Justice of the Rus

Questions for Further Study

• 1.: From one point of view, the history of the world over the past millennium or more is the history of the consolidation of tribes and isolated bands of people into states. To what extent do the Justice of the Rus and the events leading to its promulgation illustrate this aspect of history?
• 2.: Compare Justice of the Rus with another medieval document, the Capitulary of Charlemagne of 802. Were there similarities in the motivations behind the two documents? How did cultural and historical factors influence each document?
• 3.: What role did the positions of “insider” and “outsider”—that is, membership in or exclusion from the dominant ethnic group—have on the nature of law as enunciated in Justice of the Rus?
• 4.: What role did trade and commerce play in both the legal code and the historical circumstances that gave rise to it? Why do you think trade and commerce had these effects?
• 5.: What were the short-term and long-term impacts of Justice of the Rus? In your opinion, did this law code contribute to the evolution of modern law codes that protect the interests of individuals, or was it a code designed merely to protect the interests of the state and its rulers?