Inheritance law in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania

Abstract

The subject of the study is the development of legislation on inheritance of property in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The object of the study is the hereditary legal relations of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania of the XV-XVI centuries. The purpose of the work is to reveal the evolution of hereditary legal relations, to identify their essence and patterns of development. From the standpoint of the achievements of modern historical and legal science, the aim is to analyze the main provisions of the inheritance law of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, to note the characteristic features of the codification process of the XVI century, to analyze the causes and identify trends in the evolution of the institutions of inheritance law. To achieve the goal, general scientific and special research methods were used, including dialectical, historical-legal, comparative-legal and systemic. The result of the work was the first in modern Russian historical and legal science study of the problem of inheritance of property under the legislation of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The peculiarities of inheritance by law are revealed. A number of controversial issues in historical and legal science (veno, extortionate property, etc.) are touched upon. Provisions describing trends in the development of hereditary legal relations in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania are introduced into scientific discussion. A comparative analysis of inheritance of property in the male and female line in the Statutes of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania is made. In the course of the study, the main features and patterns of the development of the inheritance law of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania are revealed, thereby filling a gap in the national historical and legal science.