To the Question of Key Features of Court Proceedings in the Old Russian State

Abstract

The article reflects the author’s approach to summarizing and identifying characteristic features of court organization and proceedings in the Old Russian state. In addition to the characteristic features of court organization and proceedings in the Old Russian State, the author also discusses the theories of organizing the judiciary power in Russian tribal principalities of law historian D.Ya. Samokvasov, and analyzes the establishment of the Old Russian court system. Several types of courts are discussed: a Princely court, a church court, a communal court, a manorial court; judicial offices, procedural status of some proceedings’ participants, their functions and roles in the administration of justice are described. The author also examines the problematic issue of the participation of the community in the administration of justice, singles out the stages of the court process according to “Kratkaya Pravda”, as well as the role of the Princely court in the Old Russian state.