The Main Principles of Penal Law in the Regulations of the Statute of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania of 1588 Cover Image

Законодательная регламентация принципов уголовно-правового регулирования в нормах статута Великого княжества Литовского 1588 года
The Main Principles of Penal Law in the Regulations of the Statute of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania of 1588

Author(s): Rimma N. Klyuchko
Subject(s): Law, Constitution, Jurisprudence, History of Law, Criminal Law, 16th Century, Penal Policy
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu w Białymstoku
Keywords: Lithuanian Statute 1588; penal law; personal responsibility; juveniles;

Summary/Abstract: Law principles are recognized as the main ideas which reflect the meaning of legal regulation. The rules of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania’s Statutes of 1529, 1566, 1588 contained the legislative background of the criminal legal regulation’s principles. Despite the low level of the law’s technical development, and the high casuistic nature of the Statutes’ rules, they codified the main progressive principles of the criminal law. The subject of the principles of legality, personal liability and responsibility which are fixed in the rules of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania’s Statute of 1588 are analyzed in the article. The article also makes an investigation into the historical conditions of their fixation in modern criminal law. In spite of the class approach of the legal regulation in the Middle Ages, the Statute’s rules confirm the progressive ideas of the remission of penalties for lawless juveniles. The most progressive of the Statute’s rules were those which fixed the principles of the personal liability and responsibility. Developing the conception of the responsibility of guilt, the Statute fixed progressive statements for its time about the absence of reasons for imposing criminal responsibility upon insane persons.

  • Issue Year: 11/2012
  • Issue No: 1
  • Page Range: 89-96
  • Page Count: 8
  • Language: Russian