THE USE OF THE DEATH PENALTY AS A FORM OF PUNISHMENT IN THE ZAPOROZHYE COSSACK ARMY (XVI–XVIII centuries)

Abstract

The article is devoted to the analysis of the norms of customary law in the Zaporozhye cossack army. The author pays special attention to the issue of the use of the death penalty for committing a crime. With the use of formal legal, historical-legal and comparative-legal methods, the analysis of law enforcement practice concerning the regulation of the legal life of the Zaporozhye cossacks was carried out. The author came to the conclusion that the legal customs of the army, which was located in a certain historical period on the territory of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and then the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, were formed under the influence of the Lithuanian Statute as amended in 1529, 1566 and 1588. After the Zaporozhian Sich became a Russian citizen in 1654, cossack customs regarding the use of the death penalty ran counter to tsarist legislation (in 1744, this type of punishment was banned in the Russian Empire). However, the judicial authorities of the Zaporozhye army continued to impose such a sanction for certain categories of crimes until the final inclusion of the cossacks in the system of regular troops of the Russian Empire in the last quarter of the XVIII century as part of the Black Sea cossack army.