Formation of the Concept of “Composition of the Crime” in the Russian Doctrine and Specifics of Its Embodiment in the Compositio

the article considers protection of marriage, family, matrimony, childhood and other issues of family relations under the 1903 Criminal Code. Purpose: to establish when and how the concept of “composition of the crime” appeared in the domestic doctrine of criminal law, to reveal its main content at that time, and to identify signs of the composition of crimes against family rights under the 1903 Criminal Code. Methods: to achieve this goal, the author uses rules and techniques of formal and dialectical logic; abstraction and generalization; deduction and induction; historical, comparative legal and formal legal research methods; system analysis; methods of interpretation of legal norms; study of documentary sources; materials and conclusions of previous studies, etc. Results: it is established when and under what circumstances the concept of “composition of the crime” appeared in the domestic doctrine of criminal law; its essence at that time is revealed. The composition of criminal acts against family rights under the 1903 Criminal Code is analyzed; they are divided by severity and classified by object of encroachment. The author identifies subjects and determines features of their status and legal technique used for this purpose, as well as reveals and describes the specifics of the subjective side of perpetrators. Forms and methods of committing criminal acts against the rights of family members according to the specified Code are shown, an object of encroachments in these cases is analyzed, and peculiarities of the status of victims are revealed. Conclusion: the article shows formation of the concept “composition of the crime” in the domestic criminal law doctrine, demonstrates a development level of the legal technology in criminal law acts of Russia at the turn of the XIX and XX centuries, and discloses our predecessors’ ideas about criminal law protection of marriage, interests of the family, the rights of its members and kinship relations, as well as about social danger of acts.