The influence of the reception of Roman law on the development of civil and criminal law in Rus

Abstract

The article examines the influence of the reception of Roman-Byzantine law on the development of civil and criminal law in the Rus by comparing specific provisions of normative legal acts. Various types of reception are considered, including direct, indirect, and mediated. The article focuses on the influence of the Ecloga» and the «Nomocanon XIV Titles» on the development of legislation and sources of law in Kyivean Rus (The Russkaya Pravda, The Church Statute of Prince Yaroslav). The elements of Roman-Byzantine law that were borrowed and adapted in legal relationships in the Rus are analyzed, as well as how this affected the formation of its legal system and the consequences it had for the further development of Rus' law. During the comparative analysis of the norms of Roman-Byzantine and Rus' law, the author identified a significant reception of provisions regulating inheritance relations. The author concludes that the reception of Roman-Byzantine law was more noticeable in civil law than in criminal law. It is shown that the reception of Roman-Byzantine norms of criminal law was insignificant, and the system of punishments was based on Rus' customary law, where fines predominated rather than executions and physical injuries. It is also revealed that direct reception (i.e., borrowing legislative decisions) was inferior in volume to indirect reception in the Rus state, which was carried out by applying revised and re-synthesized legal material used to regulate economic relations and ideologically shape certain political realities. It is proved that, despite the existence of various types of reception of Roman-Byzantine legal norms in the legislation of the Rus, the latter is the result of the development of Rus society and legal consciousness. It is noted that Ukrainian law benefited from the favorable influence of Roman law during the historical development, although its national peculiarities were preserved.