Russia Criminal Law
The old conception of evil for evil dominates the oldest Russian law. The Russkaya Pravda begins with the words: "The man takes revenge killing by death." Likewise the Lithuanian statute and the Ulo ΕΎ enieof 1649 they taught that retribution is the purpose of punishment ("Whoever sets fire to a city or houses, he himself will be burned without any mercy"). In a second time, the principle of revenge is understood with restrictive criteria, and the concept that it is possible to replace revenge with pecuniary redemption emerges. The ransoms benefit both the injured party and the taxman. This means that in this epoch two aims are to be achieved with the penalty: the satisfaction of the injured party and the achievement of material profits by the state. For the…