THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE NATIONAL JUDICIAL SYSTEM AND THE JUDICIARY: THE AGE OF UKRAINE-RUS (IX–XIV centuries)
Authors:   Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Kyiv, Ukraine, Zakharchenko P. P. , Miroshnichenko M. I. ,   Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Kyiv, Ukraine
Published: March 2024

The article acquaints the readership with the peculiarities of the formation of institutions of the judicial system and the judiciary in the 9th‑14th centuries, when, according to the apt expression of Professor M.Hrushevskyi, a state called Ukraine-Rus was established on the territory of modern Ukraine. The need for its appearance lies in the need to reform judicial institutions, in accordance with the criteria established by the member states of the European Union in order to fulfill the conditions for Ukraine to acquire the full status of a candidate for the European Union. Turning to the historical heritage left by our ancestors shows that the judicial system of Ukraine was formed on national authentic soil, has deep historical roots and it is necessary to reform it first of all in the direction of real assurance of the justice of decisions from the influence of factors of an administrative, corrupt and other illegal nature. The authors of the publication claim that due to the stratified structure of Russian society, there was no single court for all strata of the population in Ukraine-Rus. Secular – public and private courts and ecclesiastical courts with the corresponding category of cases, which were subject to the jurisdiction of the corresponding (secular or ecclesiastical) judiciary, were competent to administer justice within the state-­country. The princely, secular and community courts were public. Private – patrimonial or domain. The basic principles of their activity are established. It is noted that the court proceedings had an accusatory and adversarial nature, but the elements of the detective (investigative) process in criminal cases were separately applied when it was necessary to conduct an investigation on hot leads. The investigative investigative process took place in three stages, each of which is described in detail in the publication. The conclusions emphasize that the doctrine of judicial power was not directly related to princely or church government, but to the implementation of the idea of law as an instrument of a peaceful environment. In addition, it was based on the idea that the guarantor of justice is not only the princely court, but also vervny and secular courts based on customary law. Arbitration proceedings, which had a private-public nature, became widespread. The main purpose of the arbitration court was not to strictly observe the letter of the normative legal act, but to stop enmity and discord by achieving reconciliation between the parties to the conflict. The principles of glasnost, openness, competition of parties, formal equality of all participants in the process before the law, accessibility of the court, initiated by arbitration proceedings on the territory of Russia, have not lost their relevance even in the 21st century. In the doctrine of the modern judiciary in Ukraine, these principles are a marker of the level of democracy in Ukrainian society.