History of the creation and general description of the Code of Law of 1550

The Code of Law of Ivan IV of Grozny was compiled in 1550. It was based on the previous document, written three years earlier under Ivan III. The new code of laws became the first official normative legal act in the history of Ancient Rus, which was recognized as the only source of the legality of the proceedings. A general description of the Code of Law of 1550, which includes a brief description of its main provisions, is presented in this article.

Prerequisites for creating a new document

In the XV-XVI centuries the process of formation and unification of the Russian lands ended, and a single centralized state appeared. Now all power was concentrated in Moscow and was in the hands of the Grand Duke. From there he ruled all his lands.

At this time, there were significant changes in the issue of land ownership, since the period of feudalism was coming. These changes led to the fact that the previously adopted laws could no longer fully regulate the new relations that emerged in the socio-economic sphere. There was a need to create a more updated and perfect source of legal relations, which could be guided in making decisions on a particular issue. Therefore, the prerequisites for the appearance of a new edition of the Code were reforms carried out by Ivan the Terrible, and the irrelevance of the previous set of laws. In addition, there is a need to specify some of his articles.

The purpose of creating a new document, which was the Code of Law of 1550, the summary of which will be given below, was to close multiple gaps of the obsolete code of laws. This was achieved by supplementing it with more modern and detailed legal acts.

Creating an updated Code of Law

The centennial of Ivan the Terrible coincided with the time when the Code of Law was compiled in 1550. The history of the creation of this document is as follows: under the influence of the priest Sylvester, and also with the help of a circle of advisers gathered around the ruler, the tsar began to carry out reforms. The beginning of their implementation is connected with the solemn cathedral, held in Moscow in 1550-1551. It was on him that the previous Code of 1497 was edited. Of the 100 existing articles in the new document, 37 appeared only with the coming to power of Ivan the Terrible. The basic text of the old code has undergone substantial processing.

Summary

In the middle of the XVI century in Russia, articles of the new law determined the relationship of people not only with each other, but also with the state. All of them entered the Code of Law of 1550. The summary and description of its main articles shows an updated approach to its creation, compared with the early codes of laws. The Code of Law of Ivan the Terrible includes the norms of civil, property, liability, hereditary, criminal law, as well as a description of the search and trial processes.

Basic Provisions

Ivan the Terrible with his brothers and close boyars adopted the Code of Law of 1550. The main provisions of this document confirmed the former custom, according to which, in addition to the governors appointed by the tsar, the elders and the so-called tselovalniki, that is, jurors who kissed the cross, were present. They were official and permanent participants in the proceedings. In addition to the governors, protocols were to be compiled by the Zemstvo clerks. The papers were considered valid only after they were signed by the headman and the bakers. The governors and their assistants - the tyuns could not arrest anyone without explaining to them the reasons for the detention.

Also in Sudebnik, special attention was paid to local and central government. Transformations affected mainly the local leadership, but at the same time the old system of feeding was preserved.

General characteristics of the Code of Law of 1550 includes the social part of the new legislation. It deals with two main issues - the dependent population, who were serfs and peasants, and land tenure. The new document was designed to improve the process of justice and enable it to be monitored by representatives of the local population.

In the 16th century, the abuse of power by persons appointed by the sovereign, as well as by judges, was widespread. This state of affairs could not but be reflected in the Tsar's Code of Laws. This document contains articles that say that judges can not take promises, revenge and be friends with each other. However, the ban was not general and blurred, for disobedience it was supposed to be a very concrete punishment: the levy of a fine, imprisonment or whipping.

General characteristics of the Code of Law of 1550 will be incomplete, if not to say about one very important situation. The judge had no right to send the plaintiffs from himself before he could understand the essence of their complaint. If the official did not properly fulfill his duties and these facts of abuse reached the king, then the minister of law could himself get behind bars.

Norms of Civil Law

They were necessary to regulate and further develop all the complicated social and economic relations. His subjects could be both collectives, consisting of two or more people, and private individuals. All aspects in this area were regulated by the Code of Law of 1550. Property rights could be acquired through an agreement, capture, award, discovery or prescription.

The most common way at that time to obtain rights to property was a contract. He was confined to the middle of the XVI century exclusively orally. At the end of the century the contract already existed in the form of a written transaction, called bondage. Such a document was signed personally by the obliging parties. If they were illiterate, the paper was signed either by their relatives or by spiritual fathers.

Over time, there was a serf or notarial type of transactions, under which contracts relating to the alienation of real estate, entered into legal force only after they are registered.

Inheritance law

The main direction of its development in the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries was not only the expansion of the very range of heirs, but also the consolidation of their rights to property. And this in many ways contributed to the new Code of Law of 1550. Briefly, the main provision of the Law of Inheritance can be formulated as follows: it made it possible to make a will to any member of the family. It was drafted in writing, and then approved in the presence of the deacon and the rumors.

The circle of heirs under the then law consisted of children and surviving spouses. But in some cases, it included other relatives. For example, if it concerned the inheritance of ancestral lands. Only those sons who lived at the time of the death of the head of the family in his home could receive their share of the property. The brothers were to inherit in equal parts. If the family was not only sons, but also daughters, the latter did not have any rights to real estate.

Yuryev's Day

The previous code of laws concerning the transfer of villagers from one village to another, as well as from the old landowner to a new one, fell into the Code of Law of 1550. Peasants were allowed to make such movements only in a strictly defined period - in the autumn a week before St. George's Day and for the same time after it. This gave the right to choose a good landowner and, it should be noted, many used it, leaving from the bad owners.

Why did such movements occur in the fall? This was due to the fact that when the harvest was already completed, the transfer of the peasant from the former master to the new became absolutely painless for both of them. The very nature of land relations prescribes a bilateral restriction on such actions. For example, the landowner did not have the right to drive the peasant from the leased land before harvesting, and the peasant, in turn, could not leave his master without paying off with him after the end of the harvest. Thus, the law established a clear deadline, during which both sides had to pay off each other.

Criminal law

Thanks to the new document adopted by Ivan the Terrible, some laws have undergone significant changes. Criminal law was not an exception. The Code of Law of 1550, unlike the previous one, defined the crime not as an insult, that is, causing moral or material damage to a group of people or an individual, but began to classify them as illegal acts committed against the state. Thus, a criminal offense was considered non-compliance with regulations, established norms, as well as non-compliance with the will of the sovereign.

Classification of offenses

In the new Sudebnik for the first time began to use the systematization of violations. At the top step were crimes committed against the state. First of all, they were seditious - betrayal of their country or prince, weaving the conspiracy, calling for insurrection or insurrection.

On a step below there were misconduct and offenses committed against the order of government and directly the court. This could be a bribe, counterfeiting, false testimony, embezzlement, and so on.

Next came the criminal deeds committed against the person. These included murder and insult with an action or a word. The last were property crimes: kidnapping a slave, stealing, robbery and robbery.

Methods of payment for a crime

The Code of Law of 1550 significantly complicated the system of punishments for the committed offenses, and also introduced new ones - isolation and intimidation of the offender. The most terrible punishment was, of course, the death penalty. Only the Emperor could cancel it. A very heavy punishment was the so-called commercial execution, when the marketplace of the offender was beaten with a whip. Other bodily and self-inflicted punishments were applied.

There were additional sanctions in the form of fines and other monetary penalties. They directly depended on the social situation of the victim and the severity of the deed.

So, in brief, a general description of the Code of Law of 1550 appears. The document of the 16th century describes in some detail the main principles governing the centralized Russian state. It is worth noting that the code of laws of Ivan the Terrible is not only a historical monument, but also the foundation on which modern law is based.