Organizational and Legal Problems of the Judicial System and Judicial Proceedings Development in the Russian State (XV – XVI Centuries)

The article deals with organizational and legal problems of the judicial system and proceedings in Russia in the XV - XVI centuries, the relevance of which remained in the subsequent periods of its history. In the period under consideration, judicial books as a new type of law sources became widespread. First, these were the Code of Laws (Sudebnic) of 1497 and the Code of Laws (Sudebnic) of 1550. In addition to them such sources as Stoglav of 1551, statutory books of separate orders, statutory letters of viceroyalty administration, gubnye and zemstvo letters, etc. were widely used. The subject of the research is not only normative legal acts, which regulated activity of judicial bodies, but also problems and peculiarities of Russian centralized state courts functioning during the period of reforms carried out by Tsar Ivan IV and oprichnina policy, aimed at central state power strengthening. The aim of the article is to reveal problems and peculiarities in the development of judicial system and legal procedure during the period of Russian centralized state formation and class-representative monarchy formation. The methodological basis of the work consists of historical legal and comparative legal methods. The article analyzes the causes and nature of changes occurring in the system of the judicial system and legal proceedings in Russia during the period under consideration. The author concludes that the use of the term «Moscow state» in the title of the period considerably limits the researchers' possibilities to study the regional materials concerning the peculiarities of the development of the local courts in the territories of the Volga region developed by Russia in the 16th century. The received results and conclusions can be used in studying the history of state and law.