A law cannot be a law if there is no strong one behind it.
Mahatma Gandhi
Kievan Rus before the baptism of the country by Prince Vladimir was a pagan country. As in any pagan country, the laws by which the state lived were taken from the customs of the country. Such customs were not recorded by anyone and were passed down from generation to generation. After the baptism of Russia, the prerequisites were created for the written record of the laws of the state. For a long time, no one created such laws, since the country's situation was extremely difficult. The princes had to constantly fight with external and internal enemies.
Under the reign of Prince Yaroslav, the long-awaited peace came to the country and the first written set of laws appeared, which was called "Yaroslav's Truth" or "Russian Truth of Yaroslav the Wise." In this legislative collection, Yaroslav tried to very clearly structure those laws and customs that were at that moment in Kievan Rus. Total Yaroslav's truth consisted of 35 (thirty-five) chapters, which highlighted civil and criminal law.
The first chapter contained measures to combat the murders, which were a real disaster of that time. The new law said that any death is punishable by blood feud. The relatives of the victim have the right to kill the murderer on their own. If there was no one to take revenge on the killer, then a fine was levied from him in favor of the state, which was called viroy. Russian truth of Yaroslav the Wise contained full list vir, which the killer had to transfer to the treasury of the state, depending on the genus and estate of the murdered. So, for the death of a boyar, it was necessary to pay a tiun (double vir), which was equal to 80 hryvnias. For the murder of a warrior, farmer, merchant or courtier, they demanded viru, 40 hryvnias. The life of slaves (serfs) who did not have any civil rights, was estimated much cheaper, at 6 hryvnia. With such fines, they tried to save the lives of subjects of Kievan Rus, who were not so many because of the wars. It should be noted that in those days money for people was very rare and the described virs were able to pay units. Therefore, even such a simple measure was enough to stop the wave of murders in the country.
The laws that the Russian Truth of Yaroslav the Wise gave people were harsh, but this was the only way to restore order in the country. As for the murders committed in litter or in a state of intoxication, and the murderer was hiding - vira was collected from all the inhabitants of the village. If the killer was apprehended, then half of the vira was paid by the villagers, and the killer himself paid the other half. This measure was essential so that people would not allow killings during a quarrel, so that everyone passing by felt responsible for the actions of others.
Special conditions of the law
The Russian truth of Yaroslav the Wise also determined the possibility of changing the status of a person, i.e. how a serf could become free. To do this, he needed to pay his master an amount equal to the last income not received, that is, the income that the master can receive from the work of his serf.
In general, the first written set of laws regulated almost all spheres of life at that time. So, it described in detail: the responsibility of slaves for the safety of the property of their masters; debentures; order and sequence of inheritance of property, etc. The judge in almost all cases was the prince himself, and the place of the court was the prince's square. It was quite difficult to prove innocence, since a special rite was used for this, during which the accused took a red-hot piece of iron in his hand. After that, his hand was bandaged and after three days the bandages were publicly removed. If there were no burns, innocence has been proven.
Russian truth of Yaroslav the Wise - this is the first written set of laws that streamlined the life of Kievan Rus. After the death of Yaroslav, his descendants supplemented this document with new articles, thereby forming the Pravda of the Yaroslavichs. This document regulated relations within the state for quite a long time, right up to the period of fragmentation of Russia.
"Russian Truth" is a legal document of Ancient Russia, a collection of all laws and legal norms that existed in the 10th-11th centuries.
Russkaya Pravda is the first legal document in Ancient Russia, which combined all the old legal acts, princely decrees, laws and other administrative documents issued by various authorities. "Russkaya Pravda" is not only an important part of the history of law in Russia, but also an important cultural monument, as it reflects the life and life of Ancient Russia, its traditions, principles of housekeeping, and is also an important source of information about the written culture of the state, which that moment was just beginning.
The composition of the document includes the norms of inheritance, commercial, criminal law, as well as the principles of procedural law. Russkaya Pravda was at that time the main written source of information about social, legal and economic relations on the territory of Russia.
The origin of Russkaya Pravda today raises quite a few questions among scientists. The creation of this document is associated primarily with the name - the prince collected all the legal documents and decrees that existed in Russia and issued a new document around 1016-1054. Unfortunately, not a single copy of the original Russkaya Pravda has survived, only later censuses, so it is difficult to say exactly about the author and the date of creation of Russkaya Pravda. Russkaya Pravda was rewritten several times by other princes, who made improvements to it according to the realities of the time.
The main sources of "Russian Truth"
The document exists in two editions: short and lengthy (more complete). The short version of Russkaya Pravda includes the following sources:
- Pocon virny - determining the order of feeding princely servants, vira collectors (created in the 1020s or 1030s);
- Truth of Yaroslav (created in 1016 or in the 1030s);
- Truth of the Yaroslavichs (does not have an exact date);
- A lesson for bridge builders is the regulation of the wages of builders, bridge builders, or, according to some versions, bridge builders (created in the 1020s or 1030s).
The short edition contained 43 articles and described the new state traditions that appeared shortly before the creation of the document, as well as a number of older legislative norms and customs (in particular, the rules of blood feud). The second part contained information about fines, violations, etc. The legal foundations in both parts were built on a quite common principle for that time - the class principle. This meant that the severity of the crime, the measure of punishment or the size of the fine depended not so much on the crime itself, but on what class the person who committed it belonged to. Besides, different categories citizens have different rights.
A later version of Russkaya Pravda was supplemented by the charter of Yaroslav Vladimirovich and Vladimir Monomakh, the number of articles in it was 121. The expanded edition of Russkaya Pravda was used in court, civil and ecclesiastical, to determine punishment and settle commodity-money litigations and relations in general .
In general, the norms of criminal law described in Russkaya Pravda correspond to the norms adopted in many early state societies of that period. The death penalty is still preserved, but the typology of crimes is expanding significantly: murder is now divided into intentional and unintentional, different degrees of damage are indicated, from intentional to unintentional, fines are levied not at a single rate, but depending on the severity of the offense. It is worth noting that Russkaya Pravda describes fines in several currencies at once for the convenience of the judicial process in different territories.
The document also contained a lot of information about the process of legal proceedings. Russkaya Pravda determined the basic principles and norms of procedural legislation: where and how court hearings should be held, how criminals should be kept during and before trial, how they should be tried, and how the sentence should be executed. In this process, the class principle mentioned above is preserved, which implies that more noble citizens could count on more lenient punishment and more comfortable conditions of detention. Russkaya Pravda also provided for the procedure for collecting a monetary debt from a debtor, prototypes of bailiffs appeared who dealt with similar issues.
Another side described in Russkaya Pravda is social. The document defined different categories of citizens and their social status. So, all citizens of the state were divided into several categories: noble people and privileged servants, which included princes, combatants, then came ordinary free citizens, that is, those who were not dependent on the feudal lord (all residents of Novgorod were also included here), and dependent people were considered the lowest category - peasants, serfs, serfs and many others who were in the power of feudal lords or the prince.
The meaning of "Russian Truth"
Russkaya Pravda is one of the most important sources of information about the life of Ancient Russia at the earliest period of its development. The presented legislative norms allow us to get a fairly complete picture of the traditions and way of life of all segments of the population of the Russian land. In addition, Russkaya Pravda became one of the very first legal documents that was used as the main national judicial code.
The creation of the “Russian Pravda” laid the foundations for the future legal system, and when creating new sudebniks in the future (in particular, the creation of the Sudebnik of 1497), it always remained the main source, which was taken by lawmakers as a basis not only as a document containing all the acts and laws, but also as an example of a unified legal document. "Russkaya Pravda" for the first time officially fixed class relations in Russia.
1. The existing structure of ancient Russian society was reflected in the oldest code of laws - "Russian Truth". This document was created during the XI-XII centuries. and got its name in 1072. It was started by Yaroslav the Wise, who in 1016 created a code of laws on orders in Novgorod (“Yaroslav's Truth”). And in 1072, the three brothers of Yaroslavich (Izyaslav, Svyatoslav and Vsevolod) supplemented the code with new laws. It called itself "The Truth of the Yaroslavichs" and became the second part of the "Russian Truth". In the future, the code was repeatedly replenished with princely charters and church regulations.
2. In Pravda Yaroslav, the law still allowed blood feud for the murder of a person, but only close relatives (brother, father, son) could take revenge. And in Pravda Yaroslavichi, revenge was generally prohibited and replaced by a fine - vira. Vira went to the prince. The law protected the administration, property and working population of the princely estates.
3. In the Law, the features of social inequality were already visible; it reflected the beginning process of class division. A fine was imposed for harboring foreign servants (servants), a free man could kill a serf for insult. For the murder of a princely fireman (steward), a fine of 80 hryvnia was due, a headman - 12 hryvnia, and a smerd or a serf - 5 hryvnia. Fines were also established for the theft of livestock, poultry, plowing someone else's land, violation of boundaries. The power of the Grand Duke passed by seniority - the eldest in the family became the Grand Duke.
4. Russkaya Pravda regulated relations between people in society with the help of laws, which put state and public life in order.
5. Social organization of the society of the Eastern Slavs at the beginning of the 9th century. reflects the process of folding feudal relations. They are based on the feudal lord's ownership of the main means of production - land and incomplete ownership of the feudal-dependent worker. During this period, the military retinue nobility becomes the owner of the land, and the communal farmers living and working on it pay a tax to them for using the land. There are two main classes - peasants (primarily smerds) and feudal lords.
Smerds were called people engaged in agricultural labor. They made up the bulk of the population and were divided into free community members who ran a subsistence economy and paid tribute to the prince, and dependent people. The dependent population consisted of:
ü purchases - bankrupt community members who became dependent on the prince, taking from him a "kupa" (debt) in money, livestock, seeds or inventory;
ü ryadovichi - dependent people who have concluded an agreement with the prince ("row");
ü outcasts - impoverished people from communities;
ü serfs - dependent people who were in the position of slaves and performed household work in the patrimony;
ü the entire population who worked in the patrimony and was dependent on the patrimony, or servants.
The class of feudal lords was made up of military-princely nobility - representatives of the grand ducal house headed by the grand duke, princes of tribes or lands, boyars, senior combatants.
6. At the beginning of the 9th century. there is a union of groups of East Slavic tribes. It was based on the following reasons:
ü social processes in the period of military democracy;
ü development of trade relations;
ü common pagan beliefs;
the need to protect against external attacks;
the implementation of the policy of conquest.
The centers of association were the cities of Kyiv and Novgorod. Conveniently located on the trade route "from the Varangians to the Greeks", they united two groups of East Slavic tribes - northern and southern. The first included Slavs, Krivichi and a number of non-Slavic tribes. In the second - glade, northerners, Vyatichi.
Let us dwell in more detail on one of the domestic sources of the history of managerial thought - Russkaya Pravda, which all researchers recognize as an outstanding monument. public thought Kievan Rus. "Russian Truth" is a code legal framework state administration of Kievan Rus, as well as a source of information about the administrative and managerial personnel under the Grand Duke (higher, middle and lower levels), about officials of local authorities, about measures to protect their rights, about payment for their services.
Various copies of Russkaya Pravda (XIII-XVIII centuries) are known, which are divided into 3 editions depending on the authors, volume and content. The first edition is called "Brief Pravda" or "Pravda Roskaya" (XI century), the second - "Large Pravda" or "Russian Truth" (XI-XII centuries), the third - "Abridged Truth" (XV-XVII centuries).
"Brief Truth" is the result of the activity old Russian princes for the systematization of law. It consists of 43 articles, which are divided into 4 parts: "The Ancient Truth", or "The Truth of Yaroslav", "The Truth of the Yaroslavichs", "Pokonvirny" and "A Lesson to Bridgemen".
The norms of the "Ancient Truth" (Art. 1 - 18) reflect early period history of Russia, even before the establishment state power and acceptance of Christianity. The merit of Yaroslav the Wise was that he made a selection of old legal norms and consolidated in Pravda those of them that corresponded to the interests of the feudal class; they became the new norms of the Old Russian state. For the history of managerial thought, this part of Russkaya Pravda is interesting in that it contains a list of positions of the prince's servants (combatants), as well as representatives of the social strata of Ancient Russia. Among them are a jabetnik, or tiun (a princely clerk, a house manager who was in charge of the prince’s economic affairs), a swordsman (a princely combatant, a court servant), a gridin (a junior combatant), a serf (a peasant dependent on the prince), a smerd (an independent commoner, a community member ). In general, here we are talking about protecting the rights (including property rights) of princely officials, as well as merchants, outcasts, foreigners (Varangians, Kolbyags), about the procedures for identifying the guilty and the measures for their punishment. rus management state prince
"The Truth of the Yaroslavichs" (Art. 19-41) is an independent legislative act adopted by the princes Izyaslav, Svyatoslav and Vsevolod together with the boyars. In this law, much stronger than in the "Ancient Truth", the norm-creative activity of princes appears, as a result of which the norms of criminal and criminal law were changed. procedural law in the interests of feudal landowners. "The Truth of the Yaroslavichs" is devoted to the regulation of the life of the prince's patrimony, the protection of feudal property and the lives of persons serving the prince, who are in one form or another dependent on him, as well as the property and personality of other feudal lords. Here continues the list of positions of the prince's administration. In particular, the most noble princely nobles and servants are mentioned: fireman (senior combatant, boyar), access prince (collector of various receipts in favor of the prince), old groom (senior groom), as well as middle and lower officials - the village headman and ratainsh (arable) headman (managers of agricultural work), ryadovich (economic agent of the prince), emets (judicial servant). The last article (Article 41) determines the amount of remuneration for the Yemets for the performance of judicial functions.
“Pokon (Charter) of Virny” (Article 42) defines the procedure, typical for an early feudal state, for feeding (providing in kind) by the community one of the most important government officials, a virnik, whose main function was to collect vira (a tax or a fine equal to 40 hryvnias).
“Lesson (rule) to bridgemen” (Article 43) completes the articles of the “Brief Truth” on the procedure for paying princely servants. In this case, we are talking about a bridge official (supervisor of the construction of bridges and/or pavements). In the article, the word "bridge" has a double meaning: 1) crossing a river (or ravine) and 2) pavement.
"Large Truth" is a set of developed feudal law. It is based on the text of the "Brief Truth", the Charter of Vladimir Monomakh and other Kyiv princes of the late XI-XII centuries. and reflects the strengthening of feudal relations in Kievan Rus. "Various Truth" consists of 121 articles, most of which are devoted to the principles economic policy prince, questions of the property of the prince and the feudal nobility, the protection of this property and the order of its inheritance. There are articles on loans and loan interest, on the protection and procedure for ensuring the property interests of the creditor, on the procedure for collecting debts, on handicrafts and artisans, on the monetary allowance of officials of the princely court.
"The Long Truth" is divided into 6 parts according to the authors, volume and content. The 1st part (Art. 1-46) is a collective work, it was adopted at the princely congress in Lubitsch in 1097. Many articles of the 1st part repeat the essence of the Brief Pravda, but there are original articles, as well as articles , clarifying and unifying administrative and legal concepts. For example, a historical article (art. 2) on the abolition of blood feuds, a number of articles (arts. 3-7, 11-17) on responsibility for the murder of representatives of the princely administration and various social groups those associated with the princely and boyar economy, ranging from high-ranking tiuns to artisans, ryadoviches, smerds and serfs; original article (art. 8) on the responsibility of the community for the crime of its member (elements of mutual responsibility). There is in this part of Art. 9, similar to Pokon Virny, but it gives the specified amount of natural support for the services of tax collectors and fines - virnikov (princely official) and their local assistants - metelnikov (representative of the local community).
The 2nd part (Art. 47-52) is the result of the work of Svyato-regiment Izyaslavovich, who patronized usurers. The articles of this part characterize civil relations, loan issues, usurious capital (percentage), interest on loans (res), relationships between merchants and commodities (goods). The 3rd part (Articles 53-66) is based on the Charter of Vladimir Monomakh and characterizes debt obligations, forms of liability for violation contractual obligations between the master and the purchaser (the feudal-dependent peasant). The 4th part (Articles 67-73, 75-85) is the Charter of Vsevolod 11 Olgovich (1138-1146), which regulates social relations in feudal estates. The 5th part belongs to the same era and the author (vv. 90-95, 98-106), in which questions of inheritance are disclosed. The 6th part refers to the activities of the Vladimir Grand Duke Vsevolod Sh Yurievich - the Big Nest (1176-1212). Here are collected articles devoted to ensuring the activities of the judicial and administrative apparatus of the Grand Duke, as well as articles on duties and fines, on the amounts and forms of remuneration of persons in charge of public affairs - builders, tax collectors (Articles 74, 86-89, 96-97, 107-109). Moreover, for the first time in Russia, additional duties were introduced from those who won the process, that is, from those “who will be helped” (Article 107). In the same part there is a special section on servitude (Articles 110-121).
In the "Large Truth" the status and functions of a number of the above-mentioned civil service officials are specified and new categories of persons in the administrative apparatus of the Grand Duke are given. The composition and functions of officials demonstrate the complexity of the state administration apparatus in the era of Kievan Rus in the 10th-11th centuries. So, in the "Large Truth" we are talking about such officials as tyun prince (manager of the princely feudal economy), fire tiun (manager of the economy of the highest circles of the princely squad), equestrian tiun (manager of the princely stables), otrok (junior member of the princely administrative apparatus) , city dweller (architect, construction manager), children's (bailiff). At the same time, completely new categories of ordinary employees are given, for example, the boyar ryadovich (in contrast to the princely ryadovich from the Brief Pravda), the boyar tiun (in contrast to the princely tiun). This testifies to the development of feudal landownership in the 11th-12th centuries, which covered not only princely, but also boyar lands. This is also evidenced by the named new positions of tiuns (rulers of various households). In some cases, they emphasize the strengthening of the positions of combatants and boyars (fiery tiun), in others, the increase in the importance and scale of work (horseman tiun, gorodnik).
The Abridged Pravda, in the opinion of most researchers of Russian social thought, is a monument that arose (in the 17th-18th centuries) as a result of a significant reduction in the text of the Long Truth. The work of the unknown editor of the new text of Pravda was to select from ancient monument those articles and norms that could preserve the nature of the legal norms in force in his time.
The abundance of government positions mentioned in one of the most important sources of Russian managerial thought testifies to the complexity and diversity of economic and other activities carried out by the Grand Duke and his retinue in order to effectively manage the Kyiv state, the prince's understanding of the relevance of the necessary managerial personnel for this.
According to the text of Russkaya Pravda, one can understand who was, if not the author, then the customer of this document. Of course, it was created in the interests of the Grand Duke and was aimed at strengthening his autocratic power in Ancient Russia. Many articles emphasize the stability of the model of governing the police state, which at that time was the Kievan state. What is worth, for example, the detailed order and forms of feeding in monetary and in-kind forms of princely servants (and horses with them) - virnik, gorodnik and bridgeman, as well as feeding their horses with fodder, which is respectively indicated in Art. 9, 96 and 97 of the Long Truth.
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Russia in the XI-XII centuries. Yaroslav the Wise, "Russian Truth" - the first collection of laws in Russia. Society of Russia according to "Russian Truth". Activities of Vladimir Monomakh, domestic and foreign policy.
Kievan Rus under Yaroslav the Wise, his state and military activities
1. The Great Kyiv Prince Yaroslav (1019-1054), nicknamed the Wise, unlike his father, St. Vladimir, was not a hero of epics and legends. But the chronicle speaks of him as a great statesman, a smart and educated person, a brave warrior, legislator, city planner, cunning diplomat. The coming of Yaroslav to power was preceded by a sharp struggle that he waged with his brother Svyatopolk.
2. The reign of Yaroslav the Wise - the heyday of Russia. On the west coast Lake Peipus the city of Yuryev was founded, the people of Kiev went to Lithuania. A profitable agreement was concluded with Poland, Russia helped her in the war with the Czech Republic. Russia's relations with Sweden became friendly (Yaroslav married the daughter of the Swedish king). In 1036, near Kyiv, the Pechenegs suffered a severe defeat and no longer went to Russia. But the Pechenegs were replaced by new nomads - the Polovtsians. In 1046, Russia concluded a peace treaty with Byzantium, dynastic marriages were concluded: Yaroslav's daughters were given in marriage to the French, Hungarian and Norwegian kings. Russia truly became a European power; Germany, Byzantium, Sweden, Poland and other states reckoned with it.
3. Under Yaroslav, the church began to play a significant role in society. In Kyiv, the majestic Hagia Sophia was erected, which personified the power of Russia. In the middle of the 50s of the XI century. Pechersky monastery appeared near Kyiv. At the direction of Yaroslav in 1039 on general meeting Russian bishops, priest Hilarion, contrary to the Patriarch of Constantinople, was elected metropolitan of Russia. Thus, the Russian Church was freed from the influence of Byzantium. In Kyiv, by the end of Yaroslav's reign, about 400 churches had already been built.
Russian Truth" - the first written code of laws of Ancient Russia
1. The existing structure of ancient Russian society was reflected in the oldest code of laws - "Russian Truth". This document was created during the XI-XII centuries. and got its name in 1072. It was started by Yaroslav the Wise, who in 1016 created a code of laws on orders in Novgorod (“Yaroslav's Truth”). And in 1072, the three brothers of Yaroslavich (Izyaslav, Svyatoslav and Vsevolod) supplemented the code with new laws. It called itself "The Truth of the Yaroslavichs" and became the second part of the "Russian Truth". In the future, the code was repeatedly replenished with princely charters and church regulations.
2. In Pravda Yaroslav, the law still allowed blood feud for the murder of a person, but only close relatives (brother, father, son) could take revenge. And in Pravda Yaroslavichi, revenge was generally prohibited and replaced by a fine - vira. Vira went to the prince. The law protected the administration, property and working population of the princely estates.
3. In the Law, the features of social inequality were already visible; it reflected the beginning process of class division. A fine was imposed for harboring foreign servants (servants), a free man could kill a serf for insult. For the murder of a princely fireman (steward), a fine of 80 hryvnia was due, a headman - 12 hryvnia, and a smerd or a serf - 5 hryvnia. Fines were also established for the theft of livestock, poultry, plowing someone else's land, violation of boundaries. The power of the Grand Duke passed by seniority - the eldest in the family became the Grand Duke.
4. Russkaya Pravda regulated relations between people in society with the help of laws, which put state and public life in order.
A privileged position among dependent people had princely breadwinners, as well as princely rural and ratai elders (ratat - plow, arable elder)
The lowest position was occupied by serfs, serfs, ryadovichi and purchases. For the murder of a smerd, a serf, and a ryadovich, a fine of 5 hryvnia was levied (Articles 25, 26 of the Brief Pravda).
Smerd is a peasant, in this context a dependent peasant. If after his death he had no unmarried daughters, the property of the smerd was inherited by the prince.
Serfdom could be white (full) or purchased. Obel is a lifelong slave. Feminine- robe.
Zakup - a person who took a kupa - a debt, and became a debt slave until he repaid or worked off the debt.
Ryadovich - a person who entered the service and became dependent on the "row", that is, the contract.