"Russkaya pravda" as the first precedent of the national unification of the rules on civil liability

Introduction: "Russkaya Pravda" is of great importance not only as a historical monument of the feudalism genesis in ancient Russia, but also as a source reflecting main trends in the development of the most important institution of civil law -the institute of civil liability. Purpose: to study stages of formation, evolution and unification of this institution of law. Methods: the methodological framework of the research includes a set of methods of scientific cognition, the dominant of which are the historical method, systematization, analysis and the comparative law method. Results: the authors'' opinion grounded in the article is based on the views of scientists on the question whether "Russkaya Pravda " differentiates crimes and torts and, correspondingly, different measures of responsibility, and on the matter of their correlation. Basing on the legal analysis of the provisions of "Russkaya Pravda", the authors differentiate the characteristic features of the criminal and civil liability and consider issues of legal regulation by the provisions of this act of civil tort liability and ways to protect intangible benefits. The authors reveal that "Russkaya Pravda" functioned as a unified act for the further development of the Russian legislation and define penalties served as the prototype of modern measures of civil liability. Conclusions: it has been found that the institution of civil liability in Russia is a logical result of the development and improvement of provisions that were put forward in "Russkaya Pravda ". Like in modern civil-law regulation of the developed national jurisdictions, including the Russian legal system, provisions for compensation of damages, both material and moral, take the central place among the methods and legal measures aimed at protecting civil rights in "Russkaya Pravda".