The Phenomenon of Conscience in the Domestic Judicial Tradition

This article examines a centuries-old dilemma: what categories, concepts and meanings should be primarily used by a subject of law enforcement, in particular, a judge, when administering justice. At first glance, the answer is obvious - the law. But is everything so clear in this statement of the answer? Realising the depth and complexity of the problem, the legislator relatively recently introduced into legal circulation, in Article 17 of the Russian Criminal Procedure Code, the moral category of “conscience”, thereby emphasising its importance and necessity in assessing evidence, and ultimately, in determining the guilt or innocence of a person in his act. In a historical and philosophical context, the author of the article sets out his own position on the problem of the relationship between law and conscience in the tradition of domestic justice, based on the philosophical and legal views of both Russian thinkers and Western classics of philosophy, making a certain conclusion about the need for a moral and legal link, the parity of the principles of law and conscience in assessing a legal fact (act), establishing the guilt or innocence of a person, imposing a punishment or exemption from it.