PLANS OF REFORM 127Empress' detailed prescriptions fettered the minds of the members,
and also because Catherine's purpose did not meet the needs and spirit
of the times. 1To avoid a repetition of these failures and to bring the codification
to successful completion, Speransky proposed a different approach.
The code is not to be a new creation, a declaration of new norms and
principles, but a collection of existing laws. New laws should be
introduced only if the old ones are inadequate or non-existent for
specific modern needs. This approach - we have noted that Speranskydid not follow it himself in 1808......;1812 - also determines the procedure.
The first preparatory task consists in ordering all existing legislation
according to topics. At the same time, a history of Russian law should
be written to help determine the proper order of classification. Spe-
ransky suggested his friend, A. Radishchev, as best qualified to write
this history. 2 Then, these old laws will have to be collated and com-
pared for textual accuracy and completeness. Finally, important foreign
codes, in particular the Pruss ian, should be collected and translated.
These preparatory labors should take approximately three years. 3 In
the meantime, the guiding principles of the rode can be worked out,
though, in secret. The actual drafting of the code will be delegated to
a specially appointed Commission which will base its labors on the
preparatory work. Before their publication, the results should be
submitted for comment and criticism to representatives (Speransky does
not say how selected) from the various social classes of the Empire. The
consultation with all representatives should not take place in common
or at the same time, for at all cost Speransky wanted to avoid calling
together an "assembly" for legislation or codification. 4
1 ibid., p. 51.
2 ibid., p. 57.
3 ibid., pp. 54, 56, 67. The study and translation of foreign codes had been
suggested in the Unofficial Committee. Count Paul Stroganov noted on the session
of 10 March 1802: "Le Prince Czartoryski parla ensuite de la lettre qu'il avait ete
charge de rediger pour engager les plus savants jurisconsultes de l'Europe it
travailler sur Ie systeme d'un code de lois. II dit qu'il avait un brouillon, mais
qu'ensuite, en conferant lit-dessus avec ses collegues, on avait paru penser qu'il
serait difficile de faire dans ce moment-ci un code definitif, puisque tout ce qui
etait relatif it l'etat civil serait soumis it de grandes mutations par la suite, mais
qu'il ne fallait songer pour Ie moment qu'it faire un recueil de nos oukases par
ordre de matiere, et que dans ce moment il fallait se borner it determiner cet
ordre." Le Comte Paul Stroganov, vol. II, p. 108. Alexander I was impatient, however,
to proceed to a defiQitive code; in any case, contacts were established with foreign
jurists (d. ibid., pp. 114-115). The correspondence with foreign jurists was carried
on through the Russian embassies and the various Ministries of Foreign Affairs
and was still maintained in 1809 (d. the report of Caulaincourt to Napoleon, dated
15 Jan. 1809, cited in A. Vandal, Napoleon et Alexalldre I, vol. II, p. 28).
4 "Pervyi politicheskii traktat," p. 55, 56.