Contract Culture Imperatives in First Legislative Codes of Early Feudal Europe

The period of early feudalism in Europe is characterized by the formation of new contractual principles of spiritual culture based on the imperatives of egoism, rationalism and equivalence. This was the result of the gradual separation of the interests of individuals and households from the interests of society and public economy.
The new principles of social solidarity are reflected in the first law codes. We analyze the contents of three codes in question, namely the Gulating law of ancient Norway, Lex Salica of the ancient Franks and Russkaya Pravda or Russian' Justice.
We make a conclusion that contractual relations between people in the spiritual culture of the early feudal European states were not established. At the same time, the norms of these cultural monuments prove that the imperatives of egoism, rationalism and equivalence were deeply rooted in the minds of people. The institutionalization of these principles further contributed to their establishment in public conscience.