"Russkaya Pravda" became the first legislative code in Russia. For the future generation, this document was the most valuable source of information about life in those days. All subsequent laws were based on the idea of "Russian Truth".
How Russkaya Pravda appeared
The word “truth”, which is familiar to us, in the time of Yaroslav the Wise meant not only truth. Its main meaning in that era was the law and the charter. That is why the first set of rules was called "Russian Truth" (the year of creation is 1016). Until that time, all title documents were based on pagan morality, and later on the Church-Byzantine religion.
The laws of Russkaya Pravda had to appear for several reasons. Firstly, the refereeing in Russia at that time consisted of Greeks and South Slavs. They were practically not familiar with Russian customs in jurisprudence. Secondly, the old Russian customs contained the norms of pagan law. This did not correspond to the new morality based on new religious principles. Therefore, the introduced institution of church courts and the adoption of Christianity becamethe main factors by which written laws were created. That is why the "Russian Truth" took shape without much participation of the principality. But the church jurisdiction acted as an active drafter of this unique document.
There are disputes about the place where Russkaya Pravda was first released. Some researchers say that it was in Novgorod, others are sure that it happened in Kyiv.
Summary
Unfortunately, "Russian Truth", the text of which included legislative articles on criminal, commercial, inheritance law, has undergone changes. And the original presentation has not survived to this day.
The year of creation of "Russian Truth", according to historians, is 1016. Although none of the researchers can provide reliable information. Until 1054, all laws were collected in one book on the initiative of Yaroslav the Wise. It contained legislative articles relating to the following issues:
- criminal law;
- work court;
- social status of citizens.
Structure of Russkaya Pravda
Despite the fact that the year of creation of the “Russian Truth” is 1016, only one of their copies, which dates back to 1280, has survived to this day. This is the oldest copy found to date. And the first text appeared in print in 1738 thanks to the Russian historian V. N. Tatishchev.
"Russkaya Pravda" has several options for presentation:
- short;
- voluminous;
- abbreviated.
The very first of them -this is the oldest version.
There are 4 documents in the short version. They included 43 articles. They are dedicated to state traditions in Russia, including old customs like blood feud. Pravda also lays out the rules for paying fines, and for what they need to be charged. In this case, the punishment was determined based on the social status of the offender. The document was distinguished by the lack of a differentiated approach to determining the amount of fines.
In a more complete version of "Russian Truth", the text of which has about 121 articles, contains the charters of Yaroslav the Wise and Vladimir Monomakh. This option is called the "Wide Truth". Here it is already clearly defined that the feudal lords are endowed with privileges, which cannot be said about the serfs. The Articles determined the legal relations in determining the ownership of any property, in the transfer of it as an inheritance and the conclusion of various agreements. In this version, codes of laws were also used by ecclesiastical and civil courts to punish criminals.
Abbreviated Truth
This is the latest version, which was fully formed by the middle of the 15th century. It was created on the basis of "Various Truth".
There would be no original sources of the code of law, if there were no foundation for its creation. In this case, the Short Truth and Long Truth became such sources.
Crimes and Punishments
Grand Duke Yaroslav the Wisetogether with their sons, they established the laws by which one should live, prescribed all possible punishments for various crimes.
The innovation was that the custom called "blood feud" was abolished. True, this did not happen in the year of the creation of Russkaya Pravda, but a little later. The murder was to be held accountable by law.
At the same time, the prince's confidants and the princes themselves received milder punishments than people without "clan and tribe".
Fine for many crimes. For serious offenses, the punishments were severe. The family could be expelled along with the perpetrator from the settlement, and the property was confiscated. These punishments were used for arson, stealing horses.
In making a decision, the court paid great attention to the testimony of witnesses. They were then called "rumors".
The document separated intentional murder from unintentional. It retained the death pen alty. Fines were imposed in various monetary denominations.
"Russkaya Pravda" determined the order of the trials: where they should take place, who participates in them, where the criminals will be kept and how they should be tried.
Meaning of the document for contemporaries
The year of creation of "Russian Pravda" cannot be named unambiguously. She was constantly expanding. However, regardless of this, the book is of great importance for historians studying the era of Yaroslav the Wise, and for future generations. After all, it contains so much interesting knowledge about the initial stage of development of Kievan Rus.
Many words in modern law have much in common with the first legal document. For example, a “criminal”: in Russkaya Pravda the murderer was called a “golovnik”, and the murdered person was called a “head” in the document.
Besides, the laws of "Russian Truth" give us an idea of the life of the principality and the common people at that time. Here one can clearly see the superiority of the ruling class over the serfs and servants. It was so favorable for the principality that the articles of Russian Pravda were used in new legal collections until the 15th century.
The Code of Ivan III, which was published in 1497, became the fundamental replacement for Pravda. But this does not mean that he radically changed legal relations. On the contrary, all subsequent court documents were formed exclusively on Russkaya Pravda.
