THE ORDINARY LAW OF THE INDIGENOUS NORTHERN PEOPLES OF RUSSIA IN THE XVII – XIX CENTURIES: CONVERGENCE AND RECEPTION

Abstract

This paper discusses the issues of the convergence process, which allows revealing the peculiarities of the interpenetration of customary law among some representatives of the Samoyed and Finno-Ugric peoples. The relevance of the study is due to the identification of the process of influence of customary legal views of the indigenous population of the Northern Russia on the formation of positive law. Objective: to study the process of approximation of customary legal norms, that existed among some Finno-Ugric and Samoyedic peoples both among themselves and with the customary legal elements of ethnic groups living in the neighborhood not excluding the interception between the norms of positive law and customary legal norms of Komi, Nenets, Khanty and Mansi. Results and scientific novelty: The work shows that the approximation of customary legal norms and institutions among these peoples occurred constantly both among themselves and with the customary legal elements of peoples living in territorial proximity with them. Usually legal institutions, which started to be realized in the 17th century, are distinguished. However, by the 19th century an integral system of legal customs is being developed, that was applied among the studied peoples. Attention is drawn to the fact that starting from the 17th century the Russian legislator “protected” the northern peoples from illegal influence and arbitrariness on the part of the officials. By the first half of the 19th century the legislator even sanctioned the most important principles of state policy in the “Charter on the Management of Foreigners”, where normatively not only the traditional forms of using patrimonial lands for indigenous peoples were fixed, but also the possibility of codification of customary law. The novelty of the study is seen in the fact that empirical material has been used to identify the process of interception of customary legal norms and institutions among the studied peoples.