfs. Despite his personal freedom, the smerd, nevertheless, was in a subordinate position in relation to the prince.
Hood. V. Surikov. "Old man-gardener", 1882, Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
Studying legal position smerds in the Old Russian state, one can find out that the freedom of the peasants consisted only in the presence of private property (land allotment), which was passed along the male line to descendants. This private property was not inalienable, the peasant had no right to leave his allotment. The prince judged the peasants on the lands belonging to him, could transfer these lands together with people as a gift or lose in the course of hostilities. All the property of the smerd, with the exception of a plot of land, after his death passed to the prince. As you can see, the peasant-smerd was free rather conditionally, and this despite the fact that it was the peasantry who fed the prince, his court and squad. Soldiers-recruits were also recruited from among the smerds.
Serfs in Ancient Rus they called slaves, and not those slaves into whom the captive civilians were turned, they were called servants, but local slaves who committed any offense or voluntarily sold themselves into slavery. Serfdom was divided into lifelong (white) and temporary (purchased). By the way, in Russia the word "slave" was never used in relation to a person who was in complete personal dependence. The word "slave" was in circulation only in Church Slavonic vocabulary, for example, "servant of God."
A captive from a neighboring nation could forcibly become a slave (for example, when the Novgorodians went to war on Suzdal, they captured many prisoners there, who were then sold into slavery to their own townspeople), the purchased slave, if he committed theft or escaped, became white. Likewise, the prince, executing the court, could turn the guilty one of theft, robbery and horse-stealing into a slave along with his entire family, and such cases were not uncommon. Creditors who did not receive payments could also be turned into a slave. Russkaya Pravda speaks of the possibility of such servitude only if the delay in payments was due to the fault of the debtor (drunkenness, wastefulness), however, it does not show signs of lack of guilt. Finally, a child born of unfree parents automatically became a slave.
Hood. S. Ivanov. "Departure of the peasant from the landowner on St. George's Day", 1908.
The concept of "Russian Pravda" recreates the oldest legal norms adopted in Kievan Rus by Yaroslav the Wise himself and the former princes. The old code reflects not only legal aspects social relations, but also a high level of development of society.
Announcement: without this code of laws in Russia, they could kill for a long time by the right of "blood feud".
In the article "About Yaroslav the Wise in Brief" we made a journey through the history of the flourishing of Kievan Rus. Today we are examining the problems of Old Russian legislation.
So, one of the great deeds of Prince Yaroslav Vladimirovich was the first set of laws "Russian Truth". It was created by a group of like-minded people. Representatives of the clergy played an important role in Russia, among them there were many wise people.
Scientists Find Similarities to Ancient Laws different countries... In particular, some of the legal customs of the "Russian Truth" and "Salicheskaya Pravda" of the ancient Franks of the 5th century AD are similar. For example, a way to determine the culprit. The prosecutor and the accused had to pass the test.
In turn, they took out with their bare hand:
- a ring or pebble from a boiler of boiling water;
- a piece of red-hot iron from a fire.
Whoever has fewer burns is right. Whoever's hand is charred or blistered is to blame. Hence the expression - "God marks the rogue". Please note that in the time of Yaroslav the Wise, both were tested, and not just the accused. This is how those who loved controversy, gossip and slander were brought up.
In Russkaya Pravda, a system of huge fines for crimes was established. I emphasize that under Yaroslav the Wise, the fine for the murder of both the poor and the rich was the same! Later, the life of a poor person began to be valued 15 times cheaper!
The hryvnia is the currency of Ancient Rus. The cash cow cost almost 2 hryvnia. So for the murder of a tiun, a vira (fine) of 80 hryvnia was due! 40 cows even in modern Russia expensive, and even more so in those days. So the whole village “worked hard” to pay vira.
One will make a mess, but everyone will answer. Such measures led to the strengthening of educational control within each community, so that no one would do harm. The authority of senior people for young people was enormous !!!
In ancient times, a beard and mustache were a symbol male dignity... It was considered a terrible insult if someone spat in a beard, pulled out a tuft, and burned it. In Russkaya Pravda, such violations were punished more severely than for a severed finger !!
So, in "Russkaya Pravda" Yaroslav the Wise, 17 articles were drawn up, in which blood feud was limited, relations in the princely squad were regulated, the influence of pagan customs was reduced. Yaroslav's descendants added norms to strengthen the power of the feudal lord and protect his property, according to inheritance law. The difference between the legal protection of the poor people and the rich has widened. Life in society is changing - the laws are also changing. The journey through the history of Russia will continue.
Before the baptism of the country by Prince Vladimir, Kievan Rus was a pagan state. In those days, all the laws were not written down anywhere, and people lived according to ancient customs. But when Yaroslav the Wise ascended the throne, the first written laws appeared. The beginning of the creation of the first written code of laws belongs to Yaroslav the Wise.
What was the name of the first written code of laws in Russia and who was their creator?
The first written code of laws in Ancient Rus "Russian Truth" was created during the 11-12 centuries and became so called in 1072. The authors of these bills were:- Yaroslav the Wise. In 1016 he published a set of bills on order in the city of Novgorod and called it "Russian Truth of Yaroslav the Wise." The bill consisted of 35 chapters, in which criminal and civil law were distinguished;
- three brothers Yaroslavich - Vsevolod, Svyatoslav and Izyaslav. They supplemented the collection with new bills in 1072, which became part 2 of "Russian Pravda" and were called "Pravda Yaroslavichi". In the future, the code of laws was regularly replenished with church decrees and princes' statutes;
- Vladimir Monomakh. In 1097 he gave Russia a new "Russian Truth" - "The Charter of Vladimir Vsevolodovich" and temporarily stopped the disintegration of Russia.
What was written in the written code of laws of Ancient Rus?
In the first chapter of "Russian Truth Yaroslav the Wise" punishments for murder were described. In those days, murders were a real disaster for the state. The law said that punishment for any death is blood feud. Therefore, the relatives of the murdered person could kill the murderer on their own. If there was no one to take revenge on the murderer, he was fined in favor of the state treasury.The special conditions of this law were as follows:
- a slave could become free. To do this, he had to pay the owner a certain amount;
- slaves were to be responsible for the property of their masters;
- the law described everything about promissory notes, fines for theft of someone else's livestock and seizure of someone else's land, and much more;
- the order and sequence of inheritance were determined.
The code of laws published by Vladimir Monomakh was already much softer:
- banned debt slavery;
- abolished the death penalty for fugitive slaves;
- determined the position of purchases and merchants;
- streamlined the collection of usurious interest.
In fact, there are no clear limits on this issue. Nevertheless, there are unspoken rules that determine the need for construction on a site of 4-6 acres ...
Laws are needed in order to oversee and control the issue of the interaction of individuals in society and the interaction of society with the state. So, we can say with ...
"Russkaya Pravda" - a set of laws, the most famous landmark of the ancient Russian princely legislation, regulated the internal state relations of Kievan Rus. More than 100 lists of "Russkaya Pravda" are known, which are usually divided into three editions: short, expanded and abbreviated. The first collection of "Russian Truth" was concluded by Yaroslav the Wise and is dated between 1016 and 1054, it contains 17 articles. There are two more editions of "Russkaya Pravda", which were concluded later (1068 and 1113).
The short edition contains: "Yaroslav's Truth", or " The oldest truth"(the author is considered Yaroslav the Wise)," The Truth of the Yaroslavichs ", or" The Charter of the Yaroslavichs "(this text is attributed to the sons of Yaroslav the Wise), as well as two articles - the so-called" Pocon correct "and" Lesson to the Bridgemen ", about the origin of which there is no exact The main source of "Russkaya Pravda" was the norms of customary law. In particular, "Pravda Yaroslav" reflects the social relations of the early feudal period, retains, albeit in a very limited form, the institution of blood feud. legal protection it contains mainly life, bodily inviolability and honor of the retinue nobility, and the defense of feudal land tenure has not yet received the proper form. The "Pravda Yaroslavichi" already quite clearly reflects the feudal essence of the public relations... Almost all of its norms are aimed at protecting the princely feudal estate, the prince's land property. The nature of feudal law as a right of privilege is clearly expressed here. "Pokon correct" or "Statute correct" defines the order of "feeding" a prince's servant - a believer (collector of faith), typical for an early feudal state, and "Lesson to Mostniki" directly continues and concludes the articles of the short edition on the order of payment to representatives of the princely apparatus.
In general, "Russkaya Pravda" represents Ukrainian law. It did not provide for the death penalty, and murder was punishable by "hryvnia", that is, reimbursed in cash. For a crime against a person, regardless of his social status, a fine was established. The following lists of "Russkaya Pravda" legalized the stratification of society. All fines depended on the social status of the victims. Russkaya Pravda provided for severe punishment for insulting honor, and also presented the position of women in society.
"Russkaya Pravda" consists of the norms of various branches of law, primarily civil, criminal and procedural. At the same time, criminal and civil offenses did not fundamentally differ: both were considered insult, harm. The punishment provided for monetary payments: "faith" - in favor of the prince and "golovshchina" - in favor of the victim or his relatives. "Russkaya Pravda" did not know corporal punishment, with the exception of punishment for slaves for beating a free person. The death penalty was also not provided for by this act. The size of cash payments, as in most other feudal codes, depended on the social status of the victims. The largest penalties were imposed for harm caused to representatives of the ruling elite. Civil law norms concerned property rights, inheritance, purchase and sale agreements, loans, etc. The trial of Russkaya Pravda was predominantly adversarial.
There is no consensus among researchers regarding the compilation of the expanded edition of Russkaya Pravda, which is a monument of the Middle Ages. Its creation dates back to the reign of Vladimir Monomakh or his son Mstislav. The extended edition of Russkaya Pravda (XII century) included revised and amended norms of its brief edition. The abridged edition of Russkaya Pravda is regarded by most researchers as the latest, based on an expanded edition in the 15th (even 17th) century. The legislation of this period had a fairly developed system of civil law norms.
"Russkaya Pravda" is an exclusively secular monument of feudal law. All of its editions came from the princely power, had an official state character and did not affect church jurisdiction, which arose after the baptism of Rus and was determined by separate princely statutes.
"Russkaya Pravda" has retained its strength for several centuries and has much survived Old Russian state, in which it arose, its norms had a significant impact on the Lithuanian statutes, the Russian Cathedral Code of 1649 and other monuments of law of Ukraine, Russia, Belarus, Lithuania and some other countries.
