322 CODIFYING RUSSIAN. LAWRussian legislation and to order them clearly and systematically. 1 In
so doing, Baron Rosenkampf took an important step which paved the
way for the Digest compiled later by the Second Section. In spite of
these significant, but limited, technical contributions, the work of the
Commission on Laws between 1815 and 1825 was rather desultory.Alexander I did not show much interest in it, and it was allowed to
stagnate..
During his exile Speransky had come to realize (in spite of his more:
or l~s disingenuous self-justification) that in 1809 he had taken the
wrong course for codifying Russian law. The Benthamite idea of
working out a completely new set of legal norms was not well suited
to Russia at the time; neither could Roman law and the Code Napoleon
be applied directly. as there was no tradition of a well worked out
civil law. In connection with his studies of German romantic literature
and thought, Speransky had also become acquainted with the historical
school of jurisprudence and the writings of its main proponent. Savigny.
As a result, he had become aware - even if he did not fully realize
all the implications of the position - of the value of laws formed and. determined by· the historic evolution of a nation. 2 Taught by bitter
experience of his own lack of professional training in law, he actively
pursued the study of history and jurisprudence. He now understood
more clearly than before that ere a code could be drawn up, much work
would have to be done first to find and order the necessary documents
and sources of Russian legislation.
This preparatory task was immense. Until very late in the 18th
century many decrees and laws were issued without being printed;.
before that time they had been circulated in manuscript copies only to
those agenClies that might need them. Furthermore. there was no single
source of legislation; laws were issued by many various government
offices (until the establishment of the Council of State in 1810 there
was no single authority or uniform procedure for processing the legisla-
tion). Some decrees had not even been published, especially when
they pertained to private cases, though they might contain and develop
important general concepts of civil law. A further difficulty, which
Speransky only suspected (but which is quite obvious to us today)
1 P. Maikov, "Kommissiia sostavleniia zakonov pri imperatorakh Pavle I i
Aleksandre I," loco cit., (Dec. 1905). pp. 206-20'7; L. A. Kasso, "K istorii svoda
zakonov grazhdanskikh," Zhu.rnal Ministerstva Iustitsii, (March 1904). p. 74.
2 P. M. Maikov, "Speranskii i studenty zakonovedeniia," Russkii Vestnik, vol. 26!1,
No. I, (1899), p. 247; cf. also N. M. Korkunov. "Teoreticheskie vozzreniia Speranskogo
na pravo," in Sbornik statei N. M. Korku.nova 1877-1897 (St. Pbg. 1898), p. 99
for a critical view of the influence of Savigny on Speransky.