Історичні засади соціальної процедури як передумови розвитку процедури юридичної

The article is devoted to the study of the historical foundations of social procedures which play a key role in regulating people’s life, are the oldest and most important social regulator and are recognised as a prerequisite for the development of more advanced procedures – legal procedures. The author thoroughly studies such social procedures as rites, and especially initiations, ceremonies, rituals, etc., provides their definitions, correlations, features, general characteristics and classification, outlines their impact on social life of the time, and analyses examples of the consolidation of such procedures in the earliest legal documents, including: The Ur-Nammu Laws, the Hammurabi Laws, the Manu Laws, the Laws of the XII Tables, etc., which in a way indicates the existence of a ‘transitional link’ between purely social procedures and legal procedures. It is noted that since ancient times, social procedures have been extremely important for every person, since they affected his or her position in society and further fate. In one form or another, they have been manifested in various areas, in particular, in judicial procedures, which are chronologically the first type of legal procedures. The author argues that the most expressive ritualisation of judicial procedure was embodied in the so-called ordeal – special ‘fire and water’ tests of the truthfulness of a claim or accusation. To support this thesis, the author provides specific examples of the use of ordeals in the above-mentioned legal monuments. Particular attention is paid to the study of such specific ritual actions inherent in Roman private law as mancipation, stipulation, acceptance, etc., which were widely used not only in everyday life but also during the trial, which also follows from the analysis of the relevant legal sources. As a result, the author emphasises that although in modern society most of the above procedures no longer have the same importance and widespread use as before, some of them have continued to exist and, having received a legal form, have moved into the category of legal procedures which also require comprehensive and thorough scientific research.