The Concept of Joint Commission of a Crime in Russian Law of the Late XVIII – mid XIX Centuries in the Aspect of Natural Legal Views

The article examines the genesis of the institution of joint commission of a crime in Russian criminal law of the pre-revolutionary era. It has been established that the institute has its roots in the first natural-legal scientific views. A feature of these views, along with others, was the fact that any person is not only individual and universal, but also self-sufficient, including in matters of criminal liability. However, compatibility in the commission of a crime was mainly considered in relation to the war. It was a collective criminal act of collective units, the responsibility for which lies not only with the supreme power, which initiates the decision to unleash it, but also with the people who make this decision and implement it. Even considering the manifestations of the joint commission of private crimes, supporters of the natural-scientific school, first of all, among possible accomplices, singled out persons capable of influencing the will and consciousness of other people, and capable of being the initiators and organizers of crimes. Natural legal views were reflected in criminal legal constructions, which were built by the first Russian researchers either exclusively on the interpretation of free will and pure reason, or were interpreted through the prism of not only natural legal views, but also with the undoubted influence of positive legislation on them. The works of representatives of natural law, which considered the problems of joint commission of a crime, were characterized by a completely pragmatic approach, expressed not only in the study of possible issues of committing a crime by «collective units», but also mandatory compensation for damage caused by such crimes. Although in some cases, representatives of the school of natural law note the impossibility of criminal prosecution of «collective units» due to the lack of proper judges.