Michael Speransky. Statesman of Imperial Russia, 1772–1839 - Marc Raeff

(^334) CODIFYING RUSSIAN LAW
Such a method obviously involved extremely delicate operations. The
authors of the Digest had to have a perfect command of the meaning
and intention of the legislation they included in the Digest. Moreover,
the available legislation had to be complete enough to cover all the
general categories and principles of law without the authors of the
compilation being forced to compose additional material. Neither of
the two conditions was really present in Russia. The Complete Collec-
tion itself, as we have pointed out, was not an adequate foundation;
moreover, as Speransky found out (or knew), Russian legislation was
quite deficient in some very important areas of civil law, as for instance
in regard to the concepts and rules for legal personal status, contracts
and deeds.^1
As a matter of fact, Speransky planned the Digest on the basis of
his own definitions of a legal bond. According to him, there are two
kinds of bonds of legal nature: the political (state) bond and the civil
bond. Each necessitates laws defining and laws preserving it. Hence,
four major categories of laws: 1. defining and preserving the political
bond, 2. defining and preserving the civil bond. The first include
fundamental laws, government institutions, laws on state power, laws
on personal legal status. The second group consists of police laws
(ustavy blagochiniia) and criminal law. The civil bond is defined by
the laws on the family, general property laws, and special laws of
property. The civil bond is preserved by law in equity, procedural law,
and civil law. 2 On the basis of these definitions, the Digest was arranged
into eight books and fifteen volumes as follows: Book I, vol. 1 Fun-
damental laws, central political institutions; vol. 2, provincial institu-
tions; vol. 3, statutes on service and pensions. Book II, vol. 4, statutes
on state obligations (recruits, taxes). Book III, vols. 5-8, statutes on
Treasury administration. Book IV, vol. 9, personal legal status «(:tat
civil). Book V, vol. 10, civil law. Book VI, vols. 11-12, statutes on state
welfare (credit, fire, transportation, roads); Book VII, vols. 13-14,
police statute; Book VIII, vol. 15, criminal law.
The creative influence of the codifier could manifest itself most
strongly in rephrasing old laws or in providing logical connections.
Speransky was convinced - and quite rightly so -- that Russian
legislation was hopelessly confused, that its civil law lacked many
fundamental concepts and norms. He therefore sought the help of
dannykh (Petrograd 1917), pp. 26-27. A similar formulation is to be found in
Speransky's Precis des notions historiques sur La formation du Corps des lois russes
(St. Pbg. 1833).
1 Speranskii, "0 sushchestve svoda," Russkaia Starin a, XV (1876), pp. 592-97.
2 Soeranskii. Precis des notions historiques, pp. 116-1I9 passim.