Being a legal element of the superstructure, it is not only determined by the level of development of the economic basis, but also is formed under the influence of customs, traditions, religious dogmas, the influence of which on the right is different in different countries, at different periods of development of the same society and state with their long existence . Constantly developing, the right needs periodic systematization, the result of which in certain cases is the adoption of large normative acts (monuments of law), which regulate by their norms a significant range of social relations. Due to their importance, the monuments of law are always of great interest to lawyers. allow on the basis of analysis of their norms to study the legal status of the individual in society, to trace the development of the basic institutions of various branches of law(civil, criminal, procedural, marriage-family, etc.
). Unfortunately, the monuments of the law of Ancient Egypt have not survived to this day. Therefore, one can judge right only on certain unsystematized normative acts (decrees, decrees, charters of pharaohs), as well as inscriptions on tombs and stelaes of individuals close to Pharaoh, various kinds of teachings and prophecies that have come down to us in small numbers. Civil law . The main institutions of civil law are individuals, things , obligations , contracts, etc.
The face of civil law relations was recognized by both physical and legal persons (temple, nom).Only a free person was recognized as a physical person , regardless of his position (vizier, nomarch, chief rower, judge , scribe, etc.) and occupation (official, priest, warrior, trader, plowman, etc.
). But the amount of civil authority of an individual was different depending on whether the person belonged to the ruling elite or to the rest of the free population, whether he was in the service of the pharaoh (birdwatchers, dyers, anglers, etc.) or not. If a person was in the service of the pharaoh, having received from him for his work, raw materials, tools, land and other property, he did not have the right to freely dispose of not only such property, but also the results of his work.
He only owned and used them in view of their intended purpose.The right of Ancient Egypt knew various ways of acquiring property ( inheritance , donation, will, contract, military extraction) and various forms of property (palace, temple, community and private). Thus, in the order of Pharaoh Thutmose III (circa 1483-1450 BC) on the official duties of the supreme dignitary, it was stated that the supreme dignitary would be delivered all the wills and he would seal them. This shows that the will as one of the ways of acquiring property was applied in practice very widely, it was formalized in writing and kept by the highest official.Civil-law contracts , as a rule, consisted in writing, in the presence of a large number of witnesses , which could be free people, regardless of the position, occupation and sex, and necessarily in the presence of the scribe, the latter made an appropriate entry and signed it with his signature. At the same time, the parties to the treaty swore an oath, passing the contents of the treaty and expressing their consent.
In the law of Ancient Egypt, the principle of full compensation for harm caused to property is clearly carried out, regardless of whether a criminal or civil offense has been committed. By virtue of this there were two kinds of obligations: from causing harm and from the contract.Thus, despite a limited number of sources that have survived to this day, it is seen that civil relations in Ancient Egypt had a fairly wide application and the main civil law institutions in one form or another have received legal support.Criminal and procedural law .
Since the codified normative acts of Ancient Egypt have not reached our days, it is not possible to make a thorough study of all the institutions of this branch of law. Mention of individual provisions of criminal law and some specific norms of it are contained in scattered sources of Egyptian law, which allow only briefly to disclose individual criminal law institutions on the basis of their analysis and features of the historical era to make suggestions.
