The Customary Legal Status of Adopted Sons-In-Law in a Peasant Family in the Russian North in the second half of the XIX – early XX centuries

The subject of the research is the legal status of sons-in-law-adoptees in a peasant family in the Arkhangelsk province in the second half of the 19th -early 20th centuries.The unique development of the northern region of Russia, consisting in the absence of serfdom and special communal relations, determined the features of the customary legal regulation of peasant legal relations in general, and, in particular, family relations.The legislative uncertainty of the legal status of members of a peasant family predetermined the spread of customs regulating this area of relations in this territory.The reception of a son-in-law-adoptee by the bride's parents after the wedding or, if necessary, by the widow of the adopter, an adult worker, on the rights of a householder, was formalized by contracts, spiritual wills, various regulations defining the purpose, conditions of reception, rights and obligations of the parties.Unscrupulous performance of duties by members of a peasant family led to disputes and disagreements, for the resolution of which the parties applied to the volost peasant court, which more often resolved such family cases, bringing the parties to a settlement agreement.Based on an understanding of archival documents, as well as pre-revolutionary periodicals, conclusions are substantiated about the economic purpose of accepting a son-in-law-adoptee into the family, his responsibilities for the maintenance of adoptive parents, as well as inheritance rights after their death.