The Digest of Laws of the Russian Empire: The Phenomenon of Autocratic Legality

Borisova, Tatiana

doi:10.1017/s0738248012000193

Law hist. rev.

2012

DOI: 10.1017/s0738248012000193

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The Digest of Laws of the Russian Empire: The Phenomenon of Autocratic Legality

Tatiana Borisova

Abstract: Researchers of the history of late imperial Russia quite often base their studies on the texts of laws as recorded in the official edition: the Complete Collection of the Laws of the Russian Empire (Polnoe Sobranie zakonov Rossiiskoi imperii). The laws were published there in chronological order for purposes of conducting inquiries; it was specifically the Complete Collection in which the original text of a decree approved by the emperor could generally be found.

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“…This translated into little protection of private commercial interests and policies which benefited business as long as they benefited the Tsar (Owen 1985). 1 And while Tsarist Russia began a move in the nineteenth century towards formal legislation and a concept of ‘legality’ as a structure for society (Borisova 2012), the Tsar himself was unconstrained. As prominent Russian scholar Zhivov (2002, p. 256) noted, the pretense of legality in Tsarist Russia was a ‘cultural fiction’ demonstrating the weakness of the formal judiciary.…”

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Political violence and financial markets in Tsarist Russia

Hartwell

2023

Financial History Review

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There is little research studying the effects of political violence on financial markets over decades, especially in an atmosphere where the violence manifested itself in heterogeneous and geographically widespread ways. This article examines the authoritarian edifice of Tsarist Russia in the nineteenth century to examine the way in which capital markets perceived political instability in a country which had paradoxically strong financial institutions but weak political ones. Using a novel database on political violence in Russia in the nineteenth century matched to monthly financial data from Russian equity markets, this article provides strong evidence that Russia's financial markets were negatively affected in the long run by political violence. Consistent with modern views of financial information, the effects of political violence were quickly incorporated into asset prices, but the specific magnitude of such violence was different depending on where the violence occurred and in what manner. Overall, it appeared that political violence was perceived very negatively by investors in Russian equity markets.

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Political violence and financial markets in Tsarist Russia

Hartwell

2023

Financial History Review

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Local Laws and the Workings of Legal Knowledge in Late Imperial Russia

Tissier¹

2012

imp

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In the Russian Empire, a variety of legal traditions in the field of private law coexisted with a central and common element, known either as imperial civil law or "Russian" civil law. The specific regulations that were in force in territories before their incorporation into the empire and remained in force afterward were called "local laws" in the late imperial period. This article focuses on the emergence of the concept of "local laws" by studying the interactions between scholarly conceptions of civil law and official concerns for administrative and judicial work. It shows how the teaching of local laws was a matter of discussion within officialdom and between officials and legal scholars at the end of the nineteenth century. The imperial administration showed concern for the teaching of some local laws only on a very limited basis. In any event, this concern was not shared by legal scholars who wanted to maintain the primacy of Russian imperial law. These attitudes partially shifted as a consequence of the 1905 Revolution. Overall, the teaching of local laws never became a priority, even if the practical implications of the knowledge of local laws for administrative and judicial work were quite clearly identified. It is argued that this global attitude toward local laws is indicative of the way in which the making of legal knowledge was part of the management of the empire and shows the prevailing representations of diversity and unity, particularity and community, among both officials and legal scholars. Разнообразие юридических традиций в области частного права в Российской империи сосуществовало с тем, что воспринималось как центральный и общий элемент законодательства - с имперским или, как его называли, "русским" гражданским законодательством. Законодательство и обычаи, существовавшие на территориях империи до их инкорпорации в общее политическое пространство и сохранявшие свою силу после инкорпорации, в позднеимперский период были известны как "местные законы". В статье рассматривается возникновение концепции "местных законов" в процессе взаимодействия научных трактовок гражданского законодательства и административных и практических юридических соображений. В центре внимания Мишеля Тисье дискуссии об университетском преподавании местных законов, которые в конце XIX в. вели чиновники в области образования и управления и ученые-правоведы. Имперская администрация проявляла довольно ограниченную заинтересованность в преподавании местных законов. В этом ее поддерживали правоведы, желавшие утвердить приоритет "русского" имперского права. Эти установки несколько пошатнула революция 1905 г. Тем не менее преподавание местных законов так и не вошло в массовую практику, даже несмотря на то, что практическую необходимость их знания для административной и юридической работы на окраинах империи хорошо понимали как администраторы, так и сами юристы. Автор проводит мысль, что дискуссии о статусе местных законов в юридическом образовании отражали важность конституирования юридического дискурса как дискурса имперского управления. Эти дискуссии выявляют доминировавшие среди чиновников и правоведов представления о разнообразии и единстве, уникальности и универсальности в империи.

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Russia's Legal Trajectories

Borisova¹,

Burbank²

2018

Kritika

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The Digest of Laws of the Russian Empire: The Phenomenon of Autocratic Legality

Cited by 5 publications

References 5 publications

Political violence and financial markets in Tsarist Russia

Political violence and financial markets in Tsarist Russia

Local Laws and the Workings of Legal Knowledge in Late Imperial Russia

Russia's Legal Trajectories

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