To tell how law in Russia has changed over the centuries, Alliance Legal Consulting Group together with the online educational platform "Synchronization" has created a free course on the history of the Russian legal system as a contribution to the popularisation of law and Russian history.
On the project page you can read the fascinating lectures of the cycle ‘Russia: Law Through the Ages’.
Ancient Russian law
Whoever has the heavier club is right - that's how complex issues were resolved in ancient Russia. Now, of course, it sounds wild. But in the IX century, fighting with clubs, spears or daggers was considered a good way to settle a dispute. Another way was to ask the prince to judge ‘fairly’. But justice was different for each ruler.
Medieval law
In the Middle Ages, the Russian principalities were fragmented, and the laws in them were different. But in 1497, Prince Ivan III created a single set of laws for all lands - the Sudebnik. This document was the first step on the way to the first nationally recognised law - the Sobornoye Uposition, which was adopted in the XVII century and became the first printed monument of Russian law.
Law in the Russian Empire
Attempts to legislate the absolute power of the emperor, the desire of the court to independence, systematisation of laws - the path to the status of the rule of law was not easy. But it was at this time that reforms were carried out, the results of which we still use today.
Law in Soviet Russia
New state - new laws. After coming to power, the Bolsheviks actively formed a revolutionary new legal system. Private law was replaced by Soviet socialist legislation. Constitutions replace one another, and the judicial process in the search for objective truth is deprived of adversarialism.
Modern law
The USSR was replaced by the Russian Federation, a democratic and legal state with a republican form of government. The 1993 Constitution proclaims the principle of separation of powers and the rule of law. A completely new system of state and legal structure is being formed, but with reliance on the millennial experience of previous generations.