Genesis of the Extradition Institute of Persons Committed Crimes in Pre-Revolutionary Russia

The article examines the problem associated with the emergence, formation and development of Russian legislation that regulated the institution of extradition of persons who have committed crimes. Different points of view are analyzed regarding the original document, which is the starting point to establish the extradition of persons who have committed crimes in Ancient Russia. The author does not agree with the traditional view in the literature about the initial moment of the extradition of persons who committed a crime from the agreement of 911 year “On Peace and Friendship”, concluded by the Kiev prince Oleg with Byzantium. There are no sufficient grounds to classify this agreement as extradition, since it refers to the compulsory return by the creditor himself of his debtor, i.e. about the fulfillment by the debtor of a property obligation. The points of view on the emergence of legislative acts about the extradition of persons who committed crimes until the beginning of the 19th century are also criticized. The author substantiates the position on the emergence of a legislative basis for the extradition of persons who have committed crimes in Russia at the end of the 18th – beginning of the 19th centuries. The characteristics of the first Russian laws are given which had the legal foundations for the institution of extradition of persons who have committed crimes (the Criminal and Correctional Penalties Code of 1845 and 1903, the Law of the Russian Empire of 1911 “On Extradition of Criminals at the Request of Foreign States”). The principles, grounds and conditions of extradition established in these laws are analyzed. The special role of the Law of 1911 in the formation of a serious regulatory basis for the institution of extradition of persons who have committed crimes is noted. The thoroughness of its legal elaboration ensured that it fully complied with the European level of extradition practice of the early twentieth century.