The concept and purpose of punishment in Russian medieval law

The paper considers the evolution of the purpose of criminal punishment in the sources of Russian medieval law with regard to the subjective guilt of a law-violator. For a long time, the essence of punishment in Russian law was expressed not so much in the application of sanctions to an offender for violating the norm of behavior (a custom) by the latter, but in restoring the violated order (the truth) and satisfying the victim’s resentment by causing physical suffering to an offender, or to compensate an offense by recovering the property of an offender. The essence of punishment was expressed in the restoration of justice, which was understood as an equivalent retribution to an offender for the evil committed, causing offense, and violating the general order. Such an understanding of the idea of justice, inseparable from law, has historically become the core of Russian legal consciousness. The author used the methods of historical-legal and comparative-legal analysis to study the activities of the legislator to limit the use of retaliation (revenge) by victims against an offender carried out privately without the state power participation. The author concludes that in the late medieval period, during the formation of the Muscovite state in the XIV–XV centuries, punishment becomes a compensatory remedy representing not a private, but a public (state or class) interest. Punishment in the state hands becomes retribution (punishment) to an offender formally on behalf of the whole society, but, in fact, on behalf of the ruling class. The legislator begins to pay attention to the internal (subjective) attitude of a person to a committed offense and its consequences when sentencing.