Talk:Novgorod veche

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[edit] Origins of Novgorod Veche

According to the old Russian Chronicles three out of five peoples who lived in the coming Novgorod area were Finno Ugric, the Meris (Merjas), the Vepsäs (Vesh), and the Tshuudis (Chuds). All these three tribes had the free men tribal court named Käräjät where everyone had the right to be heard if he felt he was been treated wrongly or he was a victim of the crime. The case was publicly spoken out in Käräjät and the käräjä court gave the verdict in the case. The two Russian tribes the Krivitshes, and the Slovens had their own system of their justice. When Novgorod was formed, each of the five had their own Käräjät or Veche but in the most important cases the "ylikäräjät" (supreme court) which had two representantives of each five member peoples solved in majority principle the most difficult cases just as a war or peace. Later, when the Finno Ugrian influence diminished in Novgorod, the käräjät become simply known as Veche with its Russian name and was based to Russkaja Pravda. (Russian Justice).

According to Eino Kuussaari (1935) and other Finnish historians the the words säätää (enact), käräjät (lawsuit), vannoa vala (take an oath) all dates from period 1000-400 BC. of which the year 400 BC. can be taken as quite reliable for the existing of "käräjät" in the Baltic Finnish peoples tradition. Maybe the best free transliteration in English is "Free men´s free court."

JN —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 88.112.93.222 (talk) 19:51, August 21, 2007 (UTC)