“On the Benefits of Knowledge of Domestic Legal Art”: The Role of Semyon Desnitsky in the Formation of the Russian System of Political and Legal Knowledge (Historiographic Aspect)

Abstract

Introduction: Semyon Desnitsky (c. 1740–1789), the first Russian professor of law, was a key figure in the formation of the theoretical framework of Russian legal science in the second half of the 18th century, and his activities laid the foundation for the development of university legal education and theoretical jurisprudence in Russia. Desnitsky's main contribution to the methodology of law was the idea of abandoning the then prevailing theory of natural law in its scholastic understanding and the theoretical justification for the transition to a contextually new comparative historical analysis. His contemporaries relied on abstract norms, while Desnitsky suggested studying law in development. He elaborated the concept of the "four states of the human race," according to which the forms of property, family, state, and law directly depend on the stage of economic development. It was an innovative approach for that time, connecting law, philosophy, history, and economics. Of great importance for the development of domestic political and legal thought was Desnitsky’s idea of the separation of powers taking into account Russian specifics. Desnitsky believed that three branches of government were necessary – "legislative, judicial, and punitive." In addition, he substantiated the need to form the "fourth power" – urban self-government, which he called “civil power.” In addition to theoretical developments, Desnitsky, as a teacher and organizer of science, obtained the Highest permission for lectures on law to be delivered in Russian, insisted that a lawyer should study four compulsory sciences: moralizing philosophy (ethics), natural jurisprudence, Roman law, and, most importantly, domestic legal art. He developed Russian legal terminology, introduced legal terms, translated complex concepts into the Russian language. The purpose of this paper is to identify and analyze the role of Desnitsky in the formation of the system of domestic political and legal knowledge in the period of Enlightenment, when the need for a systematic study of domestic and foreign legislation took on increasing importance in Russia. The research employed formal-legal, historiographic, comparative-legal, historical-legal, and other scientific methods, which were used to typologize the corpus of written sources, propose a thematic classification of historiography, and analyze the chronological periods of the historiographic process. According to the conclusions drawn, Desnitsky laid the foundations of the domestic scientific methodology for studying law while proving that laws must be considered in the context of the history and economic development of society ("four states"). His project of the separation of powers was the first experience of constitutional design in Russia. Although there is no consensus among historians whether Desnitsky was a supporter of the constitutional monarchy, his project was the first in Russia to present a harmonious system of the organization of power based on the law.