Formation of the preconditions for the emergence of criminalistics as a science in Ukraine (9th–18th centuries)

The article examines the peculiarities of the emergence and formation of methods of forensic investigation, which over time, in the 19th century, took shape in the science of forensics. To solve the problems, the authors used several methods, both general scientific and special. Among them: formal-legal, comparative-legal, historical-legal, dialectical, historical, systemic, hermeneutic, etc. The authors identified the main, in their opinion, stages of the development of criminology in Ukraine, starting with the formation of the Old Russian state. The first steps of the creation and implementation of forensic methods during the investigation of crimes, which were enshrined in the most famous monuments of law – «Laws of King Hammurabi», «Laws of the XII Tables», Byzantine legal collections, «Ruska Pravda», «Lithuanian Statutes», «The rights by which the Little Russian people are judged.» The article proves that the formation of individual manifestations of forensic research in Ukrainian lands during the Middle Ages and the first centuries of modern history was based on world experience in this area, as well as on the idea of justice, the need to restore law and order. It is emphasized that the formation of ideas about the methods of forensic research that appeared in Ukraine is connected with the genesis of the Ukrainian legal system and turned, over time, into one of its institutions. The authors suggest that, in contrast to the application of punishment, which had a class character, the organization of forensic investigations established the truth and therefore did not depend on the class affiliation of the participants in legal relations. The opinion that both in ancient times and at the beginning of the Middle Ages, forensic methods were closely intertwined with the elements of the investigative process, within which they were actually applied, is substantiated. It was established that the crippling forms of punishment, which were applied by court decision, were also intended to «emphasize» the identity of the criminal, to single him out in order to facilitate the search in case of repeated offenses. The authors concluded that the legal regulation of forensic research methods became a guarantee of their development, distribution and transformation, over time, into an independent science.