The Book under review is a commendable scholarly undertaking, both in its purpose and in the way it is carried out. The publication offers to the American reader a good English translation of four well-chosen basic documents of Russian law and Russian history from the period prior to the rise of Muscovite tsardom, and the promulgation of the first judicial code of the Grand Duke of Moscow in 1497. Many legal documents of this epoch are extant, but the reviewer feels strongly that Professor George Vernadsky, the translator, is right in making the following statement:

Of all the various Russian codes, charters and statutes prior to 1497 we have elected for translation in this volume the four most outstanding. They are the Russian law (Russkaia Pravda) in both short and expanded version and the charters of the city of Pskov (1397–1467), of Novgorod (1471), and of Dvina Land (1397). Taken together they illuminate the main trends in Russian legal history of the pre-Muscovite epoch. But more than that, they contain much material illustrating the general historical background of Medieval Russia.