Legislation in Education in Pre-Revolutionary Russia (Introducation by R. Usachyova)

Abstract

The topic of this research is legislation in education in pre-revolutionary Russia of the 19th—beginning of the 20th century. Law concept had various interpretations in pre-revolutionary theory of state and law. The only common principle was the fact of its sanctioning by the monarch, the so-called “highest approval” both written and verbal. In other words, no right was to determine the law, but the political will, which formed the right itself, based on the political and social–economical current state of affairs. The main emphasis is placed on distinctive characteristics of lawmaking, namely that the main landmarks of the country’s history were embodied in the legislature, and the fact that the highest Government bodies were involved in the process. The main forms of the Russian Empire’s legislature including the ones in the sphere of education—a Manifest (manifesto decree), Ukaz (decree), povelenie (expression of the will), mnenie (opinion) of the Council of State, polozhenie (position) of the Committee of Ministers, vsepodanneishii (“humble”) report of the Minister, rescript, the law—were primarily set at the beginning of the XIX century, and existed without significant changes up to 1917. Special attention is given to the analysis of the main Government bodies (State Council, the Committee of Ministers or Council of Ministers, State Duma). Materials display the data on the legislature as such, as well as multiple administrative rulings in the sphere of education—main purpose being to reflect the intent, goals, ideology and means of carrying out the reforms, proposed by various legislative acts. The dynamics of how problems of education were reviewed and ruled upon in the main Government bodies are presented, as well as the process of publication and codifying of these legislative acts.