Differentiation of Legal Education in Russian Universities of the 19th Century

Abstract

Yuri Guinzburg,teacher in the Department of Financial Law, National Research University — Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russian Federation, award winner in the in the 2011 Young Scientists Research Paper Competition. Email: bolingbrok@rambler.ru
Address: 20 Myasnitskaya St., Moscow, 101000, Russian Federation

Tatyana Ilyina, teaching assistantat the Constitutional and Administrative Law Department, Kursk State University, Kursk, Russian Federation, award winner of the 2011 Young Scientists Research Paper Competition. Email: tanayunik@rambler.ru
Address: 33 Radishcheva St., Kursk, 305000, Russian Federation. 

The study describes the process of differentiating between learning programs in Russian faculties of law of the 19th century. It also describes major educational models implemented in faculties of law of the pre-revolutionary Russia. While analyzing the law studies differentiation plans, the authors reveal the main reasons for this differentiation. These are: a) the need to eliminate defects of the fundamental model of legal education, and b) the need to provide a candidate pool not only for judicial authorities but also for the government system.
The lack of professors is believed to be one of the key factors of unsuccessful attempts to introduce differentiation. As a result, differentiation of disciplines among different faculty departments was distorted, and some disciplines were even discarded from learning schedules. All of this brought discredit on the very concept of differentiation. Students favored the governmental department much less than the legal one, as the latter promised broader career opportunities. Attempts to divide law faculties into departments owed their failure to the absence of a smooth professional training mechanism in the Russian Empire. As graduates from different departments did not differ in their skills, specialists were not distributed among judiciary authorities and the government system in compliance with qualifications they had acquired, which augmented the risk of employing incompetent people. 
The practices proposed by Moscow University in the early 19th century have been adopted by modern legal education, which implies differentiation at the second stage of the two-stage educational system.