Blood Revenge Research Articles

Genesis, current status, and prospects for the development of the institution of negotiation in Ukraine

As of 2024, the use of alternative dispute resolution is becoming increasingly relevant caused by the complicated access to justice due to martial law. The purpose of this study was to analyse the historical experience of using negotiations in Ukraine from the Middle Ages to the present day and to identify the vectors for further development of this institution. Both general scientific and special scientific methods were employed: formal legal and comparative legal methods. It was found that the term “negotiation” can be used in several meanings: 1) the process of reaching an agreement; 2) the stage of court proceedings; 3) the stage of mediation, conciliation, or other methods of alternative dispute resolution; 4) a separate method of alternative dispute resolution. As the times of Kyivan Rus, the Ruska Pravda prescribed an analogue of negotiations – the replacement of blood revenge with a payoff; in the 16th-century Lithuanian statutes, the negotiation process was called “unity”. The “Rights by which the Little Russian people are judged” of the mid-18th century defined two forms of documents drafted as a result of negotiations: a conciliation agreement (without the participation of mediators) and a conciliation verdict (with the participation of mediators). During the Soviet era, legislation tended to establish the right to judicial protection depending on the previous use of alternative dispute resolution. However, since Ukraine’s independence, this trend has changed, and the law now prescribes the right of everyone to choose how to protect their rights. Further vectors for the development of the institution of negotiations in Ukraine may include the introduction of various types of platforms for remote participation in the negotiation process, as well as the development of the legal framework towards detailing negotiation procedures. The findings of this study can be used in teaching disciplines of the historical and legal cycle in higher education institutions of Ukraine, as well as for further forecasting the development of this institution and its improvement

Analysis of Bedouin Tribal Elements in the Jordanian Film ‘Theeb’

The film ‘Theeb’ is set against the backdrop of the World War I and the Arab Revolt, with a grand historical narrative background. It reflects the local characteristics of Jordan and Bedouin tribal elements, including but not limited to the Arab virtues of generosity and hospitality, courage and fortitude, brotherhood and family honour, the authoritative image of the father, the elder brother and the ‘Sheikh’ in a patriarchal social system. Additionally, it also reflects the confrontation between the tribes and the modern colonial state, such as the contrast between the starry sky and the well, symbolising the tenderness and dreams of the Arabs, and the habit of annihilating the enemy in the early hours of the morning, as well as the spirit of martial arts and plundering based on the principle of ‘balanced rivalry’, and the habit of emphasising tribal loyalty and blood revenge.

Blood Revenge as a Form of Social Defense in Ancient and Medieval Societies

Blood Revenge as a Form of Social Defense in Ancient and Medieval Societies

Blood Revenge in Montenegro and the Code of Danilo, Prince of Montenegro (1851–1860)

The opinion that blood revenge was definitively eradicated in Montenegro during Danilo’s time ran into very serious difficulties and could not be maintained. Its serious traces, although not in the classic form, are encountered not only in the 19th but also in the 20th century. By 1870, Danilo’s code was in full force, and since then 40 of its “articles” have remained in force.

Law-making: problems of today

The article is devoted to the analysis of the «law-making» category. In one of the blocks, historical foundations are considered. Law-making, as a phenomenon of social reality, played and plays a significant, if not primary, role in the development of many civilizations. Yes, it is difficult to overestimate the importance of ancient sources of law for the legal «saturation» of the relevant state entities. Legal development is always accompanied by an appropriate or «inappropriate» understanding of justice (ancient sources are crystallized through ordeals, talion, blood revenge, etc.). Another vector of consideration is theoretical generalizations: law-making activity is the transformation (with the help of legal prescriptions) of social relations into a system of legal relations; it is a process of familiarization with the legal needs of society, accompanied by the corresponding established procedures; this is the legally established procedural activity of state bodies to create new legal norms; this is the direction of the state’s activity, related to the official consolidation of legal norms, through the formation of prescriptions, their changes, additions and cancellations. Law-making is aimed at creating and improving a single, internally consistent system of norms that regulate social relations. The legal nature of law-making is determined by the process of giving legal norms a universally binding character. Law-making is a special type of legal activity. Thus, continuing the definitional series related to the category «law-making», we would like to emphasize the definition given in the Draft Law «On Law-making Activity» No. 5707 dated 25.06.2021 (the most modern draft of the normative legal act submitted for consideration, associated with the analyzed category). Law-making activity is the activity of planning, development of a draft of a normative-legal act (its concept) and adoption (issuance) of a normative-legal act, the purpose of which is legal regulation and/or protection of social relations. Law-making activity in Ukraine is regulated by the Constitution of Ukraine, this Law, other laws of Ukraine, and secondary legal acts. The publication also defines the basis of the law-making process (justification, updating, improvement and changes in laws and by-laws). A separate direction of research is focused on practical issues related to law-making activities, in particular, optimization of the work of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. Key words: law-making, law-making activity, procedures of law-making activity, tasks of the law-making process, forms of the law-making process, factors determining the law-making process.

RAZVOJ JAVNOG TUŽILAŠTVA U ZEMLJAMA ZAPADNE EVROPE / THE DEVELOPMENT OF PUBLIC PROSECUTION IN WESTERN EUROPEAN COUNTRIES

Achieving justice and protection of violated rights and interests had long been part of private sphere of injured individuals. As a means of compensation, blood revenge was available to them which often lead to the destruction of entire groups and families. Therefore, in Europe during the XII and XIII century, along with the establishment of the first states, work was done on the establishment of the public prosecutor's office as an instrument of state intervention in the criminal sphere and also restriction of the monopoly of coercion. In most European countries, the public prosecutor initially had the authority to represent state interests in court proceedings of public interest, so that over time the scope of work expanded to prosecution of perpetrators. This paper, based on comparative and textual method, will discuss the development of public prosecution in Europe within following Western European legal systems: Common Law, Romanian, German and Scandinavian from Middle Ages until modern era.

Blood Revenge in Civil War: Proof of Concept

As an embedded sociocultural code, blood revenge is present in many societies where civil wars occur. Whereas evidence from other social sciences attests to its enduring global significance, security studies scholarship has largely neglected the custom of blood revenge. This article is the first to investigate its relevance for understanding the inception, dynamics, and aftermath of armed conflicts, and to present a comprehensive account of how blood revenge may shape civil wars. Drawing upon multidisciplinary scholarship, cross-case qualitative evidence, and a newly compiled dataset, this proof-of-concept article illustrates how blood revenge influences key dynamics in civil wars—specifically, the processes of violent mobilization, target selection, recruitment, defection, and disengagement. Setting the stage for further inquiries into the causes, mechanisms, and consequences of blood revenge in civil war, this conceptual article suggests why and how this sociocultural code continues to influence civil wars across the world.

Fighting against Jihad? Blood Revenge and Anti-Insurgent Mobilization in Jihadist Civil Wars

Fighting against Jihad? Blood Revenge and Anti-Insurgent Mobilization in Jihadist Civil Wars

Moral Molecules: Morality as a Combinatorial System

What is morality? How many moral values are there? And what are they? According to the theory of morality-as-cooperation, morality is a collection of biological and cultural solutions to the problems of cooperation recurrent in human social life. This theory predicts that there will be as many different types of morality as there are different types of cooperation. Previous research, drawing on evolutionary game theory, has identified at least seven different types of cooperation, and used them to explain seven different types of morality: family values, group loyalty, reciprocity, heroism, deference, fairness and property rights. Here we explore the conjecture that these simple moral ‘elements’ combine to form a much larger number of more complex moral ‘molecules’, and that as such morality is a combinatorial system. For each combination of two elements, we hypothesise a candidate moral molecule, and successfully locate an example of it in the professional and popular literature. These molecules include: fraternity, blood revenge, family pride, filial piety, gavelkind, primogeniture, friendship, patriotism, tribute, diplomacy, common ownership, honour, confession, turn taking, restitution, modesty, mercy, munificence, arbitration, mendicancy, and queuing. These findings indicate that morality – like many other physical, biological, psychological and cultural systems – is indeed a combinatorial system. Thus morality-as-cooperation provides a principled and powerful theory, that explains why there are many moral values, and successfully predicts what they will be; and it generates a systematic framework that has the potential to explain all moral ideas, possible and actual. Pursuing the many implications of this theory will help to place the study of morality on a more secure scientific footing.

OIL LAW AND CRIMINAL VIOLATIONS IN "SKHIDNYTSIA CALIFORNIA"

Summary. The purpose of the article – is to study the most secret criminal environment of "Skhidnytsia California" – one of the most remote centres of oil extraction attracting the attention of hundreds of well-known financial swindlers in the Habsburg Empire as well as organized criminal groups. The research methodology is based on the principles of historicism, systematics, objectivity as well as methods of historiographical analysis and synthesis. The scientific novelty of the article is an attempt to research criminal offenses that took place in the Skhidnytsia area. Conclusions. The analyzed problem has attracted scientific interest. The historians tried to show that in the XIX – early XX centuries oil became the subject of blatant controversy in society, the cause of global crises, numerous wars, international exile, instant wealth and a source of profit for the criminal world, which managed to organize an effective web of grey economy around the oil business less associated with the indigenous population of the province. The authors show that organized criminal groups appeared in the vicinity of Skhidnytsia in the early twentieth century and they were engaged exclusively in robbery of the local population, robbery of oil rigs, branches of savings banks, etc. In particular, many thefts were directly related to oilfield equipment, which was very expensive and sold in Skhidnytsia specialty stores. Many facts have been found which indicate to the existence of unwritten customary law among "industrial gangs" mainly based on the principle of silence and blood revenge. The authors raced that increased of brine production, shadow capital accumulation, clandestine transit, money laundering, fire losses, employee irresponsibility, unpaid wages and hundreds of other precedents were the source of litigation, which in turn were a living field for the fashionable legal business, which against the background of the oil industry, and even more so the rigid tax system was increasingly adapted to industrial conditions of "Skhidnytsia California".

Cultural and reproductive success and the causes of war: A Yanomamö perspective

Inter-group competition including warfare is posited to be a key force in human evolution ( Alexander, 1990 ; Choi & Bowles, 2007 ; Wrangham, 1999). Chagnon's research on the Yanomamö is seminal to understanding warfare in the types of societies characteristic of human evolutionary history. Chagnon's empirical analyses of the hypothesis that competition for status or cultural success is linked to reproduction ( Irons, 1979 ) and warfare attracted considerable controversy. Potential causal factors include “blood revenge”, mate competition, resource shortages or inequality, and peace-making institutions ( Boehm, 1984 ; Keeley's (1997) ; Meggitt, 1977; Wiessner and Pupu, 2012 ; Wrangham et al., 2006 ). Here we highlight Chagnon's contributions to the study of human warfare.

Law and Rationality: A Historiographical Investigation of the Understanding of Motivation and Human Agency in Early Legal Anthropology

The purpose of this article is to examine how nineteenth-century legal science conceptualized and dealt with otherness in law, with examples of legal phenomena such as ordeal and blood revenge to illustrate how the concept of legal rationality evolved in the early legal anthropology and how it still influences our understanding of legal otherness. It provides new insights on how, in the treatment of specific legal institutions, the ideas of reason and rationality could change as scholars used European medieval history to aid in the understanding of indigenous cultures.

The Economic and Socio‐Cultural Sources, Consequences and Intervention Mechanisms of Revenge in Amhara National Regional State: The Case of Denbia District

Revenge and other social conflicts among individuals and communities usually occur in Denbia District. Revenge is an extension of destructive conflicts. It is an intrinsic, inevitable, and unavoidable aspect of social life which occurs during human interaction. Conflicts are inherent, because human beings have varying interests and needs. They are also inherent at the same time, because it is impossible to meet the needs and desires of all people simultaneously. Conflict results both constructive and destructive consequences. Destructive conflicts that end up in blood revenge often flows from narrowly defined or rigid goals, and most often produces negative results. Revenge has been one of the social problems practiced in the district of Denbia. Disputes lead to conflicts, and revenge becomes a potential result of conflict in turn in the district of Denbia. This problem is also a social and legal issue in Amhara National Regional State, because it causes life loss, physical injury, property loss and social instability. It disrupts the life of individuals and peaceful existence of groups. Revenge involves initial victims and perpetrators, families, close and distant relatives of both victims and perpetrator. Initial victims may search for opportunities to retaliate blood for blood or any other ways. Hence, it becomes a circular social problem where victims at one occasion will be perpetrators on the next having retaliated the initial perpetrator. This research deals on the Economic and Socio-cultural Sources, Consequences and Intervention Mechanisms of Revenge in Amhara National Regional State: The Case of Denbia District. Therefore, the researcher employed qualitative research approach and gathered data through in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, and document analysis. A Victim of revenge and released perpetrators, and other community members used during the in-depth interview. Moreover, the researcher used focus group discussions with the peace and reconciliation committee, police officers, and legal professionals who have deeper experience resolution of disputes, conflicts and revenge. Because of the nature of the information collected from respondents, the researcher used thematic analysis, discourse analysis and content analysis all together. The findings of the study have shown that revenge, caused familial and societal problems in the district of Denbia District. Among the forty five kebeles some areas of the district are severely vulnerable for blood revenge killings consisted of higher rates of murder. Insignificant disputes and conflicts raised commonly because of land, grudge, alcoholism, women driven, money driven, stealing, revealing a secret, and other daily based conflicts eventually ended up with blood revenge killings. Mainly, Land conflicts lead to disastrous effects on individuals as well as on groups and end up with blood revenge among family members at the highest number. The number of people who lost their lives in blood revenge killings in five years from 2011 up to 2015 in Denbia district is raised to one hundred and twenty-one.

Revolt in the Novel: Muḥammad Muṣṭafā Ghandūr’s Thaʾr al-damm (Blood Revenge) and the 1936-1939 Rebellion in Palestine

Contrary to the inveterate opinion of most scholars, a Palestinian author actually dealt with political issues before the Nakbah in the novel Thaʾr al-damm (Blood Revenge). Published in Damascus in 1939 by Muḥammad Muṣṭafā Ghandūr from Acre, this work of fiction remained in oblivion for decades because the French Mandate authorities confiscated most of its copies soon after publication. It narrates the story of a young physician who forms an armed band to avenge the rape of his younger sister by British soldiers during the 1936-1939 uprising in Palestine; the woman, disguised as a man, joins the rebels and eventually dies in a fight. Through the symbolism behind the retaliation for the maiden’s rape, Thaʾr al-damm provides a literary interpretation of the Palestinians’ shift to organized insurgency against the British Mandate in the late 1930s. By pivoting the plot around the tropes of injury and revenge, Ghandūr translated the feelings of humiliation and threat, and the consequent quest for revenge and liberation shared by many Palestinians into a novel. The action of this story takes place in the Palestinian countryside, in a village community portrayed as a spotless model of national solidarity and harmoniously merged with its environment. Ghandūr sketches a protagonist who exemplifies the theme of the political radicalization of modern-educated youth and argues for the leading role that they should assume in the struggle, while the only female character illustrates village women’s actual involvement in the revolt.

The Study on Blood Revenge of the North Caucasus Minority: Focusing on the Dialectic Categories of Forgiveness and Reconciliation

The Study on Blood Revenge of the North Caucasus Minority: Focusing on the Dialectic Categories of Forgiveness and Reconciliation

The Economic and Socio-cultural Sources, Consequences and Intervention Mechanisms of Revenge in Amhara National Regional State: The Case of Denbia District

Revenge and other social conflicts among individuals and communities usually occur in Denbia District. Revenge is an extension of destructive conflicts. It is an intrinsic, inevitable, and unavoidable aspect of social life which occurs during human interaction. Conflicts are inherent, because human beings have varying interests and needs. They are also inherent at the same time, because it is impossible to meet the needs and desires of all people simultaneously. Conflict results both constructive and destructive consequences. Destructive conflicts that end up in blood revenge often flows from narrowly defined or rigid goals, and most often produces negative results. Revenge has been one of the social problems practiced in the district of Denbia. Disputes lead to conflicts, and revenge becomes a potential result of conflict in turn in the district of Denbia. This problem is also a social and legal issue in Amhara National Regional State, because it causes life loss, physical injury, property loss and social instability. It disrupts the life of individuals and peaceful existence of groups. Revenge involves initial victims and perpetrators, families, close and distant relatives of both victims and perpetrator. Initial victims may search for opportunities to retaliate blood for blood or any other ways. Hence, it becomes a circular social problem where victims at one occasion will be perpetrators on the next having retaliated the initial perpetrator. This research deals on the Economic and Socio-cultural Sources, Consequences and Intervention Mechanisms of Revenge in Amhara National Regional State: The Case of Denbia District. Therefore, the researcher employed qualitative research approach and gathered data through in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, and document analysis. A Victim of revenge and released perpetrators, and other community members used during the in-depth interview. Moreover, the researcher used focus group discussions with the peace and reconciliation committee, police officers, and legal professionals who have deeper experience resolution of disputes, conflicts and revenge. Because of the nature of the information collected from respondents, the researcher used thematic analysis, discourse analysis and content analysis all together. The findings of the study have shown that revenge, caused familial and societal problems in the district of Denbia District. Among the forty five kebeles some areas of the district are severely vulnerable for blood revenge killings consisted of higher rates of murder. Insignificant disputes and conflicts raised commonly because of land, grudge, alcoholism, women driven, money driven, stealing, revealing a secret, and other daily based conflicts eventually ended up with blood revenge killings. Mainly, Land conflicts lead to disastrous effects on individuals as well as on groups and end up with blood revenge among family members at the highest number. The number of people who lost their lives in blood revenge killings in five years from 2011 up to 2015 in Denbia district is raised to one hundred and twenty-one.

Na pograniczu świata barbarzyńskiego i feudalnego. Rody staropruskie po podboju krzyżackim

This article presents two meanings of family, one from the Barbarian epoch - in the period of Prussian paganism, the second after their conquest by the Teutonic Order, in the feudal era. It was assumed that the Prussians, like other barbarian peoples, recognized kinship along both lines (patrilineal and matrilineal), measured as “knees” (from the head through the shoulders down to the elbows and nails). This meant that the family was not a rigid and stable group, but varied in every generation. Even close relatives had different kinship circles. Only brothers and sisters belonged to the same group. It also meant that the family did not have a single seat, as well as a single authority. The first and foremost task of the family was divination, and as a consequence this also involved the reception of or payment for property. The second and equally important task of the family seems to be have been the protection of ownership. Another task of the cognitive family was a common oath. Each member of the community was obliged to stand with his relatives and assist him with an oath, but on the other hand, he could rely on consistent support from other relatives. The family in the feudal era was something else. It was built on an agnatic basis, and therefore consisted of a closed group deriving from the same ancestor down the patrilineal line. Its functions had also undergone some restrictions. The circle of people entitled to individual tasks also changed. The trend was a narrowing of this circle. Due to the fact that the cognitive family did not allow ambitious families to increase their significance and wealth, especially in multiplying their ownership of land, at the end of the pagan era in Prussia, the importance of kinship was growing on an agnatic basis, as has been the case in feudal Europe for some time. The breakdown of the old ancestral structures was finally made by the Teutonic Order. The cognitive family was only indispensable and possible in a collective society, the new era was defined by individualism and family relationships. With the rise of the new authority, the solidarity of the family disappeared. In its place an indivisible agnatic unit appeared. The disintegration of the cognitive family did not happen immediately, nor was there any single decision or legal measure from the new rulers in this matter. It was a certain process, and some of the old elements were retained into modern times. Such elements included: blood revenge and ‘weregild’ as an act of humility, the cohabitation of relatives, the importance of the matrilineal line, especially uncle-nephew, commonly held property possessed by a group of relatives, and the transfer of names down both lines. After the disintegration of the cognitive family, the circle of relatives, which was based on canon law, changed and constantly decreased. New rules of inheritance also appeared, and finally an important and new form of identifying families of the agnatic feudal era, namely heraldic emblems and seals. As a result of these changes in the 15th century in Prussia, traces of the former cognitive family are difficult to find.

Kaius Tuori: Lawyers and savages. Ancient history and legal realism in the making of legal anthropology

Tuori has the good fortune to have had the opportunity to study history, law and anthropology, which has equipped him to dive into the nouvelle vague of interdisciplinary research. In consequence, his latest book analyses the rise and fall of legal primitivism following the work of pioneers in a wide variety of disciplines. Focusing on the trilogy of sex, greed and violence, the narrative takes us from the Americas to Australia, Greenland, Africa and further. Greed is represented by the paradigmatic variations played on the theme of the development of ownership of land and contract; sex stands for the Dichtung und Wahrheit spun around matriarchy, promiscuity, polygamy and the civilised monogamy, while violence hovers in vendetta, feud, honour killings and blood revenge. Within the tales about these themes the reader meets old friends like the brothers Grimm, von Savigny, von Jhering, Fustel de Coulanges, Maine and Schiller, but is also introduced to a sparkling variety of new authorities such as Martius, Lonrot, Bachofen, Malinowski, Boas, Llewellynand Gluchkman to name but a few.

Blood Feuds and Revenge in Canons and Medieval Statutes and Social Consequences

In this paper as object of this publication is the phenomenon of blood feud murders as a medieval phenomenon, which continues to accompany the life of the Albanian nation in modern times bringing loss of life and other negative consequences in the society. I purposefully chose this topic as a subject of study in this paper, by noticing the serious consequences that brings the blood feud, and I thought as valuable to investigate, draw conclusions, by stating the reasons and consequences of this medieval phenomenon and to submit my opinions related to this phenomenon. Through this study i want to point out the flow of this medieval phenomenon, reflecting its negative side as well as the consequences of this phenomenon, the tendency of this phenomenon nowdays, the work of the state authorities and non-governmental social organizations to mitigate this phenomenon, always in the service of life and freedom of the individual. Murders are the most serious crimes that affect the human right to live, as a fundamental human right protected by a number of international acts such as the Universal Declaration of the General Assembly of the UN (1948), the European Convention (1950), the Constitution of the Republic of Albania etc. Martin Luterking said (4th april 1968) “It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me, but it can keep him from lynching me, and I think that's pretty important” Albanian scholars in Albania starting from the basic thesis that blood feud murders are social historical phenomena that have appeared since ancient times, in pre-state formations and blood feud was the only way of protection of certain social groups, a phenomenon which over time is replaced by the State and its structures. However in the Albanian areas this medieval phenomenon woefully continued to operate until today, that often appeared more terrific taking innocent human lives and beyond every customary rule. DOI: 10.5901/ajis.2015.v4n3p199

Russkaya Pravda of Yaroslav Mudryi, the origins and traditions of national legislation

Problem setting. The emergence of the first national legal code – Russkaya Pravda was associated with the name of Grand Prince Yaroslav Mudryi. Since the law is normative background of the whole legal system, scientific interest represents research of hereditary traits «legal rights» if Kievan Rus’ and modern Ukraine. Although the level of law development and legal consciousness, the place in society life, learning values and legal conditions for a thousand years in our country have changed drastically, but remained from past times in succession important principles, traditions and institutions. Recent research and publications analysis. The authors of fundamental monographs «Legal custom as a source of Ukrainian law» / By Edition of. I. B. Usenko (2006), «The legal system of Ukraine: history, status and prospects» : 5 t. Vol. 1 (2008), new articles in the book «Russkaya Pravda of Yaroslav Mudryi, the beginning of legislation of Kievan Rus’» (2014 ) examined the sources of law of Kiev Rus, the use of customary law in the legal system of Ukraine. In this article attention is focused brief analysis on certain principles of succession and norms of institutes of the Russkaya Pravda (RP) of Yaroslav Mudryi and modern Codes of Ukraine and their interpretation in scientific comments. Paper objective. «Truth» in Russia is understood as a law by common law – justice. It is in the law of justice – its universal and timeless value. Since the days of long RP customary law were on a par with the norms of written law. In Ukraine, the legal tradition is an additional source of law, its role is increasing in terms of expanding the scope of private law. The article analyzes the norms of articles Civil Code of Ukraine, the Family Code of Ukraine that provides, as in RP the application of customs, established in civil relations. Paper main body. By comparing articled of ancient code with the relevant articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, the author concludes: Old Russian and modern legislators consider the protection of human life as the major task, the same consider the actus reus of criminal act. RP is not only limited the use of blood revenge, but removed the death penalty from the list of punishments by princely court. This punishment was not allowed by the Criminal Code of Ukraine, thereby continuing the RP humane line in criminal law. Both legal acts, separated by a thousand years, settled two main objectives – protection of public relations from criminal offenses, the prevention of crime. RP envisaged the protection of individual human rights - the boyars, freemen, even dependent people (villains) and slaves. The legislator aimed to establish principles of equality in the state as it was understood that time. In times of Yaroslav Mudryi, Yaroslavichey and Vladimir Monomakh, Rus’ did not know persecution of people based on their religious beliefs, direct or indirect restriction of rights, or privileges on grounds of religious belief, gender, economic status or place of residence. Conclusions. It is concluded that the historical type of the Russkaya Pravda and modern domestic legal system, despite the past millennium, in total reflects – national traditions in legal understanding, evolution of legal consciousness and culture of the people, the principles of humanism, rule of law, legality, respect to human dignity etc. They reflect the continuity of the legal system of Ukraine initiated by customary law of Kievan Rus’, Russkaya Pravda of Yaroslav Mudryi.