Publisher Description

Until the nineteenth century, the Russian legal system was subject to an administrative hierarchy headed by the tsar, and the courts were expected to enforce, not interpret the law. Richard S. Wortman here traces the first professional class of legal experts who emerged during the reign of Nicholas I (1826 – 56) and who began to view the law as a uniquely modern and independent source of authority. Discussing how new legal institutions fit into the traditional system of tsarist rule, Wortman analyzes how conflict arose from the same intellectual processes that produced legal reform. He ultimately demonstrates how the stage was set for later events, as the autocracy and judiciary pursued contradictory—and mutually destructive—goals.

Author Biography

Richard S. Wortman is the James Bryce Professor Emeritus of European Legal History at Columbia University. He is the author of Scenarios of Power: Myth and Ceremony in Russian Monarchy, From Peter the Great to the Abdication of Nicholas II, among numerous other books.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter Abbreviations Acknowledgments General Introduction I. Autocracy and the Law 1. Absolutism and Justice in Eighteenth-Century Russia 2. Buraeucratization, Specialization, and Education 3. The Composition of the Russian Legal Administration in the First Half of the Nineteenth Century II. The Men 4. Russia's First Minister of Justice 5. The Quiet Shelter 6. Count Dmitrii Nikolaevich Bludov 7. Count Victor Nikitich Panin 8. The Emergence of a Legal Ethos III. Reform 9. The Aspiration to Legality 10. Epilogue and Conclusion Notes Bibliography Index

Review

"A meticulous, well-balanced, and enlightening inquiry on a most important chapter of Russian legal, social, and intellectual history." - Journal of Modern History"

Review Text

How I wish this book had been on my shelves when I first began my study of Barn Owls 47 years ago.

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