Lecture: Categories of the population. "Russian Truth"

Yaroslav the Wise legislated the legal status various categories population in Russian Pravda. The laws written by Yaroslav were called "Yaroslav's Truth" and were of great importance.

This collection made it possible to regulate relations between people, it reflected elements of criminal law, with fines and punishments, private law that helps in inheriting property, and procedural law was also mentioned, which included forensic evidence with "evidence" and witnesses. The document also allowed blood feud, brother for brother, which was a bit like the laws of ancient Russian tribes. In general, this legal document made it possible to divide society, accelerate the advent of the feudal system, improve trade relations and solve many domestic problems population, through the use of general laws.

Subsequently given source supplemented and changed, over time, three editions of Russian Pravda appeared:

Brief edition included Pravda Yaroslav, published in 1015-1054. and Pravda Yaroslavichi (sons of Yaroslav the Wise) of the 60s. 10th century In this edition, you can trace the arrival of the feudal system.

• Lengthy edition , which appeared under Vladimir Monomakh in the 12th century, included the Court of Yaroslav and the Charter of Vladimir Monomakh.

• abridged edition appeared on Tue.pol. 15th century and is associated with the name of Ivan III. This edition excluded obsolete norms of law in connection with the reform of the legal system carried out by Ivan III.

Russian Truth in all editions was written in solid text. The breakdown into articles appeared only in the 18th century.

According to this collection of laws, the first in the history of Russia, everything the population was divided into categories:

1.1. At the head was a prince who stood above the law.

1.2. Boyars (senior squad) - represented military force and on behalf of the prince carried out judiciary. They were advisors to the prince.

1.3. Tiuns, firemen, grooms - high-ranking princely and boyar servants

2. Ordinary free people (men)

2.1. The younger squad - the protection of the prince and the boyars, did not participate in the management. Swordsmen was engaged in the collection of taxes and fines. Yabetniki carried out assignments related to the trial. A distinctive feature of this category is the ability of an ordinary person to become a warrior.

2.2. Kupchina - people who were engaged in trade.

2.3. Slovenes - the inhabitants of Novgorod, to whom Yaroslav granted Pravda were also free residents.

3. Dependent people

3.1. Princely breadwinners, village and city elders occupied the most privileged position in this category of the population.

3.2. Smerds are peasant farmers who were originally free, unlike serfs, but then became enslaved.

Social groups of people according to Russkaya Pravda

The ruling stratum of ancient Russian society was not homogeneous, it consisted of different social groups and was open enough to replenish. Russkaya Pravda lists the main categories of persons belonging to the highest privileged class of society:

• - boyars - advisers, senior combatants of the prince;
• - princely men - persons who carry out the most important assignments of the prince, combatants close to him;
• - firemen - managers of princely estates - from the word "fire" (hearth);
• - tiuns - managers of individual branches of the princely economy, performers of individual economic and managerial functions

For all these people, the law extended two most important privileges:

Firstly, their lives were protected by an increased measure of responsibility.

Secondly, a special procedure for disposing of the inheritance was established for them. By general rule only male heirs were allowed to inherit the land, and in their absence, the land passed either to the communal disposal or to the prince. An exception was made for this class of society - after their death and in the absence of sons, the land passed to their daughters.

The bulk of the population Kievan Rus were community smerds living in villages assigned to territorial districts - volosts and vervi. A free smerd community member had certain property that he could bequeath to his children (land - only to his sons). In the absence of heirs, his property passed to the community. The law protected the person and property of the smerd.

The population of cities was divided into a number of social groups: the boyars, the clergy, the merchants, the "lower classes" (artisans, small traders, hired workers, etc.). Most of the free population of cities participated in veche meetings. Urban communities paid taxes to the prince, he also provided them with various benefits, and also signed contracts.

Along with free smerds in Russia there was also a category dependent people- purchase and slave. The main sign of dependent smerds was their being in bondage and service to wealthy neighbors or feudal lords.

Zakup - a person who worked in the household of a feudal lord for a "kupa", i.e. a loan that could include various values ​​- land, livestock, grain, money, etc. The debt had to be paid off. The amount of work was determined by the employer and the lender. The law forbade the master to unreasonably punish the purchase and take away his property. His master was responsible for the misdeeds of the purchase, but the purchase itself could be turned into servitude (slavery). The same fate awaited him for trying to escape from the master.

A serf is the most disenfranchised subject of law. All the property that he possessed was the property of the master. The master was responsible for his misdeeds and violations of obligations. He was also responsible for his serf.

Moscow Institute of Management Economics and Law

branch in Penza

Faculty:"legal"

Speciality: " jurisprudence"

Control work on the discipline:

"History of domestic state and law"

Performed:

student gr. YUS-1Tugusheva D.V .

Checked:

Candidate of Historical Sciences, Associate Professor Sumenkova M.V.

Penza 2009

Introduction

One of the most important functions of the state is the formation of new legal norms that should regulate the changes taking place in society. The system of legislation reflects how certain functions were carried out by the state at a certain historical stage. With the formation of the structure of a single state by the end of the 10th century, it was necessary to codify and create a single set of laws for the entire “new” Old Russian state. Russkaya Pravda 1 became such a legislative act in Russia. In our opinion, this process is quite natural, since early stages of their development, states go through a stage at which the recording of traditional (private) law takes place. For example, in Rome - "the law of 12 tables"; in Ancient Mesopotamia - the "laws of Hamurappi" and others.

More than a hundred lists of Russkaya Pravda have survived to this day. All of them fall into three main editions: Short, Long and Abbreviated (denoted in the literature as KP, PP and SP) 2 . The oldest edition (prepared no later than 1054) is the Brief Pravda, consisting of the Truth of Yaroslav (Articles 1-18) 3 , the Truth of Yaroslavichs (Articles 19-41) 4 article 43) 6 .

A lengthy edition arose no earlier than 1113 and is associated with the name of Vladimir Monomakh. It is divided into the Court of Yaroslav (Art. 1-52) 7 and the Charter of Vladimir Monomakh (Art. 53-121) 8 .

An abridged edition appears in the middle of the 15th century. from the revised Extended Edition.

The sources of codification were the norms of customary law and princely judicial practice. Among the norms of customary law are, first of all, the provisions on blood feud (Article 1) 9 and mutual guarantee (Article 19 of the CP) 10 . The legislator shows a different attitude towards these customs: he seeks to limit blood feud (narrowing the circle of avengers) or completely cancel it, replacing it with a fine (vira). Mutual responsibility, on the contrary, is retained by him as a political measure that binds all members of the community with responsibility for their member who committed the crime ("wild vira" was imposed on the entire community).

The norms developed by princely judicial practice are numerous in Russkaya Pravda and are sometimes associated with the names of the princes who adopted the norms (Yaroslav, sons of Yaroslav, Vladimir Monomakh).

Byzantine canon law had a certain influence on Russkaya Pravda.

In our opinion, the study of "Russkaya Pravda" seems to be quite relevant due to the fact that it is a source in the study of the problem of the process of social differentiation among the Eastern Slavs. It was this that was the starting point, which served as the beginning of the formation of estates in the Russian state, and then classes, which left an imprint on social status citizens of today's Russia.

The main goal of this study, arising from the relevance of the work, is to find out what was the legal status of various categories of the population based on the study of Russkaya Pravda. In this regard, it is necessary to solve a number of problems, how the process of folding certain categories of the population took place and in what relationship these strata of the population were among themselves.

The main source for writing this work is directly "Russian Truth", which follows from the title itself. The problem investigated by us in this control work has found a certain reflection in Russian historical science. Russkaya Pravda, as the first legislative act of the ancient Russian state, has always occupied the minds of great Russian historians, which, in our opinion, is quite natural. Over time, the study of Russkaya Pravda went beyond special historical disciplines, such as source studies, and became necessary for obtaining a number of specialties, including jurisprudence. If in the XVIII - XIX centuries. this source was mainly of interest to historians and formed the basis of their research on this period (V.O. Klyuchevsky) 11 . Also, such legendary Soviet scientists as M.N. Tikhomirov 12, B.D. Grekov 13 . They were directly interested in the issue of not only source studies, but also directly the legal foundations laid down in Russian Pravda. On the this moment It is these historians who are responsible for the most complete studies of those most significant aspects of this legislative act.

LEGAL STATUS OF THE POPULATION

Russkaya Pravda contains a number of norms that determine the legal status of certain groups of the population. According to its text, it is rather difficult to draw a line separating legal status ruling class and the rest of the population.

All feudal societies were strictly stratified, that is, they consisted of estates, rights and obligations, which were clearly defined by law, as unequal in relation to each other and to the state. In other words, each class had its own legal status. It would be a great simplification to consider feudal society in terms of the exploiters and the exploited. The estate of feudal lords, making up fighting force princely squads, despite all their material benefits, could lose their lives - the most valuable - easier and more likely than the poor class of peasants. The class of feudal lords was formed gradually. It included princes, boyars, squads, local nobility, posadniks, tiuns.

The feudal lords carried out civil administration and were responsible for the professional military organization. They were mutually connected by a system of vassalage, regulating rights and obligations to each other and to the state. To ensure the functions of government, the population paid tribute and court fines. The material needs of the military organization were provided by landed property. Feudal society was religiously static, not prone to sudden evolution. In an effort to consolidate this static nature, the state conserved relations with the estates in the legislative order.

Russkaya Pravda contains a number of norms that determine the legal status of certain groups of the population. Special place occupies the personality of the prince. It is regarded as individual which testifies to his high position and privileges. But further along its text it is quite difficult to draw a line dividing the legal status of the ruling stratum and the rest of the population. We find only two legal criteria that specifically single out these groups in society: the norms on increased (double) criminal liability - double vira 80 hryvnia for the murder of a member of the privileged stratum, art. 1 PP 14 princely servants, grooms, tiuns, firemen. But the code is silent about the boyars and warriors themselves. Probably, the death penalty was applied for the encroachment on them. Chronicles repeatedly describe the use of execution during popular unrest.

And also the norms on the special order of inheritance of real estate (land) for representatives of this layer (Article 91 of the PP) 15 . In the feudal stratum, the earliest was the abolition of restrictions on female inheritance. In church charters for violence against boyar wives and daughters, high fines are set from 1 to 5 hryvnias of silver. Also, a number of articles protect the property of feudal lords. A fine of 12 hryvnias is established for violation of the land boundary, and fines are also levied for the ruin of bee-keepers, boyar lands, for the theft of hunting falcons and hawks.

The bulk of the population was divided into free and dependent people, there were also intermediate and transitional categories. The urban population was divided into a number of social groups: the boyars, the clergy, the merchants, the “lower classes” (artisans, small traders, workers, etc.). In science, the issue of its legal status has not been adequately resolved due to a lack of sources. It is difficult to determine to what extent the population of Russian cities used city liberties similar to those in Europe, which further contributed to the development of capitalism in cities. According to historian M.N. Tikhomirov 16, in Russia in the pre-Mongolian period, there were up to 300 cities. City life was so developed that it allowed V.O. Klyuchevsky to come up with the theory of "commercial capitalism" 17 Ancient Russia. M. L. Tikhomirov believed that in Russia “the air of the city made a person free” 18, and many runaway serfs hid in the cities.

Free residents of the cities enjoyed the legal protection of Russkaya Pravda, they were subject to all articles on the protection of honor, dignity and life. Merchants played a special role. It early began to unite in corporations (guilds), called hundreds. Usually the "merchant hundred" operated under any church. Ivanovo Sto in Novgorod was one of the first merchant organizations in Europe.

Legally and economically independent group were also smerds - community members (they paid taxes and performed duties only in favor of the state). In science, there are a number of opinions about smerds, they are considered free peasants, feudal dependents, persons of a slave state, serfs, and even a category similar to petty chivalry. But the main controversy is conducted along the line: free or dependent (slaves) 19 .

Many historians, for example, S.A. Pokrovsky 20, consider smerds as commoners, ordinary citizens, everywhere exposed by Russkaya Pravda, a free person unlimited in their legal capacity. So. S.V. Yushko 21 saw in the stinks a special category of the enslaved rural population, and B.D. Grekov 22 believed that there were dependent smerds and free smerds. A.A. Zimin 23 defended the idea of ​​the origin of serfs from serfs.

Two articles of Russkaya Pravda have an important place in substantiating opinions. Article 26 of the Brief Pravda, which establishes a fine for the murder of slaves, in one reading reads: “And in a smerd and in a serf 5 hryvnias” (Academic list) 24 . In the Archaeographic list we read: “And in the stink in the slave 5 hryvnia” 25 . In the first reading, it turns out that in the case of the murder of a smerd and a serf, the same fine is paid. From the second list it follows that the smerd has a serf who is killed. It is impossible to resolve the situation.

Article 90 of the Long Truth reads: “If the smerd dies, then the inheritance to the prince; if he has daughters, then give them a dowry” 26

Some researchers interpret it in the sense that after the death of a smerd, his property passed entirely to the prince and he is a man of a "dead hand", that is, unable to transfer the inheritance. But further articles clarify the situation - we are talking only about those smerds who died without having sons, and the removal of women from inheritance is characteristic at a certain stage of all the peoples of Europe. From this we see that the smerd ran the household together with his family.

However, the difficulties of determining the status of a smerd do not end there. Smerd, according to other sources, acts as a peasant who owns a house, property, a horse. For the theft of his horse, the law establishes a fine of 2 hryvnias. For "flour" smerd, a fine of 3 hryvnias is set. Russkaya Pravda nowhere specifically indicates the restriction of the legal capacity of smerds, there are indications that they pay fines (sales) typical of free citizens. The law protected the person and property of the smerd. For committed offenses and crimes, as well as for obligations and contracts, he was personally and property liable, for debts, the smerd was threatened with becoming a feudal-dependent purchase, in the trial, the smerd acted as a full participant.

Russkaya Pravda always indicates, if necessary, belonging to a specific social group (combatant, serf, etc.). In the mass of articles about free people, it is free people that are implied, about smerds, it comes only where their status needs to be highlighted.

Tributes, polyudye and other requisitions undermined the foundations of the community, and many of its members, in order to pay tribute in full and somehow survive themselves, were forced to go into debt bondage to their rich neighbors.

Debt bondage has become the most important source of formation of economically dependent people. They turned into servants and serfs who bent their backs on their masters and had no practical rights. One of these categories were the ryadovichi (from the word "row" - an agreement) - those who enter into an agreement on their temporary servile position, and his life was estimated at 5 hryvnia Being a ryadovich was not always bad, he could turn out to be a key keeper or manager. A more complex legal figure is the purchase. Brief Pravda does not mention purchases, but the Long Pravda contains a special charter on purchases 27 . Zakup - a person who worked in the household of a feudal lord for a “kupa”, a loan that could include various values: land, livestock, money, and so on. This debt had to be worked out, and there were no standards. The amount of work was determined by the lender. Therefore, with an increase in interest on a loan, bondage increased and could continue for a long time. The first legal settlement of the debt relations of purchases with creditors was made in the Charter of Vladimir Monomakh after the revolt of purchases in 1113.

O social structure Old Russian society is known to us from the oldest legal monument - Russkaya Pravda (a legal monument based on the norms of customary law and the former princely legislation). Russkaya Pravda consists of Pravda Yaroslav (the first 17 articles) and Pravda Yaroslavichi, the sons of Yaroslav the Wise, the Charter of Vladimir Monomakh. "Pravda Yaroslav" regulates relations between free people, primarily among the prince's squad. Pravda Yaroslavichi, on the other hand, pays more attention to relations within the princely or boyar estates with the dependent population.

Russkaya Pravda provides information about the development of feudal relations, the formation of classes and the class struggle, the categories of the feudal-dependent population, land ownership and land ownership, the political system, the way of life, and the customs of the people of Ancient Russia.

There are more than 100 lists of Russkaya Pravda and three editions: Short, Long and Abbreviated. According to the Brief "Pravda" one can trace the formation of feudal relations, the Long "Pravda" reflected the already developed ancient Russian feudal law, the third edition of the "Russian Pravda", Abbreviated, the latest.

Feudal landownership began to take shape in the second half of the 11th century. (as church and monastic land ownership). In the XII century. a votchina (hereditary land holding), princely and boyar, is formed. The supreme owner of the boyar estate was the prince, who had the right to take it away.

Until the middle of the XII century. the dominant form of property was state property, and the dominant form of exploitation was the collection of tribute. At the same time, the polyudye performed two functions - the collection of tribute and the feeding of the squad.

Grand Dukes collected tribute from all state lands, although the population was not personally dependent on them. The younger offspring of the princely family small towns were given reign and turned into feudal lords. princely warriors, settled on the ground, received land for management and collected tribute in them on behalf of the prince, leaving part for themselves. Tribal nobility, wealthy community members, lending in the years of famine, they could turn their community members into dependents. Men are free- this is the rural and urban population (merchants, artisans, community members - free smerds). The princely and local aristocracy became known as boyars, and the strength and social prestige of the boyars as a class relied on vast land holdings.

"Russkaya Pravda" gives a wide list of persons of the princely administration who carried out state functions administration and collection of taxes: princely tiun (ruler-viceroy of the prince in the city, who dealt with the affairs of the current administration and held court on behalf of the prince); mytnik (a person who collected trade duties); virnik (a person who collected "vira" - money paid by a criminal in favor of a prince for committing a crime); German (collected "sales" - a payment in favor of the prince, made by the criminal for theft).

Functions of managing the personal household of the prince performed: key-keeper; princely fiery tiun, or ognischanin (from the word "fire" - house, manager of the prince's personal household); the prince's groom, groom, cook, village servant and other persons in the prince's household.

With the development of urban life and trading activities, free people, or "husbands", began to distinguish between city dwellers and rural population. The townspeople were called "city people" and were divided into "the best", or "higher", that is, wealthy, and "younger", or "black", that is, the poor. According to their occupations, they were called "merchants" and "artisans".

All the free population of Russia was called people, hence the term "polyudie" came from. A significant part of the population was personally free, but paid tribute in favor of the state. The rural population was called stinks. Smerds could live both in free rural communities and in the estates of feudal lords and princes, while being personally dependent.

Russkaya Pravda already knows several categories of personally dependent peasants - purchasers, serfs, and ryadoviches. The feudal-dependent population was replenished from the ranks of the free, i.e., a process of enslavement took place. Another source of its replenishment was a few slaves (often foreign captives), personally dependent on the prince or boyars-druzhinniki and planted on the land in estates.

Smerdy- feudal-dependent population in the princely or boyar patrimony. Smerdy were personally free, but their legal status was limited, since they were subject to the special jurisdiction of the prince. In Novgorod and Pskov, the supreme power over the smerds did not belong to the prince, but to the city. Smerdy had to pay state taxes, especially the so-called tribute. Another duty of the smerds was the supply of horses for the city militia in the event of a big war.

Semi-free. The connection between the semi-free and their masters was purely economic, insofar as it was a relationship between a creditor and a debtor. As soon as the debt was paid with interest, the debtor again became completely free. The peculiarity of the relationship was that the debt was to be paid not in money, but in work, although there were no objections to paying it in money if the debtor unexpectedly acquired an amount sufficient for this. Such a debtor (purchase) was actually a contract worker. Ryadovichi entered into a "row" (agreement) and worked out money or a service for a certain period of time under this agreement. Vdachi, men or women, were “given” to the temporary service of the master. This was done mainly in times of despair - in a period of famine or after a devastating war. Another category of semi-free people is outcasts. Sources also refer to scapegoats, strangled people, slingers, and patrimonial artisans as the feudal-dependent population.

In Kievan Rus, the non-free part of the population were slaves. In the X-XII centuries. captive slaves were called servants. They were completely powerless. People who became slaves for other reasons were called serfs. The sources of servility were self-sale, marriage to a slave “without a row”, entry “without a row” into the position of a tyun or a housekeeper. An escaped or guilty purchase automatically turned into a serf. For debts, a bankrupt debtor could be sold into slavery. Kholops were commonly used as household servants.

Slavery in Kievan Rus was of two types: temporary and permanent. The latter was known as "complete slavery" The main source of temporary slavery was captivity in war. Temporary slavery could end after a sufficient amount of work had been done.

Church people. The Russian clergy can be divided into two groups: "black clergy" (monks) and "white clergy" (priests and deacons). Bishops stood above the ordinary clergy in power, prestige and wealth.

Characteristic features of "Russian Truth":

- was distributed in all the lands of Ancient Russia as the main source of law;

- was the main legal norm until the end of the 15th century;

- was a code of private law;

- the objects of the crimes were the person and property;

- was a monument of feudal law.

The two legal criteria that distinguish these groups in society in particular are

1. norms on increased (double) criminal liability for the murder of a representative of a privileged stratum (Article 1 of the PP)
2. norms on the special order of inheritance of real estate (land) for representatives of this layer (Article 91PP).

These legalprivileges had : princes, boyars, princely men, princely tiuns, firemen. In this list, not all persons can be called "feudal lords", we can only talk about their privileges associated with a special social status, proximity to the prince's court and property status.