Power of emperor in Russian legal discourse of second half of 19th– early 20th centuries: justification and options for interpretation
The article is devoted to resolving the issue of how the legal intellectual elite of the period under review understood the imperial power, its origin, capabilities and authorities. The legal professorship formed an outwardly consistent discourse between the theoretical aspects of state law and t...
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| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Omsk State Technical University, Federal State Autonomous Educational Institution of Higher Education
2021-02-01
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| Series: | Омский научный вестник: Серия "Общество. История. Современность" |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.omgtu.ru/general_information/media_omgtu/journal_of_omsk_research_journal/files/arhiv/2021/%D0%A2.%206,%20%E2%84%96%201%20(%D0%9E%D0%98%D0%A1)/9-15%20%D0%90%D0%B4%D0%BE%D0%BD%D1%8C%D0%B5%D0%B2%D0%B0%20%D0%98.%20%D0%93.,%20%D0%94%D1%80%D1%83%D0%B6%D0%B8%D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%BD%D0%B0%20%D0%AE.%20%D0%92..pdf |
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| Summary: | The article is devoted to resolving the issue of how the legal intellectual elite of
the period under review understood the imperial power, its origin, capabilities
and authorities. The legal professorship formed an outwardly consistent discourse
between the theoretical aspects of state law and the content of the Basic State
Laws of the Russian Empire: teachers had to justify and explain the existence of the
unlimited power of the monarch. They analyzed the courses of state law developed
by nine professors of the Imperial Universities and the School of Law.
The methodological basis of this study is the history of intellectual culture as an
analysis of legal ideas and discourses in the context of the second half of the 19th
- early 20th centuries. The power of the emperor is characterized by the authors of
textbooks in a section that is most often called «On the Supreme Power». Russian
autocracy was described by jurists in a conceptual and categorical apparatus
borrowed from their European colleagues. Legal scholars were looking for a balance
between their own personal and scientific ideas and the form of government that
existed in the Russian Empire. Despite the differences in the political outlook, they
saw the reason for the Russian autocracy in the historical development: a vast
territory, low population density, and the virtual absence of a struggle between the
government and society.
For state scholars closely associated with Western jurisprudence, who shared its
values, it was important to emphasize the belonging of the Russian Empire to the
European world, where a skeptical view of the Russian monarchy remained. This
way out was the idea of legality. Without disputing the content of the «Fundamental
State Laws» and guided by censorship considerations, the professors tried to
convey to the student university audience the idea that the bureaucratic apparatus
formed in the empire is a natural limiter of the imperial power; the legal framework
is an obstacle to despotism, and the judiciary is in fact independent.
This kind of theoretical constructs became a compromise between the preservation
of absolute monarchical power and the worldview of those jurists who shared
liberal values |
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| ISSN: | 2542-0488 2541-7983 |