Law in Medieval Russia Book

Foreword xi

A Note on Sources xv

1 Primary Sources: Chronicles and Other Collections xv

The Primary Chronicle xvi

The First Novgorod Chronicle xvii

Other Collections xviii

2 Primary Sources: Individual Documents (Charters); Archives xviii

3 Secondary Sources xx

Translations xxii

Textbooks on Legal History xxiii

General History Classics xxiv

Genealogy xxv

List of Abbreviations xxvi

Chapter 1 Law's Beginnings and Early Law 1

1 The Question of Definition 2

2 The Indo-European Aspect 5

Background 5

Indo-Europeans? 7

Indo-European Patriarchy 9

Chieftaincy and Kingship 12

The Professionalization of Law 12

The Penalty Catalogue 14

Collective Liability 16

Some Preliminary Conclusions 18

3 Looking beyond the Indo-Europeans 19

The Code of Hammurabi 19

The Law of Bagrat Kuropalates 21

The Great Statute of the Oirat Mongols of 1640 22

4 Law and State 24

5 The Origins of Legislation 28

Chapter 2 The Russkaia Pravda 33

1 Introduction 33

2 General Remarks 35

3 The Short Pravda 35

4 The Chronological Framework of the Short Pravda 36

5 The Short Pravda: Composition and Status 38

6 The Expanded Pravda 39

7 Other Contemporary Sources 39

The Treaties of 912 and 945 39

The Treaty of 1229 between Smolensk and Riga 41

8 The Contents of the Short Pravda: Wergeld and Composition 41

9 Procedure 46

10 The Origins of the Russkaia Pravda 48

11 The Sources of the Oldest Pravda 51

12 The "Russian Custom" (Zakon Russkii) 51

13 Other Contemporary Slavic Legislation 53

14 Germanic Contacts 53

15 What does the Oldest Pravda represent? 57

Chapter 3 Roman Law in Medieval Russia 59

1 Introduction to the Problem59

2 How the Views Developed over Time 62

3 The Legislation Involved: Roman and Byzantine Law-The 'Lenders' 70

Roman Law 70

Secular Byzantine Law 71

a The Nomos Georgikos or Farmer's Law 71

b Ecloga 72

c Basilika 73

d Epanagoge (Eisagoge) 74

e Procheiron 74

f Epitome 75

Byzantine Canonical (Ecclesiastical) Law 75

The Early Collections up to the Nomocanon XIV titulorum 76

Subsequent Developments in Byzantine Canon Law 77

Summary of Byzantine Canon Law 78

4 The Legislation Involved: Russian Law-The 'Borrowers' 79

The Court Law for the People 79

The Russian-Byzantine Treaties 80

The Russian Law (Russkaia Pravda) 81

The Church Statutes of the Princes 83

5 Roman/Byzantine Influences: Where and When 85

6 The Kormchaia as the Main Vehicle of Byzantine Legal Influence and Other Collections 87

The Penetration of the Kormchaia into Medieval Russia 88

The Merilo Pravednoe or 'Just Measure' 92

The Knigi Zakonnye or 'Law Books' 93

7 Weighing the Evidence 94

Roman Law 94

Byzantine Law 108

Nomos Georgikos 109

Ecloga 111

The Court Law for the People 116

Procheiron 118

Chapter on Witnesses 119

Church Statutes 120

Treaties with Byzantium 122

8 Later Developments 122

9 Conclusions 125

Chapter 4 Land Tenure, the Druzhina and the Nature of Kievan Rus' 129

1 Land Tenure: The Legal Perspective 130

2 The Nature of Kievan Russia: Soviet Approaches 132

3 The Nature of Kievan Russia: Trade or Agriculture? 134

4 Interlude: Feudalism 136

5 The Nature of Kievan Russia: Continued 139

6 The Druzhina 140

7 Conclusion 145

Chapter 5 Popular Assemblies in Early Medieval Russia: The Veche in Legal History 147

1 Sources 148

2 Five Centuries of Veche History 149

3 The Veche in Early Kievan Russia 150

4 The Kievan 'Empire' 152

5 Veche and Prince 152

6 Composition of the Veche 154

7 Veche Procedure 156

8 The Veche after 1240 157

9 The Situation in Novgorod and Pskov 159

10 Kievan Rus' as a Period of Transition 160

11 The Veche and the Nature of the Kievan Polity 161

12 The Veche in a Comparative European Context 162

13 The Russian Veche and Legislation 163

14 Renewed Interest in the Veche 164

Chapter 6 The Elder Brother in Russia 167

1 The House of Rurik 167

2 From Genealogical to Contractual Seniority 170

3 Muscovy Russia: Mestnichestvo 174

4 The Table of Ranks 178

5 Postscript: The 'Elder Brother' in Soviet Rhetoric 179

Chapter 7 The Treaties of Medieval Russia 181

1 Defining the Topic 181

2 The Earliest Times 183

3 Periodization and Sources 186

4 The Treaties between Princes 186

Starshinstvo 189

The Treaties and Testaments of the Princes of Moscow: Close Relatives 189

Excursion concerning the Title of Grand Prince 192

The Treaties of the Princes of Moscow: Distant Relatives 195

The Treaties between Moscow and Lithuania 196

5 Princely Treaties not involving Moscow 197

Smolensk Treaties 197

Other Princely Treaties 198

6 The Treaties of the Russian Cities 200

The Treaties of Novgorod the Great 200

Novgorod-Tver' Treaties 202

Novgorod-Moscow Treaties 204

Novgorod Treaties with Foreign Rulers 205

Novgorod Treaties with German and Baltic Cities and Merchants 206

Pskov Treaties 210

7 Iarlyks of Tatar Khans 211

8 Concluding Thoughts 214

Appendix 220

1 Novgorod Treaties 220

with Moscow and Tver' Grand Princes 220

with Foreign Rulers 222

with German and Baltic Cities and Merchants 222

2 Pskov Treaties 224

3 Polotsk Treaties 224

4 Moscow Treaties 224

with Other Russian Princes 224

with Foreign Princes 229

5 Other Princely Treaties 229

among themselves and with Foreign Princes 229

6 Iarlyks of Tatar Khans 230

Chapter 8 Human Rights in Russian Legal History 233

1 Introduction 233

2 The Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 233

3 Equality 235

4 Taming the State: Dispersal of Power 236

The Separation of Powers 236

Due Process 236

Separation of Church and State 237

Christian Anthropology and the Freedom of Conscience 238

Sharing Power: Original Democracy 239

Sharing Power: The Feudal System 240

Sharing Power: Urban Freedom 241

Rationalism and Enlightenment 242

5 The Position in Russia 243

6 Church and State in Russia 243

The First Centuries 243

Church and State under the Mongols 245

The Church in Muscovy 247

The Special Status of Novgorod 249

The Church in the Russian Empire 250

7 Popular Rule and Democracy in Russia 250

8 Feudalism 252

9 Urban Freedom 253

10 Due Process 256

11 Equality 257

12 Concluding Observations 258

Chapter 9 The Skra of Novgorod: Legal Contacts Between Russia and Western Europe in the Middle Ages 261

1 Introduction 261

2 Novgorod the Great 262

3 Novgorod's System of Government 264

4 Novgorod's Legal System 266

5 Novgorod's Trade with the Hanseatic League 267

6 The German Court of St. Peter in Novgorod 270

7 Adjudication of German-Russian Disputes 271

8 The Internal Organization of the Court of St. Peter 274

9 The Skra of Novgorod and its Different Versions 278

10 Sources and Contents of the Different Versions of the Skra 281

11 Concluding Remarks 290

Chapter 10 Medieval Law in Transcaucasia-On the Periphery of European Legal History 293

1 Introduction 293

2 The Literature 294

3 General Historical Background: Armenia 295

4 General Historical Background: Georgia 297

5 The Law of the Armenian Kingdoms 298

6 The Code of Mkhitar Gosh 299

7 The Code of Smbat Sparapet 300

8 The Legal History of Georgia 303

9 The Non-Georgian Parts of the Collection 304

10 The Law of Bagrat Kuropalates 305

11 The Canonical Laws 306

12 The Laws of Beka and Aghbuga 307

13 The Law of Giorgi V the Brilliant 307

14 The Order of the King's Court 308

15 The Law of the Catholicos 309

16 The Law Code of Vakhtang VI 310

17 Dasturlamali 311

18 Conclusions 312

Index of Personal Names 315

Subject Index 325

Glossary of Russian and Foreign Terms 329

About the Author 335