The law of Lithuanian - Russian state

“But the people that (Lithuanians) tribute animals, honey, brooms, bark and other Rus’ princes served. When he (the people  Lithuanians)  felt that his masters (Rus' princes) were smashed by the Tartars, he grew up... started residues Rus' commit violence and final devastation; devastated land inhabited his people and extended its power on weakened Rus'.

And slowly over time (the Rus’ land) took from the Tatars in his possession and began to enjoy its wide spaces, and Baskakov, ie clerks that were collected from her tribute to the Tartar king, drove ...” - Chronicle of Kyiv Michael's Monastery about the beginning capture by Lithuanian feudal lords of the Ukrainian lands in 1362 p.

 Destruction of Kyivan Rus' has led to the fact that its lands were under the leadership of the neighboring countries, especially Poland and Lithuania. In a sense, Ukrainian lands, which became part of the Duchy of Lithuania, had a considerable impact on its state-legal development.

After joining the Ukrainian lands the population of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania by 90% consisted of Ukrainians and Belarusians.

At the beginning of the Lithuanian authorities adhere to the rules, "we do not destroy the old days and do not introduce new". Between the Grand Duke and the local nobility concluded agreements ("rows"), which Ukrainian princes and boyars were obliged to serve the Grand Duke, and Duke - to protect the land from the Tatars.  Rus' principalities were stored autonomy in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Polity, public order, the legal system was remaining the same as for entry into Lithuania. The official language was the Old Slavonic language.

High level of culture, the legal forms and traditions of the Ukrainian lands have contributed to the evolution of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania into Lithuanian-Russian state. Centuries-old traditions of Ukrainian statehood were not interrupted, but further their development was limited to local government.

Lithuanian-Russian law largely inherited and continued the Old Rus’ customary law. Of particular importance are the Lithuanian Statutes - outstanding monuments of Law of Lithuanian, Ukrainian and Belarusian peoples. In content, the high level of legislative technique, they were considered as one of the most progressive legislation of the European legal thought at the time.

The Statutes consist of three legal codes The main purpose of the First Statute was to standardize and collect various tribal and customary laws in order to codify them as a single document.

The First Statute was drafted in 1522 and came into power in 1529 by the initiative of the Lithuanian Council of Lords. It has been proposed that the codification was initiated by the Grand Chancellor of Lithuania Mikołaj Radziwiłł as a reworking and expansion of the Casimir Code. The first edition was redrafted and completed by his successor Albertas Goštautas, who assumed the position of the Grand Chancellor of Lithuania in 1522.

The second statute went into effect in 1566 by the order of King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, Sigismund II Augustus, and was larger and more advanced. The Grand Duke did this because of pressure from the Lithuanian nobility, as the expansion of nobles' rights since the publication of the first statute had made it redundant. The second statute was prepared by a special commission, consisting of ten members, appointed by the Grand Duke and the Council of Lords.

The Third Statute was accepted in 1588 in response to the Union of Lublin, which created the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The main author and editor of this statute was the great Chancellor of Lithuania Lew Sapieha of Ruthenian origin. The statute was the first one to be printed (in contrast to the handwritten statutes before) in Ruthenian language using the Cyrillic alphabet. Translations of the statute were printed in Muscovite Russia and also in Poland, where at that time laws were not thoroughly codified and the Lithuanian statute was consulted in some cases where respective Polish laws were unclear or missing.

1529, 1566, and 1588 - all written in an Old Chancery Slavonic language, translated into Latin and later Polish. They formed the basis of the legal system of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

The Statutes of Lithuania were a sign of the progressive European legal tradition, and were cited as precedent in Polish and Livonian courts. Furthermore, they had a major influence on the 1649 encoding of the Russian legal code, Sobornoye Ulozheniye.