M.S. Zhuk. Major Setup Stages of Doctrinal Ideas on Russian Criminal Law Institutions (XV through beginning of XXI centuries)

Abstract: The issues of setup and transformation of Russian criminal law institutions in the period between XV and beginning of XXI centuries are studied in the article; the factors influenced this process (level of social-economic development of the state, political situation in the country, degree of scientific development of legal problems, etc.) are considered in it. The author has estimated first codifying regulatory enactments of the Russian state. An attempt to identify the major evolution stages of the national penal law institutions has been made. View points of different law science schools representatives that had preconditioned vector for Russian criminal law development and development of its institutions are described in the article with reasonable details and compared with each other. In this context, works of well-known Russian academic lawyers devoted to the issues of legal culture and law science, as well as to creation and setup of criminal law institutions have been analyzed. Along with that, attention is emphasized on the fact that, for the purpose of historical retrospect, influence of the law science on formation and classification of penal law institutions, became possible only at a certain historical period. The author in the context of the set forth issues, states that till the XV century, due to identity of the Russian law genesis, reflected, first of all, in reception of the Byzantine law, that was less developed (compared to the Roman law) and in the specifics of language forms used at that time, no tangible need in lawyers as in specific professional people had arisen in Russia, as well as there was no need in apartness of jurisprudence as a specific sphere of human activity. Further the author notes, that the formation of outline sketch of criminal law institutions started with the process of classification of legal norms that have been very fragmentary fixed, at the time when creation of uniform law became the major task for the Russian state. However, till the XIX century Russia lawyers failed to differentiate and classify numerous normative documentations with respect to branches and institutions, they failed to separate criminal norms from the norms related to another spheres. In the author’s opinion, Reforms of Peter the Great that signalized dramatic renovation of normative material, efficient implementation of positive foreign experience and, of course, understanding of necessity for strengthening and unification of legality in the Russian state, had become the impact for theoretical jurisprudence development. At the same time, the most important condition for scientific conceptualization of criminal law institutions became understanding of real independence of legal norms that forms them. Making estimation of doctrinal ideas of criminal law system over the period of national criminal law science existence, the author sates that within the scope of the latter; no unified and completed concept of legal institutions had been ever made. In the author’s view point the science only just now starts to realize this fundamental task. However, the performed study shows, that previous development of criminal law doctrine has created all necessary preconditions for that.

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