Delimitation of Powers through Treaty: The Significance of the Historical Experience of the Novgorod Republic for State-Legal Construction

Abstract

The article presents the author's point of view on the importance of the historical experience of the medieval Novgorod Republic for the domestic practice of state-legal construction. It is the history of Novgorod that is the first example of a clear definition of the boundaries of authority of individual links of the state mechanism for creating a stable state system. The state, which flourished as a result of the active development of trade, solved the problem of ensuring the conditions of political existence necessary for the stable development of economic life by choosing such options for organizing government institutions that would guarantee freedom of economic activity and the active development of trade. Complete subordination to the power of the Kievan princes would by its very nature be contrary to the principles of a free economy. Therefore, the process of establishing Novgorod's statehood was based on a collegial management system that allowed combining and coordinating interests.