Common Law Principles of Environmental Protection of the Mordovians

Purpose. The author examines the essence of the fundamental customary legal principles of nature protection in the traditional legal culture of the Mordovian people, because each nation, including the Mordovians, had a kind of unwritten environmental code, which usually prescribed a careful attitude to nature, environmental resources, allowed to take only as much as was necessary for a person to live, etc. Methodology: the article is written using a legal-anthropological approach to understanding the basic principles of customary law in the field of environmental relations. The author used the historical-legal method of scientific knowledge, as well as analysis and synthesis. Conclusions. Customary law recorded historically established and sustainable ways of using objects of the animal and plant world and other natural resources that ensure inexhaustible use of natural resources. The main object of nature management was considered land and, accordingly, the most important direction of traditional management — agriculture. Traditional customary views on public property “gifts of nature”, the equal distribution of natural resources in terms of socio-economic transformation and development of the official legislation of the Russian state lost its primary importance, but their nature as a key started people’s sense of justice still retains a lot of potential. Scientific and practical significance. The study of customary law and its individual branches allows us to identify the fundamental principles of traditional legal culture, which have not lost their significance to this day. Understanding the depth of legal views of a particular ethnic group can help improve the domestic legal system.