The Emergence and Development of Anti-competitive and Antitrust Legislation of the Russian State of the X–XVII Centuries: Historical and Legal Analysis

Abstract

The history of the creation of a mechanism for state regulation of market relations, issues of the formation of anti-competitive and anti-monopoly legislation in the Russian state are not so often considered in Russian legal literature and are rather undeveloped in historical and legal science. The analysis of the Ancient Rus legal system carried out in the article shows that the first legal norms of anti-competitive and antitrust orientation were contained in earlier legal acts than is usually considered in the historical and legal literature devoted to research in this area. Thus, the first codified act of Ancient Rus – "Russkaya Pravda" (Russian Truth) – contains legal norms concerning state regulation of interest rates on cash loans issued to the population. Anti-competitive and antitrust provisions were also contained in other normative acts of Ancient and Medieval Rus: "The Novgorod Charter of Grand Duke Vsevolod on Church Courts, People and Trade Standards", "The Manuscript of Prince Vsevolod", the Cathedral Code (collection of decrees) of the Church and Zemsky Council, held in 1551 in Moscow, known as "Stoglav", and others. Many anti-competitive and antitrust legal norms were developed in the first systematized and codified normative act in the history of the Russian state, covering almost all branches of law of that time – the Council Code of 1649. The results of the study supplement the scientific knowledge about the history of state building and law in Russia and other countries of the world.