The article analyzes Norman sources of law and determines their influence on the development of the legal system of the Kyiv-Rus state. Considerable attention is paid to the characterization of the prerequisites for the formation of the early Ukrainian state – the Kyiv-Rus state. It is substantiated that Ukrainian statehood, according to historical sources, originates from the Antean tribal union. It was formed at the end of the fourth century under the influence of internal and external factors. External factors include the proximity to the Greek city-states of the Northern Black Sea region and the invasion of the Ostrogoths (Eastern Goths on Ukrainian soil) and nomadic tribes. The Antean tribal union, which covered the Ukrainian ethnic territory between the Dnipro and Dniester rivers, formed the Antean state, also called the “Antean Kingdom” (Regnum Anforum) / or Antean land, which ceased to exist in the early seventh century in 602 due to the aggression of the Avar Khaganate. After the fall of the Ants, the ancient Ukrainian tribes were forced to retreat to hard-to-reach places in the Carpathians, Volyn, and Polissya, where military and political alliances were formed: the Dulibs, Volynians, Croats (Great Croatia), Artania, Kuyavia, and Slavia. In the 7th and 8th centuries, the early Ukrainian state of Rus was formed with its center in Kyiv, based on the Polissya tribal union.

The author characterizes the Norman theory of the origin of the Kyiv-Rus state and points out the role of the princes of the Norman and Swedish Rurikovich dynasty in its formation and development. Considerable attention is paid to the analysis of the wording and articles of the first code of Ukrainian law – Ruska Pravda, which is a source of legal regulation of social relations in the Ukrainian lands in the XI–XVI centuries and a reflection of the level of socio-economic and political development. The Ruska Pravda was the main legal act in Kyiv-Rus state and thus influenced the development of Ukrainian law in subsequent historical periods. The author shows that in addition to Ukrainian customary law, international treaties, sources of Byzantine law, and princely legislation, the Ruska Pravda also used sources of law of other European nations, in particular, Swedish law. Modern European researchers, in particular German ones, write about the existence of statehood in the Ukrainian lands before the arrival of the Normans. At the same time, they point to the absence of statehood in the lands that are part of the Russian Federation. The Kyivan Rurik dynasty, which began ruling in Kyiv in 882, modernized the Old Ukrainian state in the manner of other European states and linked it with dynastic ties to European monarchies. Starting with Volodymyr the Great, the Rurik dynasty of Kyivan princes was gradually Ukrainized. The first code of Ukrainian law was the Ruska Pravda, written during the reign of the Great Kyivan Prince Yaroslav the Wise. Among the sources of the Ruska Pravda, scholars name Ukrainian (“Rus”) customary law, case law, Rus and Byzantine treaties, princely legislation, church statutes, and sources of Byzantine law. It is emphasized that the sources of law of the Kyiv-Rus state include the Germanic law, which was used when concluding the Rus and Byzantine treaties, the Short and Common versions of the Ruska Pravda. This testified to the spread of European legal traditions of legal regulation of social relations and its influence on the legal system of the early Ukrainian state – the Kyiv-Rus state.

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