Political and Legal Aspects of Trade with the Participation of Foreigners in the Russian North in 1645-1696

The article analyzes the political and legal aspects of trade with foreigners in the Russian North in the 17th century. The aim of the article is to identify the specifics of the development of the norms that regulated trading activity in Russia at the end of the 17^th century and establish peculiarities of its implementation in the Russian North, with the participation of foreigners. A wide range of historical and legal literature on relevant topicss as well as data from the State Archive of Arkhangelsk Oblast were used. The methodological basis of the research is a complex of general scientific and specific legal methods, in particular, a systematic method, analysis, synthesis and generalization. A formal legal method was also used for analyzing the legal acts of the Russian state, interstate treaties and other sources. A historical legal method allowed considering the formation and development of a multilateral regulation of trading activities in a chronological aspect taking into account regional features. During the research, (1) merchants of pre-Petrine Rus were classified, their relationship with the authorities and officials was revealed; (2) specific privileges and restrictions for foreigners through "charters" were determined; (3) the features of price and tariff regulation for Russian and foreign merchants, as well as trade conflicts with foreigners, were disclosed; (4) the role of the customs and the judicial sector in the regulation of trade was noted; (5) the formation of the banking system and of the rudiments of market relations in the Russian North was revealed; (6) features of the functioning of fairs and trades were established; (7) the role of guest houses as a fiscal control system was determined; (8) the logistics system of the Russian North which had an impact on trade relations was described. The article concludes that trade protectionism in the second half of the 17th century became a coincidence of the political and financial interests of the state and of needs of the top of the Russian merchant class as an economic pillar of the tsarist power. The laws gradually supplanted foreign merchants to frontier cities, set higher payments, new restrictions and bans in the industry. At the same time, to maintain foreign economic activity, merchants were guaranteed strict compliance with the law, protection from any abuse. The legal status of foreign traders was mainly established by Russian domestic acts, as well as by a few international agreements and customary laws. In the second half of the 17th century, there was no clear system of managing commercial affairs and no corresponding single administrative and judicial institution. During the period under review, there were no all-Russian acts that established common organizational bases for trade, and the organization of market relations in the Russian North was largely determined by the established norms of customary law.

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