Reception of Roman law. Features of the formation of the legal framework of the new Russia

What links Russia in its transformations that have taken place in recent years, with the works of glossary commentators of the 11th century engaged in the study of Roman law as part of the activities of the Bologna University? At what stage of the legal science of private property, which is rooted in the achievements of the thinkers of the slave Roman Empire, has become the basis for the settlement of the emerging relations of the capitalist society of Western Europe? And why did Roman law develop only in one direction, and the second (public law) has irretrievably gone into history?

The logic of the answer to all these and many other questions, behind which the reception of Roman law is, is rather simple and obvious. But the very process of penetration of the law that was used in the days of Ancient Rome, to the territory of Western Europe and even more so to patriarchal Russia is quite interesting and worthy of special attention.

The reception of Roman law presupposes a wide range of restorative actions, which includes the borrowing and selection, processing and assimilation of norms and ideas, the theoretical foundations of Roman law, which have shown their suitability in the process of regulating the relations of a society that has stepped onto a higher stage of development. Tracing how the reception of Roman law in the countries of Western Europe was carried out , one can single out the periodicity of this process.

At the first stage, the study of Roman law took place, and the Renaissance trends only stimulated it. At the exit of Europe from the Middle Ages, interest was not only caused by the achievements of art and culture related to Ancient Greece and Rome, but also by the heritage of thinkers and scholars of these ancient empires.

At the second stage, the principles of private relations took over the public opinion, as well as its use in the activities of practicing judges.

The third stage was a process when ideas that were floating in the air began to be realized after careful analysis and processing in the norms of the adopted laws.

Talk about the unconditional acceptance of the principles of ancient law does not have to happen. In fact, there was a reception of Roman private law. But public law, despite the emergence of a halo of grandeur around the whole of the ancient, was completely incapacitated in the new economic conditions. Assignment of the name of the Holy Roman Empire to the German Empire , the establishment of many senates by many states, the considerable spread of the title of the emperor and even the resurrection by Napoleon of the post of the first "consul" turned out to be a carnival tinsel incapable of resurrecting Roman state institutions. New relations in society not only put an end to Roman public law, but also demanded a thorough and radical revision of the foundations of private law. And only because of its original flexibility with the inherent ability to develop, the reception of Roman law took place in the form in which it is perceived by modern jurisprudence.

The reception of Roman law in Russia is very contradictory. Even the existence of the process itself raises controversy among legal scholars. There is a process of gravitation of Russian law to Romano-Germanic traditions, which are based on Roman law. But in Russia there is an extensive list of circumstances that leave an imprint on the specifics of the development of law in general and civil in particular. This is also the force of traditions that go back to the era of pre-revolutionary Russia. Roman law even in the period of the XIX - beginning of the XX centuries sought for genetic continuity with the real, hereditary and obligatory rights of Russia. Also, the long existence of administrative-command relations in the society played a significant role in the development of whole branches of Russian science, including the theory of state and law. It is this peculiarity and disagreement in understanding the essence of the recession process that cause disagreement among legal analysts.

But no matter how it was, the impetuous activity of the development of new relations in society is forcing lawmaking science to create a powerful legal framework based on scientific conclusions, and not on political ideas. And in this matter it is Roman private law that helps to organize legal relations in a newly formed society.