Legal Means of Legitimation of the Head of State's Title in Russia (X-XIX centuries)

Abstract

The article is devoted to the analysis of legal means of legitimizing the title of monarch in the Russian history during the X-XIX century. The titles of rulers that were constantly officially used in the practice of the Russian state are investigated: prince, grand prince, sovereign (tzar), and emperor. The work is based on documentary sources, such as chronicles, charters, testaments, and treaties, both international and interterritories, as well as legal acts. It is established that the oldest title of «prince» in the era of the early and appanage state was formalized by legal treaties and a princely testament. The title of «Grand Prince» during the reign of the Golden Horde also depended on a special document – a label for the great reign. The title of «sovereign» («tzar») was initially legitimized by legal treaties and church-and-secular acts. But it was the title that was first announced with the help of a targeted normative legal act. In the future, the normative legal act will become the main legal ways of legitimization of the Russian monarch title. As a result of the study, several laws were revealed in the development of legal forms of the title of monarch legitimization. Firstly, their evolution begins in the era of the formation of the state with a complex of various legal means (legal treaties, testaments, etc.) with historically established non-legal instruments (customs, traditions) and ends in the XIX century by a normative legal act. Secondly, the most diverse sources of law were used at an early stage of the development of the state in relation to the princely (grand-princely) titulature: they included legal treaties, testaments, labels for reign and partially sources similar to normative legal acts. Thirdly, the legal regulation of the titulature evolves from single cases to the constant and unchanging practice of issuing a legal act on the accession to the throne of each new ruler.