Conciliar code summary. Preparation of the cathedral code

Cathedral Code of 1649

The prerequisites for the creation of the Council Code of 1649 were determined long before its creation. The war with Sweden and Poland significantly weakened the Russian state:

a) in 1617, after signing a peace treaty with Sweden, Russia lost part of its territories - the coast of the Gulf of Finland, the Karelian Isthmus, the Neva River and the city of Yam, Ivan-Gorod, Korela and Oreshek, Russia lost access to the Baltic Sea;
b) after the campaign against Moscow in 1617-1618 by the Polish-Lithuanian army and the signing of a truce, the Smolensk land and most of Northern Ukraine went to Poland;
c) the consequences of the war, which resulted in the decline and ruin of the country’s economy, required urgent measures to restore it. This task fell mainly on the inhabitants of villages and cities. The government widely distributes land to the nobles, which leads to the continuous growth of serfdom. At first, given the devastation of the village, the government slightly reduced direct taxes, but various types of emergency levies increased ("fifth money", "tenth money", "Cossack money", "streltsy money", etc.), most of which were introduced almost continuously meeting Zemsky Sobors. The entire burden of taxes fell mainly on black-sown peasants and townspeople;
d) after some strengthening of the village and city, all types of taxes increase again. The government begins to deprive the archers, gunners, city Cossacks and minor officials of their salaries, and introduces a ruinous tax on salt. Many townspeople begin to move to “white places” (the lands of large feudal lords and monasteries, exempt from state taxes), while the exploitation of the rest of the population increases: those remaining in the town had to pay the same amount of taxes, and each payer received an even larger share.

In such a situation, it was impossible to avoid major social conflicts and contradictions. All this during the reign of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich (1645 - 1676) resulted in a series of large urban uprisings. On June 1, 1648, an uprising broke out in Moscow (the so-called “salt riot”). For several days the city was virtually in the hands of the people. The rebels destroyed the houses of many boyars and merchants. On June 10, 1648, the nobles and large merchants of Moscow demanded the expulsion of the tsar's favorite B.I. Morozov and the convening of the Zemsky Sobor. Following Moscow in the summer of 1648, the struggle of townspeople and small service people unfolded in Kozlov, Kursk, Solvychegodsk, Veliky Ustyug, Voronezh, Narym, Tomsk and other cities of the country. In this situation, on September 1, 1648, the Zemsky Sobor opened in Moscow. His work continued for quite a long time and at the beginning of 1649 the cathedral adopted a new set of laws - the Council Code. A special commission was involved in drawing up the project, and it was discussed in whole and in parts by members of the Zemsky Sobor (“in chambers”), class by class. The printed text was sent to orders and localities. With the adoption of the Council Code of 1649, for the first time in the history of Russian statehood, an attempt was made to create a set of all existing legal norms, including Codes of Law and New Decree Articles. As a result of codification, the material was compiled into 25 chapters and 967 articles. Already now a division of norms by industry and institution is emerging, although the causality in the presentation remains.

Reasons and prerequisites for the creation of the Council Code of 1649

It was this system that received the name of the All-Russian market;

Fair trade is developing, fairs of all-Russian importance emerge - Makarevskaya (near Nizhny Novgorod), Irbitskaya (in the Urals), Svenskaya (near Bryansk), Arkhangelskaya, centers specialized in the trade of certain goods (grain - Vologda, Ustyug Veliky, leather - Kazan, Vologda, Yaroslavl, flax - Novgorod, Pskov, etc.);

The first manufactories appeared (no more than 30 by the end of the 17th century) - relatively large enterprises where there was a division of labor, although labor remained manual. The largest manufactories are focused on military needs and the needs of the courtyard - Khamovny Dvor and Cannon Dvor in Moscow, a rope factory in Arkhangelsk, an ironworks in Tula, etc.;

The state is taking measures to protect Russian production from foreign competitors (the New Trade Charter of 1667 prohibited overseas merchants from conducting retail trade in Russia). The significance of new phenomena in the socio-economic field is assessed differently. Some historians associate with them the beginning of the formation of a capitalist economy in Russia. Most researchers, however, are convinced that economic changes did not disrupt the main trend. It consisted in the final establishment of the serfdom system in the country: the Council Code of 1649 prohibited the transfer of peasants and introduced an indefinite search for fugitives. Serfdom, “a cry of despair emitted by the state,” received legal formalization on an all-Russian scale. In manufactories, it was not civilian labor that was used, but the labor of serfs assigned to the enterprises. The new was intricately combined with the old, and the predominance of the old was almost unconditional. This circumstance is an important feature of what began in the 17th century. Russia's transition to a new time.
Many new things have also appeared in the political field. The meaning of the changes was the gradual formation of absolutism, the transition from an estate-representative monarchy to an absolute one:

The official title of the tsar is changed: “By the grace of God, the great sovereign, tsar and grand prince of all Great and Small and White Rus', autocrat.” Noteworthy is the emphasis placed on the unlimited, autocratic nature of the monarch’s power. The understanding of the tsar-autocrat as the embodiment of state sovereignty, its sole bearer, is ideologically consolidated;

The importance of Zemsky Sobors decreased, which after 1653 ceased to meet at all;

The composition and role of the Boyar Duma is changing. The overwhelming majority of the tsar’s decrees are now adopted without the “sentence” of the boyars, and there are fewer and fewer well-born boyars in the Duma, their place is taken by mongrel nobles and clerks; - orders flourish - bodies of the central executive power, in which a special layer of people performing managerial functions is formed - the prototype of the future bureaucracy;

A Secret Order is established, which is under the personal control of the Tsar and stands above all orders, the Boyar Duma and other authorities;
- steps are being taken towards the creation of a regular army (regiments of the “new order”).
Noting new phenomena in the political sphere, it should be noted that the formation of absolutism in Russia had its own characteristics. It was based not on the successes of new social strata - the bourgeoisie in the first place, but on factors specific to our country: autocratic-despotic traditions dating back to the times of the Mongol-Tatar yoke and the era of the struggle for the unity of Russian lands; the need to keep a vast territory under control; rivalry between the boyar aristocracy and the nobility, etc.

The meaning of the Council Code of 1649 is great, since this act is not only a set of laws, but also a reform that gave an extremely conscientious response to the needs and demands of that time.

Cathedral Code of 1649 is one of the most important legal acts adopted at a joint meeting of the Boyar Duma, the Consecrated Council and elected representatives of the population. This source of legislation is a scroll 230 m long, consisting of 25 chapters, divided into 959 handwritten columns, printed in the spring of 1649 in a huge circulation for its time - 2400 copies.

Conventionally, all chapters can be combined into 5 groups (or sections) corresponding to the main branches of law: Ch. 1–9 contain state law; Ch. 10–15 – statute of legal proceedings and judicial system; Ch. 16–20 – property right; Ch. 21–22 – criminal Code; Ch. 22–25 – additional articles about archers, about Cossacks, about taverns.

The sources for drawing up the Code were :

1) “Rules of the Holy Apostles” and “Rules of the Holy Fathers”;

2) Byzantine legislation (as far as it was known in Rus' from helmsmen and other church-civil legal collections);

3) old codes of law and statutes of former Russian sovereigns;

4) Stoglav;

5) legitimization of Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich;

6) boyar sentences;

7) Lithuanian Statute of 1588

Cathedral Code of 1649 for the first time determines the status of the head of state- autocratic and hereditary king. The attachment of peasants to the land, the township reform, which changed the position of the “white settlements”, the change in the status of patrimony and estate in the new conditions, the regulation of the work of local governments, the regime of entry and exit - formed the basis of administrative and police reforms.

In addition to the concept of “dashing deed” in the meaning of “crime”, the Council Code of 1649 introduces such concepts as “theft” (accordingly, the criminal was called a “thief”), “guilt”. Guilt was understood as a certain attitude of the criminal towards the crime.

The following criminal law elements were distinguished in the system of crimes:: crimes against the church; state crimes; crimes against the order of government; crimes against decency; malfeasance; crimes against the person; property crimes; crimes against morality; war crimes.

Church schism.

Having become patriarch (1652), Nikon took up the task of correcting the church according to Greek models. Books, icons, and the order of worship had to correspond to the Greek canons. Prostrations to the ground were abolished, and from now on one should be baptized not with two, but with three fingers. Nikon acted decisively, harshly, mercilessly, rudely.
Defenders of the old rituals (Old Believers) in 1656. were excommunicated from the church. They did not submit; a special church organization was created that remained faithful to the old rituals - the Old Believer Church. This is how a split occurred. The schismatic movement became a form of social protest. Church innovations in the minds of people were closely connected with innovations that worsened their situation: the formalization of serfdom, the indefinite search for fugitives, the increase in taxes and duties, red tape and bribes. It is believed that more than a quarter of the population did not accept Nikon’s reform. Commitment to antiquity, hatred of everything foreign turned out to be too strong.
The Old Believers, who held on to the “ancient faith” and rejected the “Latin charm,” resisted desperately and stubbornly. In 1668, an uprising broke out in the Solovetsky Monastery. It took eight years to suppress the monks' protest. People followed the schism teachers, abandoned their homes, went beyond the Urals, to the North, beyond the Volga, founded their own settlements - monasteries, and committed mass self-immolations. Persecution helped little. Archpriest Avvakum, burned at the stake in 1682, became for the Old Believers a symbol of perseverance, spiritual purity, and courage.
As for Nikon, his fate was also tragic. An ambitious man, he taught that spiritual power is higher than secular power. Just as the Moon shines in the rays of the Sun, so royal power reflects the brilliance of spiritual power. A conflict with the tsar became inevitable; in 1658 Nikon voluntarily renounced the patriarchate, and in 1666 a church council removed the patriarchal rank from him and sent him to imprisonment in the Ferapontov monastery.

1. The history of the creation of the Cathedral Code of 1649. a) in 1617, after signing a peace treaty with Sweden, Russia lost part of its territories - it lost access to the Baltic Sea, b) after the campaign against Moscow in 1617-1618, the Smolensk land and most of Northern Ukraine went to Poland, c) the consequences of the war, the ruin of the country's economy, demanded urgent measures to restore it). The government begins to deprive the archers and petty bureaucrats of their salaries, and introduces a ruinous tax on salt.

All this during the reign of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich (1645 - 1676) resulted in a series of large urban uprisings. On June 1, 1648, an uprising broke out in Moscow (the so-called “salt riot”).

Establishment of serfdom (enslavement of peasants)

On June 10, 1648, the nobles and large merchants of Moscow demanded the expulsion of the tsar's favorite B.I. Morozov and the convening of the Zemsky Sobor. In this situation, on September 1, 1648, the Zemsky Sobor opened in Moscow. His work continued for quite a long time, and at the beginning of 1649 the cathedral adopted a new set of laws - the Council Code. A special commission was involved in drawing up the project; it was discussed in its entirety and in parts by members of the Zemsky Sobor (“in chambers”), class by class. The printed text was sent to orders and localities. An attempt was made for the first time to create a set of all existing legal norms, including Codes of Law and New Decree Articles. The material was compiled into 25 chapters and 967 articles. A division of norms by industry and institution is outlined, although the causality in the presentation remains. For the first time in Russia, legislation was printed.

2. General provisions of the Council Code of 1649.

The sources of the Code were: legal codes, decree books of orders, tsarist decrees, Duma sentences, decisions of Zemsky Sobors (most of the articles were compiled based on petitions from council councils), "Stoglav", Lithuanian and Byzantine legislation.

The Council Code defines the status of the head of state - the tsar, autocratic and hereditary monarch. His approval (election) at the Zemsky Sobor did not shake the established principles, but, on the contrary, justified them. Even criminal intent (not to mention actions) directed against the person of the monarch was severely punished.

Important changes have taken place in the field of judicial law. The Code constituted a whole set of norms regulating the organization of the court and process. The process is differentiated into two forms: “trial” and “search”. The process itself is actually “judgment” and “decision”, i.e. rendering a sentence, a decision.

In the field of criminal law, the subjects of crime were defined: individuals and groups of individuals. The law divides them into main and secondary, understanding the latter as accomplices

The Code knows the division of crimes into intentional, careless and accidental.

The law distinguishes separate stages of a criminal act: intent (which in itself can be punishable), attempted crime and commission of a crime.

The law knows the concept of relapse (coinciding in the Code with the concept of “dashing person”).

The objects of crime according to the Council Code were: church, state, family, person, property and morality.

The Council Code of 1649 brought great changes to the field of property, obligation and inheritance law.

In the Code, land grants are regulated, but agriculture remains conditional.

3. System of crimes.

a) crimes against the church: blasphemy,

b) state crimes: actions against the sovereign and his family

c) crimes against administrative order: failure to appear in court,

d) crimes against decency: maintaining brothels,

e) malfeasance: extortion (bribery),

c) crimes against the person

g) property crimes: theft (theft), robbery and robbery

h) crimes against morality "fornication" of the wife (but not the husband).

4. Punishment system.

a) Individualization of punishment. The wife and children of the criminal were not responsible for the act he committed.

b) Class nature of punishment.

c) Uncertainty in establishing punishment. "as the sovereign directs."

For the same crime, several punishments could be established at once - whipping, cutting of the tongue, exile, confiscation of property

The Council Code provided for the death penalty in almost sixty cases (even smoking tobacco was punishable by death).

Imprisonment, as a special type of punishment, could be established for a period of three days to four years or for an indefinite period

Property sanctions were widely used. The highest sanction of this type was the complete confiscation of the criminal's property.

Finally, the system of sanctions included church punishments (repentance, excommunication, exile to a monastery, confinement in a solitary cell, etc.)

Cathedral Code of 1649

Every openly expressed thought, no matter how false, every clearly conveyed fantasy, no matter how absurd, cannot fail to find sympathy in some soul

Lev Tolstoy

In this article we will briefly consider the Council Code of 1649, as one of the first documents that systematized the legislation of Rus'. In 1649, for the first time in the history of Russia, the codification of state law was carried out: the Zemsky Sobor developed the Council Code. For the first time, this regulatory document not only collected the basic laws of the state, they were classified by industry. This significantly simplified the system of Russian legislation and ensured its stability. This article describes the main reasons for the adoption of the Council Code of 1649, its main meaning and brief description, and also analyzes the main consequences of the adoption of the law on the development of Russian statehood.

Reasons for the adoption of the Council Code of 1649

Between 1550 and 1648, about 800 decrees, laws and other regulations were issued. Especially many of them came out during the Time of Troubles. Working with them required not only great knowledge, but also a lot of processing time. In addition, there were cases when some provisions of one decree could conflict with others, which caused great damage to the legislative system of the Russian kingdom. These problems forced us to think about codifying existing laws, that is, processing them and compiling them into a single and integral set of laws. In 1648, the Salt Riot took place in Moscow; one of the demands of the rebels was a call for the convening of a Zemsky Sobor to create an agreed and unified law.

Another reason pushing Alexei Mikhailovich to create the Council Code of 1649 was the state’s tendency towards an absolute monarchy, which required clear enshrinement in laws. The tsar from the young Romanov dynasty actually concentrated all power in his hands, limiting the influence of the Zemsky Sobor; however, the new political system required enshrinement in laws. Also, new class relations, and especially the status of the nobility and peasantry (the tendency towards the formation of serfdom) also needed legal revision. This whole set of reasons led to the fact that at the end of 1648, Alexei Mikhailovich convened the Zemsky Sobor, giving him the task of forming a single set of laws, which went down in history as the Council Code.

Sources of the Code and work on its creation

To create a code of laws, a special commission was created, consisting of those close to the tsar, headed by Prince Nikita Odoevsky. In addition to him, the commission included the hero of the Smolensk War, Prince Fyodor Volkonsky, as well as clerk Fyodor Griboyedov. Tsar Alexei personally took part in the work of the commission. The basis for writing the Council Code of 1649, in short, was the following legal sources:

Law codes of 1497 and 1550. The basis of the Russian legal system of the 16th century.
Decree books of orders, where the basic laws and orders issued in the late 16th - first half of the 17th centuries were collected.
Lithuanian Statute of 1588. The Basic Law of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth of this period served as a model of legal technique. From here legal formulations, phrases, rubrics, as well as ideas about the situation of the peasantry were taken.
Petitions submitted to government bodies from the boyars for consideration. They indicated the main requests and wishes regarding the existing legal system. Also, during the work of the commission, petitions were sent to its participants from various regions of the country.
The helmsman's book (Nomocanon). These are collections of laws that related to church affairs. This tradition came from Byzantium. The helm book is used in the management of the church, as well as in the organization of church courts.

Characteristics of Codes by industry

In 1649, the Council Code was completely completed. It is interesting that this was not only the first collection of Russian laws, formed according to headings that were determined by areas of law. This was the first set of laws of Russia that was in printed form. In total, the Council Code consisted of 25 chapters, which contained 967 articles. Historians of Russian law identify the following legal branches, which were disclosed in the Council Code of 1649:

State law

The law completely determined the legal status of the monarch in Russia, as well as the mechanisms of inheritance of power. Articles from this branch of law addressed questions from the point of view of the legality of the Romanov dynasty on the throne. In addition, these articles consolidated the process of establishing an absolute monarchy in Russia.

Criminal law

Firstly, the types of crimes were classified here. Secondly, all possible types of punishment are described. The following types of crimes were identified:

Crimes against the state. This type of crime first appeared in the Russian legal system. Insults and other illegal actions against the monarch, his family, as well as conspiracy and treason were considered a crime against the state. By the way, in cases where the relatives of the criminal knew about the crime against the Russian state, then they bore the same responsibility.
Crimes against government. This category included: counterfeiting coins, unauthorized crossing of the state border, giving false evidence and accusations (recorded in the law with the term “sneaking”).
Crimes against "decency". These crimes meant sheltering fugitives and criminals, selling stolen goods and maintaining brothels.
Official crimes: bribery, waste of public money, injustice, as well as war crimes (primarily looting).
Crimes against the Church. This included blasphemy, conversion to another faith, interruption of church services, etc.
Crimes against the person: murder, mutilation, beatings, insult. By the way, killing a thief at the scene of a crime was not considered a violation of the law.
Property crimes: theft, robbery, fraud, horse theft, etc.
Crimes against morality. In this category there was a wife’s betrayal of her husband, “fornication” with a slave, and disrespect for parents.

As for punishments for crimes, the Council Code of 1649 identified several main types:

Death penalty by hanging, quartering, beheading, burning. For counterfeiting, the criminal had molten iron poured down his throat.
Corporal punishment, such as branding or whipping.
Terme conclusion. The term was from three days to life imprisonment. By the way, the prison inmates were supposed to be supported by the relatives of the prisoners.
Link. Initially it was used for senior officials who fell out of favor (“disgrace”) with the king.
Dishonorable punishments. Also applied to the upper classes, it consisted of deprivation of rights and privileges through demotion in rank.
Fines and confiscation of property.

Civil law

For the first time in the history of Russia, attempts were made to describe the institution of private property, as well as to highlight the legal capacity of subjects. Thus, a young man of 15 years old could be given an estate. The types of contracts for the transfer of property rights were also described: oral and written. The Council Code defined the concept of “acquisitive prescription” - the right to receive a thing into private ownership after using it for a certain time. In 1649 this period was 40 years.

Adoption of the Council Code: reasons, date

The basis of the civil sector of the new set of laws was the consolidation of the class character of Russian society. All classes of Russia were regulated, the nobility became the main support of the absolute monarchy.

In addition, the Council Code of 1649 briefly but finally completed the enslavement of the peasants: the landowner had the right to look for runaway peasants any time after the escape. Thus, the peasants were finally “attached” to the land, becoming the property of the landowner.

Family law

The Council Code did not directly concern family law, since it was within the competence of the church court. However, certain articles of the code of laws concerned family life, describing the basic principles of family relations. So, parents had great power over their children, for example, if a daughter killed one of the parents, she was executed, and if a parent killed a child, he received a year in prison. Parents had the right to beat their children, but they were forbidden to complain about their parents.

As for married couples, the husband had actual ownership over his wife. The age of marriage for a man was 15 years, and for a woman - 12. Divorce was strictly regulated and was allowed only in certain cases (entry to a monastery, the wife’s inability to give birth to children, etc.).

In addition to the above provisions, the Council Code dealt with the procedural component of law. Thus, the following procedures were established, the purpose of which was to obtain evidence:

"Search". Inspection of things, as well as communication with possible witnesses.
"Pravezh". Caning of an insolvent debtor for a specified period of time, in exchange for a fine. If the debtor had money before the end of the “right” period, then the beating stopped.
"Wanted." The use of various means to search for a criminal, as well as to conduct interrogations to obtain the necessary information. The Code described the right to use torture (no more than two or three times, using breaks).

Additions to the law in the 17th century

During the second half of the 17th century, additional laws were adopted that introduced changes or additions to the Code. For example, in 1669 a law was passed to increase penalties for criminals. It was associated with the increase in crime in Russia during this period. In 1675-1677, additions were adopted on the status of the estate. This was due to an increase in disputes regarding land rights. In 1667, the “New Trade Charter” was adopted, which was designed to support Russian manufacturers in the fight against foreign goods.

Historical meaning

Thus, the Council Code of 1649 has several meanings in the history of the development of the Russian state and law:

This was the first set of laws to be printed.
The Council Code eliminated most of the contradictions that existed in the laws of the late 16th and first half of the 17th centuries. At the same time, the Code took into account the previous achievements of the Russian legislative system, as well as the best practices of neighboring states in the field of lawmaking and codification.
It formed the main features of the future absolute monarchy, the support of which was the nobility.
Serfdom finally formed in Russia.

The Council Code of 1649 was in force until 1832, when Speransky developed the Code of Laws of the Russian Empire.

The Cathedral Code of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich of 1649 as a monument of law

Home page —> Answers to tickets — history of the Russian state and law —> Cathedral Code of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich of 1649 as a monument of law

Main sources of all-Russian law in the XV-XVII centuries. There were: great princely (royal) legislation (complaints, decree, spiritual charters and decrees), “sentences” of the Boyar Duma, resolutions of Zemsky Sobors, sectoral orders of orders.

New complex ones are being created forms of legislation - all-Russian codes (Code of Laws, Sobornoe Code), decrees (statutory), which systematized norms that were not included in the main text of the book of Sudebnikov. The Cathedral Code of 1649 is a set of laws of the Moscow state, a monument of Russian law of the 17th century, the first normative law in Russian history. a legal act that covered all existing legal norms, including the so-called “newly decree” articles (see the section “Development of the Code”).

The most significant measure of the government was the new codification of laws - edition of the Code of 1649, which replaced the outdated Code of Laws of Ivan the Terrible from 1550. The Council Code was adopted at the Zemsky Sobor in 1649 and was in force until 1832, when, as part of the work to codify the laws of the Russian Empire, carried out under the leadership of M. M. Speransky, the Code of Laws of the Russian Empire was developed.

The Council Code consists of 25 chapters regulating various areas of life.

The Council Code determined head of state status- tsar, autocratic and hereditary monarch. Royal power is the power of God's anointed one.

Crime system according to the Council Code:

1. For the first time the concept of state crime was defined: all acts directed against the power, health, honor of the king and his family, criticism of the government. The death penalty was imposed for everything: even stealing the royal goods, catching fish in the royal pond. Only for actions that inadvertently caused damage to the royal authority, for example, for mistakes in the title or name of the sovereign, could they be whipped, beaten, or exiled to eternal life in Siberia. Responsibility was borne not only by the persons who committed them, but also by their relatives and friends.

Even criminal intent directed against the person of the monarch was severely punished.

Every resident of the Moscow state, having learned about plans against the tsar, was obliged to report. To do this, it was enough to shout “The Sovereign's word and deed!” on the street.

2 . crimes against the church : blasphemy, seducing an Orthodox Christian into another faith, interrupting the course of the liturgy in a church (for the latter they were subjected to trade execution, flogged in a trade.)

3. crimes vs control order: malicious failure of the defendant to appear in court and resistance to the bailiff, production of false letters, acts and seals, unauthorized travel abroad, counterfeiting, running drinking establishments without permission and moonshine, taking a false oath in court, giving false testimony, "sneaking" or false accusation (in the latter case, the punishment that would have been applied to a person falsely accused by him was applied to the "sneak");

4. crimes against deanery: maintenance of brothels, harboring fugitives, illegal sale of property, unauthorized entry into mortgage (to a boyar, to a monastery, to a landowner), imposition of duties on persons exempt from them

5 . officials crimes: extortion (bribery, extortion), injustice (deliberately unfair decision of a case due to self-interest or personal hostility), forgery in service, military crimes (looting, escape from a unit);

6. crimes against personalities: murder, divided into simple and qualified (murder of parents by children, murder of a master by a slave), mutilation, beatings, insult to honor (in the form of insult or slander, spreading of defamatory rumors). The killing of a traitor or thief at the scene of the crime was not punished at all.

7. property crimes: simple and qualified theft (church, in the service, horse theft committed in the sovereign's courtyard), robbery and robbery, ordinary or qualified (committed by service people or children against parents), fraud (theft associated with deception, but without violence), arson (the caught arsonist was thrown into the fire), forcible seizure of someone else's property, its damage;

8. crimes against morality: children’s disrespect for their parents, refusal to support elderly parents, pimping, “fornication” of the wife (but not the husband),

Purposes of punishment According to the Council Code there was intimidation and retribution.

The punishment system was characterized by the following features:

A) Individualization of punishment(the relatives of the criminal were not responsible for what he did) Class nature of punishment(for example, for a similar act, a boyar was punished with deprivation of honor, and a commoner with a whip). V) Uncertainty in establishing punishment. (the sentence contained unclear wording; the same crime could entail different types of punishment)

Types of punishment

1) the death penalty : qualified (cutting, quartering, burning, pouring metal into the throat, burying alive in the ground) and simple (cutting off the head, hanging).

2) self-harm punishments : cutting off an arm, leg, cutting off a nose, ear, tearing out nostrils.

3) whipping or whipping in a public place(at the auction).

4) imprisonment for a period from three days to four years or for an indefinite period, link (to remote monasteries, forts, fortresses or boyar estates).

5) for the privileged classes - deprivation of honor and rights from becoming a slave to declaring “disgrace” (sovereign disfavor). (relatively speaking, this resembled a partial outlawry).

6) property sanctions (gradation of fines “for dishonor” depending on the social status of the victim). The highest sanction of this type was the complete confiscation of the criminal's property.

7) church punishments (repentance, penance, excommunication, exile to a monastery, confinement in a solitary cell, etc.).

Judicial law in the Code constituted a special set of rules regulating the organization of the court and process. There was a difference between the trial and the search. Search or "detective" was used in the most serious criminal cases.

For the first time, the use of torture was regulated. Often the defendant was subjected to legal punishment (i.e. corporal punishment)

Administrative and political transformations.

The Code contained a set of norms that regulated the most important branches of public administration. The attachment of peasants to the land, the township reform, which changed the position of the “white settlements”, the change in the status of patrimony and estate in the new conditions, the regulation of the work of local governments, the regime of entry and exit - all these measures formed the basis of administrative and police reforms.

Code of 1649 allowed the owners to search for peasants forever, without a time limit, and return them to the estates. Fighting the flight of the townspeople, the Code forever attached the townspeople to the settlement. The law of 1658 required the death penalty for escaping from a posad.

Many articles regulated relations between the population and local authorities. Disobedience of ordinary people was punished, but punishments were also imposed on governors and other officials for extortion, bribes and other abuses.

Sphere civil law relationships.

The rules governing civil legal relations were unclear: the same legal source could give several decisions on the same issue.

Subjects civil legal relations included both private (individuals) and collective entities.

Cathedral Code of 1649

Subjects of civil law had to meet certain requirements, such as gender, age (15-20 years), social and property status.

The Code considered the procedure for acquiring and inheriting property and patrimonial lands. Land grant in the estate (the act of transferring property by the state to the landowner) did not change the subject of ownership - it remained the state. The landowner was granted only the right of lifelong ownership.

In area family law the principles of house-building continued to apply - the supremacy of the husband over his wife and children, the actual community of property, etc. They were also disclosed in legislative provisions.

In general, the Code summed up the development of Russia in the mid-17th century. In addition, it provided the basis for the further development of Russian legislation.

1. Historical and economic prerequisites for creation

Cathedral Code of 1649.

2. Sources and main provisions of the Council Code

3. System of crimes.

4. System of punishments.

5. The significance of the Council Code of 1649 in the socio-political life of Russia.

1. Historical and economic prerequisites for the creation

Cathedral Code of 1649.

The beginning of the 17th century is characterized by the political and economic decline of Russia. This was largely facilitated by the wars with Sweden and Poland, which ended in the defeat of Russia in 1617.

After signing a peace treaty with Sweden in 1617, Russia lost part of its territories - the coast of the Gulf of Finland, the Karelian Isthmus, the course of the Neva and the cities on its coast. Russia's access to the Baltic Sea was closed.

In addition, after the campaign against Moscow in 1617-1618 by the Polish-Lithuanian army and the signing of a truce, the Smolensk land and most of Northern Ukraine were ceded to Poland.

The consequences of the war, which resulted in the decline and ruin of the country's economy, required urgent measures to restore it, but the whole burden fell mainly on the black-sown peasants and townspeople. The government widely distributes land to the nobles, which leads to the continuous growth of serfdom. At first, given the devastation of the village, the government slightly reduced direct taxes, but various types of emergency levies increased (“fifth money”, “tenth money”, “Cossack money”, “streltsy money”, etc.), most of which were introduced almost continuously meeting Zemsky Sobors.

However, the treasury remains empty and the government begins to deprive the archers, gunners, city Cossacks and minor officials of their salaries, and introduces a ruinous tax on salt. Many townspeople begin to move to “white places” (the lands of large feudal lords and monasteries, exempt from state taxes), while the exploitation of the rest of the population increases.

In such a situation, it was impossible to avoid major social conflicts and contradictions.

On June 1, 1648, an uprising broke out in Moscow (the so-called “salt riot”). The rebels held the city in their hands for several days and destroyed the houses of the boyars and merchants.

Following Moscow, in the summer of 1648, a struggle between townspeople and small service people unfolded in Kozlov, Kursk, Solvychegodsk, Veliky Ustyug, Voronezh, Narym, Tomsk and other cities of the country.

Practically, throughout the entire reign of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich (1645-1676), the country was gripped by small and large uprisings of the urban population. It was necessary to strengthen the legislative power of the country, and on September 1, 1648, the Zemsky Sobor opened in Moscow, the work of which ended with the adoption at the beginning of 1649 of a new set of laws - the Cathedral Code. The project was drawn up by a special commission, and it was discussed in whole and in parts by members of the Zemsky Sobor (“in chambers”). The printed text was sent to orders and localities.

2. Sources and main provisions of the Council Code

1649.

The Council Code of 1649, having summarized and absorbed the previous experience of creating legal norms, was based on:

- forensic officers;

— decree books of orders;

- royal decrees;

- Duma verdicts;

- decisions of the Zemsky Sobors (most of the articles were compiled based on petitions from the Council councils);

- “Stoglav”;

— Lithuanian and Byzantine legislation;

— new decree articles on “robbery and murder” (1669), on estates and estates (1677), on trade (1653 and 1677), which were included in the Code after 1649.

In the Council Code, the head of state, the tsar, was defined as an autocratic and hereditary monarch. The provision on the approval (election) of the tsar at the Zemsky Assembly substantiated these principles. Any actions directed against the person of the monarch were considered criminal and subject to punishment.

The Code contained a set of norms that regulated the most important branches of public administration. These norms can be conditionally classified as administrative. Attaching peasants to the land (Chapter 11 “The Trial of the Peasants”); the townsman reform, which changed the position of the “white settlements” (chap. 14); change in the status of patrimony and estate (chap. 16 and 17); regulation of the work of local government bodies (Chapter 21); entry and exit regime (Article 6) - all these measures formed the basis of administrative and police reforms.

With the adoption of the Council Code, changes occurred in the field of judicial law. A number of norms concerning the organization and work of the court were developed. Compared to the Code of Laws, there is an even greater division into two forms: “trial” and “search”.

The court procedure is described in Chapter 10 of the Code. The court was based on two processes - the “trial” itself and the “decision”, i.e. rendering a sentence, a decision. The trial began with the “initiation”, the filing of a petition. The defendant was summoned to court by a bailiff, he could present guarantors, and also fail to appear in court twice if there were good reasons for this. The court accepted and used various evidence: testimony (at least ten witnesses), written evidence (the most trusted of them are officially certified documents), kissing the cross (in disputes over an amount not exceeding one ruble), and drawing lots. To obtain evidence, a “general” search was used - a survey of the population about the fact of a crime committed, and a “general” search - about a specific person suspected of a crime. The so-called “pravezh” was introduced into court practice, when the defendant (most often an insolvent debtor) was regularly subjected to corporal punishment (beating with rods) by the court. The number of such procedures should have been equivalent to the amount of debt. So, for example, for a debt of one hundred rubles, they flogged for a month. Pravezh was not just a punishment - it was also a measure that encouraged the defendant to fulfill the obligation (himself or through guarantors). The settlement was oral, but was recorded in the “judicial list” and each stage was formalized in a special letter.

The search or “detective” was used only in the most serious criminal cases, and a special place and attention in the search was given to crimes in which the state interest was affected (“the word and deed of the sovereign”).

Prerequisites for the creation of the Council Code of 1649

The case in the search process could begin with a statement from the victim, with the discovery of a crime, or with an ordinary slander.

In Chapter 21 of the Council Code of 1649, such a procedural procedure as torture was established for the first time. The basis for its use could be the results of a “search”, when the testimony was divided: part in favor of the suspect, part against him. The use of torture was regulated: it could be used no more than three times, with a certain break; and the testimony given during torture (“slander”) had to be cross-checked using other procedural measures (interrogation, oath, search).

The following changes were also made in the field of criminal law - the circle of subjects of the crime was determined: they could be either individuals or a group of persons. The law divided the subjects of the crime into main and secondary, understanding the latter as accomplices. In turn, complicity could be physical (assistance, practical assistance, committing the same actions as the main subject of the crime) and intellectual (for example, incitement to murder in Chapter 22). In this regard, even a slave who committed a crime at the direction of his master began to be recognized as a subject of a crime. At the same time, it should be noted that the law distinguished from secondary subjects of the crime (accomplices) persons who were only involved in the commission of the crime: accomplices (persons who created the conditions for the commission of the crime), connivers (persons obliged to prevent the crime and did not do so), non-informers (persons who did not report the preparation and commission of a crime), concealers (persons who hid the criminal and traces of the crime). The Code also divided crimes into intentional, careless and accidental. For a careless crime, the perpetrator was punished in the same way as for a deliberate criminal act (the punishment followed not for the motive of the crime, but for its result). But the law also identified mitigating and aggravating circumstances. Mitigating circumstances included: state of intoxication; uncontrollability of actions caused by insult or threat (affect); and to aggravating ones - repetition of the crime, the amount of harm, the special status of the object and subject of the crime, the combination of several crimes.

The law identified three stages of a criminal act: intent (which in itself can be punishable), attempted crime and commission of a crime, as well as the concept of recidivism, which in the Council Code coincides with the concept of “dashing person”, and the concept of extreme necessity, which is not punishable only if the proportionality of its real danger from the criminal is observed. Violation of proportionality meant exceeding the limits of necessary defense and was punished.

The objects of crime according to the Council Code of 1649 were defined as: church, state, family, person, property and morality. Crimes against the church were considered the most dangerous and for the first time they were placed in first place. This is explained by the fact that the church occupied a special place in public life, but the main thing is that it was taken under the protection of state institutions and laws.

Major changes in the Council Code of 1649 concerned the area of property, obligation and inheritance law. The scope of civil law relations was defined quite clearly. This was encouraged by the development of commodity-money relations, the formation of new types and forms of ownership, and the quantitative growth of civil transactions.

The subjects of civil law relations were both private (individuals) and collective persons, and the legal rights of a private person were gradually expanded due to concessions from the collective person. Legal relations that arose on the basis of norms regulating the sphere of property relations were characterized by the instability of the status of the subject of rights and obligations. First of all, this was expressed in the division of several powers associated with one subject and one right (for example, conditional land tenure gave the subject the right to own and use, but not to dispose of the subject). With this, difficulty arose in determining the true full-fledged subject. Subjects of civil law had to satisfy certain requirements, such as gender (there was a significant increase in the legal capacity of women compared to the previous stage), age (the qualification of 15-20 years made it possible to independently accept an estate, enslaving obligations, etc.), social and property status.

The adoption of the conciliar code is one of the significant events in the history of law in Russia. Then this document forced the reconstruction of the entire system of government in the Moscow state, then this was a huge step for the entire system, Moscow became more developed and modern. Then there were troubled times and it was necessary to change something, because it was already necessary to regulate human life. Until that time, there was only one set of laws called the Code of Laws of Ivan the Terrible. N is already significantly outdated and almost a hundred years have passed since its adoption, during which time a lot has changed. Of course, various amendments were added, but there were no fundamental changes.

The old system was not organized at all, so many came to the conclusion that it was necessary to create and adopt a Council Code. It was adopted in 1649, but this was not accidental. A year before this, there was a violent event called the Salt Riot, then there was an uprising. Then Alexei Mikhailovich was the tsar and this turn of events shocked him. Then he realized that something had to be done and began convening the Zemsky Sobor. Then this code was created, it was a wise decision. Then people calmed down and the riot was called off. According to historians, the ruler was very wise and if he had not acted this way, then perhaps the adoption of this important document could have been delayed for centuries.

Creation of the Cathedral Code

The politician entrusted the mission of creating the document to ministers, princes and church workers. For that time, this was a rather difficult task, because it was necessary to collect all the laws, decrees and amendments, and then analyze it all, draw conclusions and note the main thing. When drawing up the code, each law and decree was considered and new ones were added.

A whole document was created, where all the costs were indicated; almost the entire elite, the boyar duma, wrote the laws. After this, the proposed law was sent to two more authorities, where they edited and added if necessary. Also, each law had the responsibility of the one who drafted it, so the document can be considered completely legal and legally issued.

The justice system was quite wild, especially their punishment system. At that time there were many punishments for certain violations on the principle of an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. If a hooligan injures a person, breaks his arm, for example, then he should have suffered the same fate. The law on false testimony was noteworthy; if a person protected a criminal, and then the truth was found out, he automatically became an accomplice, and therefore received punishment.

Also, some crimes could be punished differently than intended. In separate columns there was a footnote where the king could choose the punishment. As a result, although there was a new set of laws, the monarchy remained, the throne was above any law, and it could always give the final word.

Serfdom

It was this code that contributed to the end of the formation of the institution of serfdom in Rus'. Now the peasant had practically no rights and freedom of movement. Even if there was a trial, the person could not even say anything in his own defense. So the feudal system was at its dawn and was preserved in Rus' for many years. We can say that the Council Code was aimed specifically at a certain circle of people, dividing the people into a high and low stratum of the population.

However, with such a restriction on the peasants, a person still had his right, which implied the protection of his personal property from the encroachments of its owner, namely the overlord. However, whether this worked or not for the most part is not known, because, as was said in court, he can answer for himself. However, this may indicate that already at that time the government understood that there was a problem of abuse of power, so attempts were made to eliminate this error in feudalism.

Mikhailovich’s policy was founded with the participation of the church, therefore in this code the role of rulers was also relegated to it. However, she still did not like one point where the church could be the only one in a particular court and make decisions on its own behalf; this right was assigned to officials. However, most of the laws were in favor of the church, which increased its power significantly.

If you look at the charter, then there were even more church laws than simple secular ones. There were a lot of crimes against the church, so those undesirable could be imprisoned for blasphemy, swearing and a bunch of other crimes. In any case, if it was necessary to get rid of a person, the church could accuse him of a crime, and for this there was only one punishment, namely burning at the stake.

Court and family in the Council Code

After this code was adopted, the court changed radically. Many reforms were carried out in the Moscow state; almost the entire procedure was different. Clear concepts also emerged of what is a court, what is a search, and what responsibilities lie behind this. The concepts were separated; before, when a wanted person was found, a trial took place immediately. Now there are different stages of the investigation. Also now the search procedure was completely different, all things found by the authorities turned into evidence and became evidence, they were used only during the process.

Also, the process of interrogation through torture began to be regulated. Now you couldn’t do what you thought was necessary, you had to torture only three times in approaches and for a certain time, this increased the detection rate, because before they could falsely repent so that they would stop torturing, perhaps because of this point there was no Inquisition in Russia, popular at the time.

A new system of classification of crimes has appeared in criminal law. Types such as :

✔ crime against the church;

✔ crime against the state;

✔ crime against the order of government (unauthorized departure from the country);

✔ crimes against decency (keeping brothels);

✔ malfeasance;

✔ crimes against the person;

✔ property crimes;

✔ crimes against morality.

As for the family, quite a lot of attention and time were given to it in that system, although this was not traditional for those times. The cells of society were well mapped out, each given meaning and importance. Of course, such important changes did not happen in society; everything was called as it is. However, now all this has been legally certified, the families have been legitimized.

Of course, the distribution of orders there was the same in the matriarchal type. When a man did all the hard work, built the house and was the head of the family. The woman was the housewife and kept the hearth in the house. The origin of the family depended only on the husband, so free women could under no circumstances marry a serf. The marriage had to be registered in the church where the wedding took place; this procedure was mandatory.

However, there were still some changes and for many they seemed significant. Now it was possible to get a divorce and it could all be officially registered, which gave some guarantees if someone later went to court. Of course, they rarely got divorced, this was not accepted in Rus', but there were still cases. It was possible to go for a divorce if the wife did not become pregnant or one of the spouses committed illegal acts.

Meaning

Although the conciliar code was not finalized and had many wild laws and cruel punishments, it was a huge step forward. One could say that evolution has occurred, now at least some norms and laws have appeared, formalized legally. After all, for a long time all over the world people lived according to codes where all permitted and not permitted actions were spelled out, now this has finally appeared in Russia.

The charter itself contributed not only to less tension in the country, the development of society and the transition from barbarism to more everyday concepts, but it also strengthened Rus' as a country in the international arena, now it was considered a legitimate and more civilized state. After this, many merchants from all over the world flocked to Muscovy. Perhaps they liked the fact that now they could sign a legally formalized contract, which was safe for a particular transaction.

It is impossible to say the full significance of the code, but it played an important role and accelerated the development of Russia. It worked until the nineteenth century, but was periodically changed and supplemented, improving. For several centuries, this written code of laws provided the rules of life for society. Until the new Code of Laws of the Russian Empire was signed in the nineteenth century, after which the state rebooted and began to develop a little differently.

On January 29 (February 8), 1649, the Zemsky Sobor adopted a new set of laws of the Russian state - the Council Code of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich.

The appearance of this document at the very beginning of the reign of the second tsar of the Romanov family was associated with a serious socio-political and socio-economic crisis, as a result of which a wave of popular uprisings swept across the country. The legal system that existed in Russia did not suit not only the peasants, townspeople and ordinary archers, but also the nobility, who sought to expand and legislate their rights and privileges.

In June 1648, Moscow nobles and the upper ranks of the posad turned to the tsar with a request to convene a Zemsky Sobor to discuss the accumulated problems. Based on the joint decision of the tsar, the highest clergy and the Boyar Duma, a commission of 5 people was organized under the leadership of Prince N.I. Odoevsky, which included boyar S.V. Prozorovsky, okolnichy prince F. F. Volkonsky and clerks G. Leontiev and F. A. Griboedov.

The commission had to harmonize with each other all existing regulations and, supplementing them with new regulations, combine them into one code. The Code was based on decree books of orders, Moscow codes of law, boyar sentences, collective petitions, extracts from the Lithuanian statute of 1588, the Kormchaya Book, which contained the codes and laws of the Greek kings, decrees of ecumenical and local church councils.

The text of the Code was submitted for discussion and approval to the Zemsky Sobor, specially convened for this purpose, which began work on 1(11) September 1648 The Tsar, the Boyar Duma and the Consecrated Cathedral met separately from the elected representatives of the estates, led by Prince Yu. A. Dolgoruky. During the discussion, the draft document underwent significant revision, resulting in 82 new articles appearing in the final version.

Divided into 25 chapters, the 967 articles of the new code of laws, in contrast to similar documents of the previous period, contained norms not only of procedural law, but also of state, civil, administrative and criminal law. The Code for the first time determined the status of the head of state, the procedure for civil service, and the types of state and criminal crimes. The greatest attention was paid to issues of legal proceedings.

The Code finally established serfdom in the country, abolishing the “fixed summer” and declaring the search for fugitive peasants indefinite. The eternal hereditary dependence of the peasant was established, and his property was recognized as the property of the landowner.

The entire posad population was attached to the posads and transferred to the category of tax-paying estates, but received as a privilege the exclusive right to engage in commercial and industrial activities.

The Code seriously limited the rights of the clergy, who, with the exception of the patriarch and his employees, were henceforth subject to trial on a general basis and could not acquire estates. To manage the former estates of monasteries and clergy, a Monastic Order was established.

In the interests of the serving nobility, the document equalized estates and estates, allowing landowners to own and dispose of land allocated for service.

The adoption of the Code was one of the main achievements of the reign of Alexei Mikhailovich. It remained the fundamental law of the Russian state until 1830.

Lit.: Maslov K. A. Cathedral Code: materials for a seminar on the history of state and law of Russia [Electronic resource] // Website of students and graduates of the Faculty of Law of St. Petersburg State University. 2001-2011. URL: http://www .law -students .net /modules .php ?name =Content &pa =showpage &pid =333 ; Cathedral Code of 1649. L., 1987;

The Council Code of 1649 is the source of law of the Russian centralized state during the period of the estate-representative monarchy

The leading place among the sources of Russian feudal law during the period of the estate-representative monarchy is occupied by the Council Code of 1649. It should be noted that this code largely predetermined the development of the legal system of the Russian state in subsequent decades. The Code, first of all, expressed the interests of the nobility and legally consolidated serfdom in Russia.

Among prerequisites that led to the adoption of the Council Code can be distinguished:

ь general intensification of the class struggle;

b contradictions among the feudal class;

b contradictions between feudal lords and the urban population;

ь the interest of the nobles in expanding the rights to local land ownership and the enslavement of peasants on them;

b the need to streamline legislation and formalize it in a single code;

A special commission was formed to develop a draft code of laws. The project was discussed in detail by the Zemsky Sobor, after which it was the first printed set of laws of Russia, sent out for guidance to all orders and localities.

The Code consists of 25 chapters and 967 articles, the content of which reflects the most important changes in the socio-political life of Russia that occurred in the 17th century.

Chapter XI “The Court of Peasants” establishes the complete and general enslavement of the peasants. Chapters XVI-XVII reflect the changes that have taken place in the settlement situation.

The norms of state, criminal and civil law, judicial system and legal proceedings are developing.

The main attention, as in previous sources of feudal law, is given to criminal law and legal proceedings.

In the development of the Cathedral Code the following were used:

~ previous judges,

~ index books of orders,

~ royal legislation,

~ boyar sentences,

~ articles of Lithuanian status,

~ Byzantine legal sources.

The Code enshrined the privileges of the ruling class and the unequal position of the dependent population.

The Council Code did not completely eliminate the contradictions in the legislation, although a certain systematization was carried out by chapter.

Civil law reflects the further development of commodity-money relations, especially in terms of property rights and the law of obligations. The main forms of land ownership during this period were royal palace lands, estates and estates. Black tax lands owned by rural communities were the property of the state. In accordance with the Code, palace lands belonged to the tsar and his family, state (black-tax, black-mown) lands belonged to the tsar as the head of state. The fund of these lands by this time had decreased significantly, due to distribution for service.

Patrimonial land ownership, in accordance with Chapter XVII of the Council Code, was divided into patrimonial, purchased and granted. Votchinniki had privileged rights to dispose of their lands than landowners, since they had the right to sell (with mandatory registration in the Local Order), mortgage or inherit.

The Code established right of patrimonial redemption(in case of sale, mortgage or exchange) for 40 years, and by persons precisely defined by the Code. The right of ancestral redemption did not apply to purchased estates.

Ancestral and honored estates could not be transferred by will to strangers if the testator had children or collateral relatives. It was forbidden to give ancestral and honored estates to churches.

The estates purchased from third parties, after their transfer by inheritance, became ancestral.

Chapter XVI of the Council Code summarized all existing changes in the legal status of local land ownership:

» the local owners could be both boyars and nobles;

» the estate was inherited in the prescribed manner (for the service of the heir);

» part of the land after the death of the owner was received by his wife and daughters (“for subsistence”);

» it was allowed to give the estate as a dowry;

» the exchange of estate for estate or patrimony was allowed, including more for less (Article 3).

Landowners did not have the right to freely sell land without a royal decree or mortgage it.

The Code confirmed the decrees of the early 17th century on the prohibition of recruiting into the service and allotting estates to “priests’ and peasants’ children, boyar slaves and monastery servants.” This situation turned the nobility into a closed class.

Considering land ownership, it should be noted the development of such an institution of law as collateral law. The Code of Law regulates the following provisions:

b the mortgaged land may remain in the hands of the mortgagor or pass into the hands of the mortgagee;

ь pledge of courtyards in the suburbs was allowed;

ь mortgage of movable property was allowed;

ь delay in redemption of the pledged property entailed the transfer of rights to it to the pledgee, with the exception of courtyards and shops in the suburbs.

Mortgages placed on yards and shops in the name of foreigners were considered invalid. If the pledgee's property was stolen or destroyed without his fault, he would reimburse the cost in half.

The cathedral code determines rights to someone else's thing(so-called easements). For example:

b the right to erect dams on the river within the boundaries of one’s property without harming the interests of neighbors,

b the right to set up nights and kitchen huts without causing damage to a neighbor,

b rights to fishing, hunting, mowing under the same conditions, etc.

b the right to graze livestock in the meadows or stop in places adjacent to the road until a certain time - Trinity Day.)

Law of obligations. According to the Code, the debtor is liable for an obligation not with his person, but only with his property. Another Decree of 1558 prohibited debtors from “becoming full slaves” to their creditor in case of non-payment of the debt. It was only allowed to give them “head before redemption”, i.e. before debt is worked off. If the defendant had property, then the penalty extended to movable property and yards, then to patrimony and estate.

At the same time, during this period, responsibility was not individual: the husband was responsible for his wife, children for their parents, servants for their masters and vice versa. Legislation has made it possible to transfer rights under some contracts (bondages) to previous persons. The debtor could not transfer his obligations only by agreement with the creditor.

Contracts for the purchase and sale of real estate had to be drawn up in writing and in a “deed of sale” (secured by the signatures of witnesses and registered in orders). The purchase and sale of movable property was carried out by verbal agreement and transfer of the thing to the buyer.

But the decree of 1655 ordered judges not to accept petitions under loan, payment and loan agreements “without servitude”, i.e. without written documents.

Thus, there has been a transition from the verbal form of concluding contracts to the written form.

Loan agreement in the 16th - 17th centuries. was made only in written form. To smooth out social contradictions, interest rates on loans were limited to 20 percent. The Code of 1649 attempted to prohibit the charging of interest on loans, but in practice lenders continued to charge interest. The agreement was accompanied by a pledge of property. The mortgaged land passed into the possession of the creditor (with the right to use) or remained with the mortgagor with the condition of paying interest until the debt was repaid. If the debt was not paid, the land became the property of the creditor. When pledged, movable property was also transferred to the creditor, but without the right to use.

With the development of crafts, manufacturing and trade, it was widely distributed personal hire agreement, which was drawn up in writing for a period of no more than 5 years. Orally, personal hiring was allowed for a period of no more than 3 months.

Luggage agreement was made only in writing. Military men could transfer things for storage without a written agreement.

Known construction contracts craftsmen and property rental(rent).

Marriage and family relations in the Russian state were regulated by church legislation. Sources of church law allowed marriage at an early age. According to “Stoglav” (1551), it was allowed to get married at the age of 15, and to get married at the age of 12. The engagement (betrothal) took place at an even earlier age (parental agreement and compilation of a row record). It was possible to terminate a row entry by paying a penalty (charge) or through the court, but for serious reasons. In practice, ordinary people did not make a row record and got married at a later age. According to church laws, the first marriage was formalized by a wedding, the second and third by a blessing, and the fourth marriage was not recognized by church law. In accordance with the Code of 1649, the fourth marriage did not give rise to legal consequences.

Divorce was carried out by mutual consent of the spouses or at the unilateral request of the husband. Although in the 17th century the process of softening the rights of the husband in relation to his wife and the father in relation to children began, until the end of the 17th century, entry into bondage was not abolished at all. The husband could give his wife into service and sign her into bondage along with him. (The father had a similar right in relation to the children).

Intrafamily relations were regulated by the so-called “Domostroy”, compiled in the 16th century. In accordance with it, the husband could punish his wife, and she had to be submissive to her husband. If parents, while punishing their children, beat them to death, the Code imposed a punishment of only one year in prison and church repentance. If children killed their parents, they were punished by death.

Later, starting from the 17th century, it is planned process of dividing marital property, children and parents. This can be explained by the desire of the legislator to assign property to a certain person, incl. and dowry. The husband was not allowed to dispose of his wife's dowry without her consent. Since the 17th century the right to give the debtor to the “creditor with an annual interest until redemption” along with his wife is abolished. Later, the responsibility of the wife and children for the debts of the husband and parents, established by the Council Code, was abolished.

During the period under review, legislation distinguishes right of inheritance by law and will. The main attention is paid to the procedure for transferring land by inheritance. The will was drawn up, as in the Code of Laws of 1497, in writing. An oral will was allowed if the testator was illiterate, if it was made in the presence of witnesses and representatives of church authorities.

IN land law The defense of church interests and the struggle of the central government against the expansion of church land ownership were reflected.

Ancestral and granted estates were subject to inheritance only to members of the same family to which the testator belonged. And testamentary dispositions applied only to purchased estates and movable property.

The right of inheritance according to the law belonged to sons, and in their absence - to daughters. Widows were allowed to inherit. Thus, since 1642, it was established that the widow of a landowner who died in war receives 20% of the estate “for subsistence” until death or marriage, 15% for someone who dies on a campaign, and 10% for someone who dies in service (at home). The widow's share in the inheritance of movable property was 25% of the inheritance.

From the beginning of the 17th century, daughters began to be called upon to inherit even if they had brothers. After the death of their father, they were given a portion “for subsistence.” If a widow or daughters married, the “subsistence” estate was given as a dowry. However, daughters inherited ancestral and venerable estates only in the absence of sons. Widows were given land only from awarded estates, and in the event of a widow's marriage or death, the earned estate passed into the husband's clan.

Of the lateral relatives, brothers and their descendants were allowed to inherit, and from the middle of the 17th century. and distant relatives.

Legislation, protecting class interests, prohibited bequeathing lands to churches. In the absence of a will or legal heirs, the property now went not to the church, but to the royal domain. The church and monasteries received money from the treasury to commemorate the soul of the deceased in the amount of the value of the estate.

A superficial acquaintance with the Council Code allows us to conclude that the punitive nature has increased criminal law. There is still no general definition of the concept of crime in the law. Only from the content of the articles can we conclude that disobedience to the royal will, violation of the instructions of the king, his will, i.e., was considered a crime. acts that undermine the feudal order and are dangerous for the ruling class. Since wrongfulness, as the most important element of the concept of a criminal act, was not clearly defined by law, the scope of criminal liability was established by judicial and administrative authorities.

Subjects of the crime all members of society were recognized, incl. and slaves. Children under 7 years of age and the insane were not brought to criminal liability. For minors with physical disabilities (deafness, muteness and blindness), the punishment was mitigated.

Code of 1649 delineates crimes intentional, careless and accidental. The articles discuss “thieves' intent”, “starting a fire on purpose”, they talk about unintentional, sinful murder, about murder “without cunning”. Unintentional and accidental actions were not punished. Murder "drunken" was considered as intentional and did not entail a mitigation of punishment.

At the same time, the Code does not always clearly distinguish between an accidental, unpunished action and a careless form of guilt (Articles 223, 225, 226, 228 Chapter X of the Council Code).

The Code knew the institution of necessary defense (Article 200, Chapter X). At the same time, the question of proportionality between the means of defense and attack was not raised. Killing was considered a necessary defense not only to protect one’s own life, but also “the life of the one he serves,” i.e. Mr. Dependent people who did not defend their master from attack were subject to the death penalty. It was absolutely necessary to kill a dog when it attacked a person (Article 263, Chapter X).

The Code distinguishes between the stages of committing a crime:

s - naked intent;

s - assassination attempt;

s - committing a crime.

The Council Code more clearly regulates complicity. In Art. 19 Ch. XXII talks about incitement, in Art. 198 Ch. X - about complicity, in Art. 20 Ch. XXI - about concealment. In some cases, complicity is punishable by the same punishment as the criminal, in others - different.

The Code, like previous laws, punishes the crime of “recidivism” more severely (Articles 9, 10, 12, Chapter XXI).

In the Council Code of 1649, it was first carried out classification of crimes according to a certain system.

For the first time, a secular legislative monument was given first place crimes against religion and church(blasphemy, seduction into the Muslim faith, making obscene speeches during a church service, committing atrocities in the church: murders, injuries, insults, etc.). Most of them were sentenced to death.

The second chapter of the Code (“On state honor and how to protect its state health”) reveals state crimes, as the most dangerous, entailing the death penalty “without any mercy.” Among them are “intention for public health”, “evil intent to take possession of the Moscow state and become sovereign”, “surrendering the city to the enemy by treason”, “destroying the city or courtyards by intent or treason”, etc. Treason was punishable by death with confiscation of property. Members of the criminal's family were also brought to criminal responsibility: wife, children, father, mother, brothers, sisters, stepchildren who knew about the betrayal and did not inform the authorities (Article 6, Chapter II). The Code allowed peasants and servants to report their master's betrayal, although in other cases they were prohibited from filing a lawsuit against their master.

The Code provides for a reward for the murder of a traitor.

To crimes against order management The Code included: forgery of documents ("scraping" and "blackening"), forgery of seals, counterfeiting ("making thieves' money"), violation of the rules for collecting trade duties, the procedure for maintaining drinking establishments.

Like the Code of Law of 1497, the Code for counterfeiters establishes a special type of death penalty - pouring molten metal into the throat of all participants.

To crimes against the judiciary included:

b the judge passing an incorrect sentence for a bribe;

ь forgery, incorrect entry by the clerk in the verdict of the court session;

b red tape used for extortion;

b false testimony of witnesses, false oath, false denunciation (“slander”);

There's a fight in court.

Chapter XII of the Code “On the service of military men of the Moscow State” considers military crimes. The Code strictly punishes treason by military men (Article 20, Chapter VII).

Behind desertion the punishment was assigned depending on the time the crime was committed: for the first leaving the service (“whoever runs away first”) - “beat him with a whip”, for the second leaving the sovereign’s service - “beat him with a whip, and reduce his local salary ", "and he will run away to the trerie, and beat him with a whip, and take away his estate and give it away as distribution" (Article 8, Chapter VII).

In case of desertion of the archers and Cossacks and Danish people, they were found, beaten with a whip and returned to serve in the regiments. If the Danish people who escaped from service could not be found, then their owners paid a fine of “twenty rubles for each person” (Article 9, Chapter VII).

The Code provides for punishment of military men for committing on the road any violence or damage to the local population (“on the way to work... or from service to their homes... they will begin to rob, and there will be capital murder, or violence against the female sex, or they will poison bread in the threshing floor, or... by force from the ponds they will catch fish or do other violence to anyone" Art. 30). Those guilty of murders and rapes were sentenced to death, and the damage caused was compensated double.

For stealing weapons in the regiments they were punished by beating the whip “mercilessly”, and the weapons were returned to the owner. For stealing a horse the thief was punished by cutting off his hand (v. 29).

It was forbidden to grant leave for promises under penalty of punishment of commanders with a whip. Vacations were allowed only “for the most necessary matters” (in the case of “house destruction or human beatings”).

Chapter XXII of the Council Code provides for punishment for a crime against the individual.

Murder differed: intentional (punishable by death) and unintentional (punishable by whipping and imprisonment). The murder of parents is especially highlighted: “if a son or daughter commits capital murder against his father or mother, they will be executed by death without any mercy for paternal or maternal murder.” There followed a strict punishment for the murder of the master: “If someone’s man kills the one he serves to death: and he himself will be executed by death without any mercy.”

A wife who killed her husband was buried alive in the ground (if the woman was pregnant, she was kept in prison until she gave birth, then executed).

To crimes against the person The Code refers to:

ь crimes against health (mutilation, beatings),

b crimes against honor (insult by action and word).

Punishments for them were assigned depending on the position held, social and property status of the victim.

Punishment for causing bodily harm was established according to the principle TALIONA(an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth) and, above all, the victim was compensated for damages in the amount of 50 rubles. for every wound (Article 10, Chapter XXII). If the injury or beating was inflicted by a peasant, then they received compensation in the total amount of 10 rubles.

The Code pays significant attention property crimes, devoting Chapter XXI “On Robbery and Terrorist Affairs” to them. The law distinguishes “theft” (secret theft of property), robbery (violent, overt, open seizure of property), robbery (robbery accompanied by an attack on the life and health of the victim).

For the first theft they beat him with a whip, cut off his left ear, put him in prison for 2 years and “without taking him out of prison” he was sent in shackles “to do all sorts of things”, then exiled to the outskirts. For the second theft, whipping, cutting off the right ear and imprisonment for 4 years, 2 parcels for goods in shackles", then exile to outlying cities. (According to the Code of Law of 1550 - death penalty). For the third theft, Article 12 establishes torture and the death penalty “even though he did not commit murder,” and the property of the criminal was given to the plaintiff for use.

Death penalty for church theft. Article 13 reads: “If a thief commits murder at the first thief, he will be executed by death.” Thus, the Code considers theft for the third time, theft with murder and theft of church property as qualified types of theft.

Punishment for robbery:

ь for the first time was imposed in the form of cutting off the right ear, three-year imprisonment and exile;

In the second - the death penalty.

If the first robbery was accompanied by murder, then the law imposed the death penalty.

For failure to inform and concealment of people “whose ears were cut off,” a fine of 10 rubles was imposed, so that “there would be no refuge for thieves and robbers anywhere.”

The Code also punishes for arson, destruction of other people's property and fraud.

The Council Code partially defines crimes against morality (violation of family foundations, pimping, etc.), previously known only to church law (Articles 25, 26, Chapter XXII).

The system of punishments according to the Council Code pursues the goal of intimidation: to punish “so that, despite this, others would be discouraged from doing so.”

Types of punishment reflect the extreme cruelty of the punitive functions of the Council Code; for many crimes the death penalty is provided.

According to the severity of the crime, punishments were divided into the following types:

~ the death penalty is the capital punishment, provided for in 36 cases, it was simple (cutting off the head, hanging and drowning), and qualified (quartering, wheeling, pouring molten metal into the throat, burying in the ground up to the shoulders, impalement, burning, etc. .).

~ corporal punishment (painful and self-harmful) - beating with batogs, whips, cutting off a hand, branding, punishment according to the Talion principle,

~ hard labor,

~ property penalties,

~ deprivation of rank, removal from office,

~ church repentance.

The Council Code finally approves 2 process forms: search and trial.

The investigative (inquisitorial) process is finally approved in law enforcement practice and is used more widely than in the previous period. It is used in cases of church and religion, political crimes, murder, theft, robbery and robbery. The search began not only at the request of the victim, but also at the initiative of government agencies. At the same time, they interrogated the accused and witnesses, asked neighbors, conducted a “massive search” - a mass survey of the population, torture. The provincial elders and judges, the best people, the convicts, were present during the torture. The “torture speeches” were recorded by the zemstvo clerk, and they were signed by judges and other persons.

The indictment-adversarial process (“court”) was retained for the consideration of property and minor criminal cases. The proceedings were conducted orally, but were recorded in the “court list” (protocol).

The field (duel) and rightness gradually disappeared from the system of evidence. During this period, the institution of recusal of a Judge appeared (Article 3, Chapter X).

The Council Code of 1649 is a set of laws of Moscow Rus' regulating a wide variety of spheres of life.

Reasons for the creation of the Council Code

The last code of law adopted before the creation of the Council Code was dated 1550 (Code of Law of Ivan the Terrible). Almost a century has passed since then, the feudal system of the state has changed somewhat, numerous new decrees and codes have been created, which often not only made previous decrees obsolete, but also contradicted them.

The situation was also complicated by the fact that numerous regulatory documents were widely scattered among departments, which is why there was complete chaos in the state’s legislative system. Situations were common when only those who accepted it knew about the new act, and the rest of the country lived according to outdated standards.

In order to finally streamline lawmaking and the judicial system, it was necessary to create a completely new document that would meet the requirements of the time. In 1648, the Salt Riot broke out; the rebels, among other things, demanded the creation of a new regulatory document. The situation became critical and it was no longer possible to delay.

In 1648, the Zemsky Sobor was convened, which until 1649 was engaged in the creation of the Cathedral Code.

Creation of the Cathedral Code

The creation of a new document was carried out by a special commission headed by N.I. Odoevsky. The creation of a new code of law took place in several stages:

Working with multiple sources of laws and regulations;
Meeting on the content of legislative acts;
Editing by the Tsar and the Duma of the submitted drafts of new bills;
Joint discussion of certain provisions of the code;
Signing of the new version of the bills by all members of the commission.

Such a careful approach to the creation of the document was caused by the fact that the commission members wanted to create a carefully systematized and as complete and accessible legal code as possible, correcting all the shortcomings in previous documents.

Sources of the Council Code

The main sources were:

Code of laws of 1550;
Decree books, where all issued bills and acts were recorded;
Petitions to the Tsar;
Byzantine law;
The Lithuanian statute of 1588 was used as a model for the law.

It was in the Council Code of 1649 that there was a tendency towards dividing the rules of law into branches, corresponding to modern legislation.

Branches of law in the Council Code

The new code determined the status of the state and the tsar himself, contained a set of norms regulating the activities of all government bodies, and established the procedure for entry and exit from the country.

A new system of classification of crimes has appeared in criminal law. The following types appeared:

crime against the church;
crime against the state;
crime against the order of government (unauthorized departure from the country);
crimes against decency (keeping brothels);
malfeasance:
crimes against the person;
property crimes;
crimes against morality.

New types of punishment also appeared. Now the criminal could count on the death penalty, exile, imprisonment, confiscation of property, fine or dishonorable punishment.

Civil law also expanded significantly due to the growth of commodity-money relations. The concept of an individual and a collective appeared, the legal capacity of women in matters of making transactions increased, the oral form of the contract was now replaced by a written one, laying the foundation for modern purchase and sale transactions.

Family law did not change much - the principles of “Domostroy” were still in effect - the supremacy of the husband over his wife and children.

Also in the Council Code the procedure for legal proceedings, criminal and civil, was described - new types of evidence appeared (documents, kissing the cross, etc.), new procedural and investigative measures were identified aimed at proving guilt or innocence.

An important difference from previous codes of law was that, if necessary, the Council Code of 1649 was supplemented and rewritten when new acts appeared.

Enslavement of the peasants

However, the most prominent place in the Council Code is occupied by issues regarding serfdom. The Code not only did not give the peasants freedom, it completely enslaved them. Now the peasants (including their families and property) actually became the property of the feudal lord. They were inherited like furniture and had no rights of their own. The rules regarding escaping from oppression also changed - now the peasants had practically no opportunity to become free (now a runaway peasant could not become free after a few years, now the investigation was carried out indefinitely).

The meaning of the Cathedral Code

The Cathedral Code of 1649 is a monument of Russian law. It outlined new trends in the development of Russian law and consolidated new social features and institutions. In addition, the Code has made significant progress in terms of systematization and drafting of legal documents, since a distinction has been made by industry.

The Code was in force until 1832.