The Pskov Judicial Charter (russian: Псковская судная грамота) was an

Old Russian Old East Slavic (traditionally also Old Russian; be, старажытнаруская мова; russian: древнерусский язык; uk, давньоруська мова) was a language used during the 9th–15th centuries by East ...

legal code A code of law, also called a law code or legal code, is a systematic collection of statutes. It is a type of legislation that purports to exhaustively cover a complete system of laws or a particular area of law as it existed at the time the cod ...

of the

Pskov Republic Pskov ( la, Plescoviae), known at various times as the Principality of Pskov (russian: Псковское княжество, ) or the Pskov Republic (russian: Псковская Республика, ), was a medieval state on the south shore of ...

. It was issued in various redactions between 1397 and 1467, and was based on certain resolutions of the Pskovian city assembly or

veche Veche ( rus, вече, véče, ˈvʲet͡ɕe; pl, wiec; uk, ві́че, víče, ; be, ве́ча, viéča, ; cu, вѣще, věšte) was a popular assembly in medieval Slavic countries. In Novgorod and in Pskov, where the veche acquired g ...

, princely decrees, provisions of the

Russkaya Pravda The ''Russkaya Pravda'' (Rus' Justice, Rus' Truth, or Russian Justice; orv, Правда роусьскаꙗ, ''Pravda Rusĭskaya'' (13th century, 1280), Правда Руськая, ''Pravda Rus'kaya'' (second half of the 15th century); russian: ...

and

common law In law, common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law created by judges and similar quasi-judicial tribunals by virtue of being stated in written opinions."The common law is not a brooding omniprese ...

. It, along with the

Novgorod Judicial Charter The Novgorod Judicial Charter (Russian: Новгородская судная грамота) was an Old Russian legal code of the Novgorod Republic, issued in 1440, although the current version was supplemented in 1471 under the auspices of Grand ...

, was an important source for the

Sudebnik of 1497 The Sudebnik of 1497 (''Судебник 1497 года'' in Russian, or Code of Law) was a collection of laws introduced by Ivan III in 1497. It played a big part in the centralisation of the Russian state, creation of the nationwide Russian La ...

. The Pskov Judicial Charter reflected the most important aspects of socio-economic and political life of the Pskovian land in the 14th - 15th century. It protected private property, especially feudal landownership, regulated procedures for official registration of landownership and court examination of land disputes, defined the status of the so-called ''izorniks'' (a category of feudally dependent

peasant A peasant is a pre-industrial agricultural laborer or a farmer with limited land-ownership, especially one living in the Middle Ages under feudalism and paying rent, tax, fees, or services to a landlord. In Europe, three classes of peasan ...

s). Many articles of the Charter were dedicated to trade relations, such as buying and selling, pawning, loans, hiring of workforce etc. The code provided for a death penalty in case of a

political crime In criminology, a political crime or political offence is an offence involving overt acts or omissions (where there is a duty to act), which prejudice the interests of the state, its government, or the political system. It is to be distinguis ...

or regular

criminal offense In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a State (polity), state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definit ...

.For the text of the charter, see Daniel H.Kaiser, trans. and ed. ''The Laws of Rus, Tenth to Fifteenth Centuries''. Salt Lake City: Charles Schlacks, Jr., 1992.); see also B. D. Grekov, ed., "Pskovskaia sudnaia gramota.” ''Istoricheskie zapiski'' 6 (1940): 237-54.

History of creation and enactment

PDC consist of two parts: * Chapter by Alexander Mikhailovich, Great Prince of Tver * Chapter of Konstantin Dmitrievich, Prince, who reign in Pskov at 1407—1414. It was approved (with further additions) at veche at 1467. PDC had to determine judicial laws of Prince,

posadnik Posadnik ( Cyrillic: посадник, (literally: по-садник - ''pre-sident'') was the mayor in some East Slavic cities or towns. Most notably, the posadnik (equivalent to a stadtholder, burgomeister, or podestà in the medieval west) w ...

(governor of medieval Russian city-state, appointed by prince or elected by citizens), vicar, church hierarch and other officials. It also established orders of legal proceedings, determinations of crimes, proprietary rights and violences of it, different kinds of obligations and inheritance law.

References

External links

Full text of the charter in English
*{{in lang, ru}
Full text of the charter

History of creation and enactment

References

External links

See also