The time when the laws of Ancient Rus were written has been called into question

Tyumen State University historian Sergei Pashin analyzed the titles, various editions and lists of the Russkaya Pravda and suggested that the oldest monument of Slavic law, the Prostrannnaya Pravda, was created in the second half of the 13th century (in other studies, the document is dated to the 12th century). An article with the scientist's research was published in the journal "Ancient Rus – Issues of Medieval Studies," Naked Science reports .

The short version of the Russian Truth has reached our days in two copies – the Ancient Truth and the Truth of the Yaroslavichi. "The headings of the Extended Truth consist of two parts. The names of the first part are related to the realities of the 13th-15th centuries, the second part of the headings of all the copies is represented by the phrase "Russian Truth". This fact indicates that the creators of the Extended Truth used the Short Truth. The Extended Truth itself was created in the second half of the 13th century – possibly in the 1273-1280s," Pashin noted.

Tyumen State University historians have already addressed the events that took place after the death of Vladimir the Saint. They were the ones that led to the appearance of the Short Truth. But there is no consensus yet on when the document was created.

Sergey Pashin believes that when studying these documents, it is necessary to take into account various nuances: textual and paleographic features of the copies of the Russian Truth, as well as in which manuscript collection the Extended Truth was. The data he analyzed gave grounds to say that the chronicle was most likely compiled in the second half of the 13th century. Or, to be more precise, in the period between the Vladimir Cathedral (1273) and the creation of the Novgorod Synodal Kormcha (1280s).

Russkaya Pravda is the oldest legal collection of Kievan Rus, dating back to 1016. The document contains norms of procedural, criminal, inheritance, family and obligation law.

Several editions of Pravda have survived to this day:

Brief Truth (11th century). Divided into the Truth of Yaroslav the Wise (1019-1054) and the Truth of the Yaroslavichi, sons of Yaroslav the Wise. The document contains 43 articles in total. Covers a narrow range of criminal offenses: self-mutilation, theft, beatings, and murder.

The Extensive Truth (12th century). Includes 121 articles. Conventionally divided into the Court of Yaroslav and the Charter of Vladimir Monomakh.

Abridged Truth (15th century). There are 50 articles, during this period the outdated norms of the Extended Truth were abolished.