From the History of the Process of the Formation of Russian Legal Terminology of the 14th - 17th Centuries

The article is devoted to the description of the process of the formation of legal lexicon in the Russian language of the 14th— 17th centuries. In the earlier documents of the ancient Russian period crimes are called “зло, грех, проказа, пакости, ослушание” etc. Criminals who have committed unlawful actions are called “ослушники” and “злодеи”. In the future criminal actions are differentiated according to the signs: committed against the person or property, intentional — unintentional, and the first time or repeatedly. The author in the article analyses terminology of crimes against property. Criminal acts are called in legal texts “разбой,татьба,грабеж” etc. Persons who commit crimes are called “разбойник, тать,грабежник” etc. Important criteria for naming the perpetrators of the theft are the crime scene and the character of the stolen things: “церковныйтать, кромскийтать, клетныйтать, коневыйтать” etc. The vocabulary is analysed from the point of view of origin, semantics and the sphere of use