The topic under study is urgent due to the fact that the analysis of the main trends of Russian historiography in the field of corporate law will affect the optimization of the development of normative legal acts regulating the establishment and activities of corporations. The objective of the article is to reveal positive and negative stereotypes in the understanding of legal, economic and social nature of corporations, in determining their status, stability and dynamics of development. A leading research method is an integrated approach based on the unity of analysis and synthesis. The article deals with the evolution of the views of Russian scholars on the peculiarities of creation and functioning of various types of corporate associations in Russia, Russia's forms of participation in the activities of corporations from a historical perspective. The materials of the article may be useful to economists, lawyers, sociologists and historians.