Byzantism in the genesis of the Russian criminal law

Introduction: the author studies profundity and the major trends of impact of the right of the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantine law) on the development of the Russian criminal law. The goal of the study is substantiation of the rebuttals to a point of view of some scholars on legal “underdevelopment” and of the programmed implementation doom of domestic public and criminal law. Materials and Methods: legal monuments of the Eastern Roman Empire - Digests of Justinian, Ekloga, Nomocanons, Prochiron etc. - were the basis for the study, as well as legal monuments of Ancient Russia: Treaties with Byzantium of Princes Oleg and Igor, Charters of Princes Vladimir Svyatoslavovich and Yaroslav Vladimirovich, Russkaya Pravda (Russian Truth), Pskov Judicial Charter, Novgorod Judicial Charter, various editions of Kormlichy Books (Pidalion) and Merila the Righteous, etc. The author used the method of historical analysis made by Fucidid in antiquity and the method of historical reconstruction of the comparative jurisprudence. Results: the domestic criminal legislation from its establishment based on the traditions of the classical Roman law in its most developed Byzantium form. And while the vector of Byzantine influence on the development of secular criminal law has faded over time, canon law continues to experience it today. Discussion and Conclusions: understanding of the true historical roots of the establishment of the domestic law forms the foundation for its development nowadays and frees the reform of Russian criminal law from artificially imposed dependence on trends in the development of European public law.