ORIGINS AND HISTORICAL AND LEGAL BACKGROUND OF THE EXPERT'S CONCLUSION

Abstract

The article examines the origins and historical development of the institution of forensic examination and expert opinion in Ukraine.

The study confirms that the first seeds of modern forensic examination were sown as early as the 6th century BC in Ancient China. Even then, “knowledgeable people” conducted research to identify forged documents. All this, of course, was done at a primitive level, without any scientific methods, but it became an impetus for the further development of the science we now call forensic science.

It has been established that the first attempts to discover the patterns of handwriting formation that would be relevant to the study of manuscripts were made in the 4th century BC in Ancient Greece.

It has been established that the use of the special knowledge of “knowledgeable people” in court dates back to the reign of Emperor Justinian I, approximately in the 6th century AD, when one of the most significant historical legal reforms took place, which entered the annals of world jurisprudence as the codification of Roman law, under the name “Corpus juris civilis” (“Civil Law Code”). According to historical data and the content of literary works of that time, it was during this period that judges began to officially refer to specialists for handwriting analysis during court proceedings.

It has been confirmed that the archival records do not contain any references to the use of “knowledgeable people” in the courts of Rus. However, they mention witnesses, ordinary people, and boundary witnesses, who can be identified with the category of “knowledgeable or informed people.”

It has been established that “knowledgeable people” in the Polish-Lithuanian era were a category of auxiliary persons who were used by courts to verify the authenticity of documents, as well as to question the community in order to establish certain factual circumstances in the cases under consideration.

It has been confirmed that during the Cossack era in Ukraine, there was no such institution as expertise in the sense of a separate scientific or legal procedure, but the practice of involving specialists (authoritative persons) to assist in the consideration of cases was practiced.

It has been established that the term “expert” was first used by domestic legislators in the Civil Procedure Code of 1925.