Legal Comparative Studies in Russia: History and Current Situation

Abstract

The authors carry out a periodization of the Russian comparative jurisprudence and development of comparative legal studies, starting from the pre-revolutionary (imperial) period and up to the present day. The uniqueness of the theoretical and methodological approaches of the Russian comparative school in the modern and current periods is established. Special emphasis was placed on comparative jurisprudence in the so-called post-reform epochs, in both Imperial and Soviet Russia, due to the need for reception and implementation of new legal concepts, principles and institutions of law. The authors highlight the specifics of the Russian-language conceptual and categorical apparatus and the functions of legal comparative studies. The traditional issues of the object, methods and goals are considered in the context of the development of Russian comparative science at the turn of two centuries. The article analyzes the allocation of sectoral and institutional directions in comparative legal science, their practical significance and methods of conducting such research at the level of individual legal structures and institutions.

Keywords

• legal comparative studies
• general history of law
• legal geography
• legal country studies
• comparative historical method
• synchronous and diachronic comparison
• biographical method
• scientific doctrine
• scientific school
• legal system
• legal family