Cathedral Code of 1649

Sobornoe Ulozhenie is the code of laws of Russia, which was approved by the Zemsky Sobor during 1648-1649. It was adopted during the reign of Alexei Mikhailovich. The drafting of this document was dealt with by a commission headed by Prince N.I. Odoyevsky. As a basis for the creation of the code, the Code of Laws of 1550, the books of Robbery, Zemsky, the Local Order, collective petitions of townspeople, provincial and Moscow noblemen, as well as the Pilot Book, the Lithuanian Statute were used. In general, the Cathedral Code included 25 chapters and 967 articles, which are devoted to the issues of the state criminal and property process and law.

Several chapters deal with issues related to state law. The first chapters define the term "state crime", which implied an action that is directed against the power of the monarch and the personality of the king. Participation in a criminal act and conspiracy against the tsar, voivode, boyars and clerks was punishable by death without any mercy.

The synodal code in the first chapter describes the protection of the interests of the church against the rebels, the protection of the nobles even when they kill the peasants and serfs. On social inequality and Russia's protection of the interests of the ruling class says the difference in fines for insult: for insulting a peasant it was supposed to pay two rubles, a person drinking a ruble, and those belonging to the privileged class to 80-100 rubles.

The chapter "The Court of Peasants" includes articles that formalized serfdom, which established the eternal hereditary dependence of the peasants, in this chapter the cancellation of the school years for the search for fugitive peasants took place, and a large penalty was established for concealing the fugitive. The sobornoye code took from the peasants of the landowner the right of judicial representation with respect to property disputes.

In accordance with the chapter "About the townspeople", private settlements in the cities were liquidated, they were returned to the tax-paying classes of people who had previously been exempt from taxes. The judicial code provided for the search of runaway townspeople, the population of the village was taxed with taxes and taxes. About the servile serfs tell the chapter "On the Fiefdoms" and "On Local Lands", which are devoted to issues of landowning noblemen.

The Cathedral Code contains an extensive chapter "On the Court", which deals with judicial matters. She detailed the procedure for conducting investigations and conducting court proceedings, determining the amount of court fees, fines, covering issues of deliberate and willful crimes, and regulating disputes over property.

The structure of the armed forces of the state is considered in the chapters "On the Service of the Warriors of the Moscow State", "On the Archer", "On the Atonement of Prisoners of War". The Cathedral Code, briefly described in this article, has become an important stage in the development of serfdom and autocracy. It was the main law in the Russian state until the middle of the XIX century.