Church Statute of Prince Vladimir

Оуставъ с(вя)т(о)го кн(я)зя Володимира, кр(е)стившаго Роусьскую землю, о ц(ерк)о(в)ныхъ соудех[1]

Synodic Kormchaia of 1282 (Novgorod), containing the oldest surviving copy of Statute of Vladimir among other articles
Created from the beginning of the 12th century.
Author(s) prince`s administration and churchmen.
Purpose guidance for the church court.

Church Statute of Prince Volodimir (modern writing: Vladimir; Russian: Церковный Устав князя Владимира) is a source of church law in Old Rus', defined legal authority of church and legal status of clergy by the state: prince (knyaz) and his administration. Vladimir's Statute was a short legal code, regulated relationship between the church and the state, including demarcation of jurisdiction between church and princely courts, and defined index of persons and organizations within the church jurisdiction. The church also got under its supervision the system of weights and measures, and monthly support: tithe from all princely income. The statute was written at the beginning of the 12th century and remaked during many centuries. The statute was written in Old Church Slavonic and Old Russian. It was one of the first church sources of Old Russian Law.[2] Church Statute of Prince Yaroslav and other Old Russian princely statutes served to closely purposes. One of the sources of the statute was Byzantine law, including Nomocanon.[3]

The statute was written on behalf of Kievan prince (and the prince of all Rus') "Vasilii, called Volodimir, son of Sviatoslav <...> having consulted with my Princess Anna and with my children".[4]

History and meaning

Evgeniy (Bolkhovitinov), Konstantin Nevolin, Makariy (Bulgakov), Vasily Klyuchevsky, Vladimir Beneshevich, Aleksandr Lototskiy, George Vernadsky and Mikhail Tikhomirov considered that the statute went back to Pre-Mongol Period (before the first half of the 13th century). Serafim Yushkov, Aleksandr Zimin and Yaroslav Schapov referred the archetype of the statute to the beginning or to the first half of the 12th century. Nikolay Karamzin, Yevgeny Golubinsky attributed the basis of the statute to the 13th century. Altksey Pavlov - to the 14th century.[5] Serafim Yushkov considered that the basis was a short "confirmative" charter (gramota) by prince Vladimir Svyatoslavich (the end of the 10th - the beginning of the 11th centuries), authorized use of church law and defined size of jurisdiction of Russian church. Yushkov reconstructed this charter: a part of the lawsuits were passed from prince, boyars and their judges to the church and the bishops.[6] According to Yushkov the protograph of the first and second redactions was formed at the beginning of the 12th century, also reconstructed by the scholar.[7]

Statute of Vladimir has a wide distribution in Old Russia and was known outside. Development of the statute redactions reflexes evolution of Old Russian church law and relationship between church and prince during centuries.[5]

Copies

The original isn't survived. The statute is survived in more than 200 copies from 13th to 19th centuries united in seven redactions. This copies are a part of various Old Russian collections of laws, including Kormchiye. The oldest surviving copy of the statute is contained in Synodic Kormchaia of 1282 (Novgorod).[5]

Collection of Church Statutes and Charters

Some copies of the statute are often a part of the Collection of Church Statutes and Charters, including church statutes of prince Vladimir and prince Yaroslav, the Rule on Church People and the Rule of 165 Saint Fathers. The Collection concludes with Confirmative Charter of 1402 by Vasily Dmitrievich, Grand Prince of Moscow, and Cyprian, Metropolitan of Moscow, mentioning about Vladimir's Statute (the Charter confirmed rights and privileges, given to church by princes Vladimir and Yaroslav, and metropolitans). Thus the Statute of Vladimir could be applied up to the 15th century in Grand Duchy of Moscow and it could be later.[8]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Old Russian Princely Statutes of the 11-15th centuries / Yaroslav Schapov. Moscow, 1976. P. 22. (Russian: Древнерусские княжеские уставы XI–XV вв. / Изд. подготовил Я.Н. Щапов. М., 1976. С. 22), "Statute of Saint Prince Volodimir, Who Converted the Rus' Land, On Church Courts" (see: The Laws of Rus' - Tenth to Fifteenth Centuries, tr., ed. Daniel H. Kaiser (Salt Lake City, 1992), 42) - title of the Synodic Copy.
  2. ↑ Memorials of Russian Law / ed. by Serafim Yushkov. Issue 1: Memorials of Law of Kievan State of the 10th-12th centuries / Aleksandr Zimin. Moscow, 1952. P. 236. (Russian: Памятники русского права / Под ред. С.В. Юшкова. М., 1952. Вып. I: Памятники права Киевского государства X–XII вв. / Сост. А.А. Зимин. C. 236).
  3. ↑ Kaiser, Daniel H. The growth of the law in Medieval Russia. – Princeton: Princeton univ. press, 1980. – 308 p.
  4. ↑ The Laws of Rus' - Tenth to Fifteenth Centuries, tr., ed. Daniel H. Kaiser (Salt Lake City, 1992), 42.
  5. 1 2 3 Old Russian Princely Statutes of the 11-15th centuries / Yaroslav Schapov. P. 12.
  6. ↑ Yushkov, Serafim. Study on the History of Russian Law. Statute of Prince Vladimir / Historical and Legal Research. Novouzensk, 1925. Issue 1. P. 134-135. (Russian: Юшков С.В. Исследование по истории русского права. Устав князя Владимира / Историко-юридическое исследование. Новоузенск, 1925. Вып. 1. С. 134-135). Thus the most part of the statute wasn't written in the time of Vladimir Svyatoslavich, but it was just attributed to Vladimir.
  7. ↑ Ibid. P. 118.
  8. ↑ Ibid. P. 182-184.

Some editions

Some literature

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