Law Scholars of the Russian Forest Legislation of the 19th Century

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Scientific article

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doi 10.28995/2073-0101-2023-1-275-285

Chernykh, Vladimir V.

East Siberian Institute of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, Irkutsk, Russian Federation

Law Scholars of the Russian Forest Legislation of the 19th Century

Abstract

The article analyzes the contribution of law scholars of forest legislation of the 19th century; highlights their creative and life path. No state can exist without laws in general and without development of legislation of specific institutions, industries, structures, clusters, etc. Long-standing underdevelopment of Russian forest legislation can be explained by vastness of forests, lack of access to the seas, and lack of market relations. Transition from artisan mode of production to manufacture, the country's need for a fleet, and awareness of the necessity of replenishing the treasury through timber trade radically changed the picture and drew attention to the forest. All these changes required development of forest legislation, which actually happened in the 18th – 19th centuries. There are certain people behind each phenomenon, and the forest legislation is no exception. Those people, who harmonized fragmented and overlapping forest laws and in part, narratively, gave the legislative forest process itself a problem-chronological and explanatory character, did a huge and very useful theoretical and practical work, fully deserving the good memory of their descendants and recognition of jurists and all engaged in forestry. The empirical basis of the research is sources, which can be divided into several groups: reference books and encyclopedias of forest legislation; works analyzing the formation and improvement of Russian forest legislation; normative legal acts concerning forests. The methodological basis of the study is general dialectical method of cognition contributing to progressive development from specific to the general, as well as method of hermeneutics, lore of understanding and interpretation of legal texts; and approach emphasizing the objective nature of a historical personality’s activities, revealed through causality and conformity of historical development. The approach proposed by the author to consider the formation of the issue and its development by superimposing it with the history of personalities who solved the issue provides a new look on the problem, a better understanding of reasons that prompted scientists to deal with it, and saturates scientific narrative with brighter colors. The peculiarity of biographical research conducted by the author consists in understanding their life path, creative credo, and the history of the Fatherland.

Keywords

Sources, forest legislation, V. V. Wrangel, N. V. Shchelgunov, S. V. Vedrov, M. Romanovsky, D. D. Shilov.

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References

VEDROV, S.V. O lesookhranenii po russkomu pravu [On forest protection under Russian law. In Russ]. St. Petersburg, Tip. V. Bezobrazova i K. publ., 1878, 224 p.

VRANGEL, V. V. Istoriya lesnogo zakonodatel'stva rossiiskoi imperii s prisoedineniem ocherka istorii korabel'nykh lesov Rossii [The history of forest legislation of the Russian Empire with the addition of an essay on the history of shipbuilding timber of Russia. In Russ]. St. Petersburg, Tip. Fishera publ., 1941, 153 p.

PERELYGIN, P. A. Lesookhranenie ili pravila sberezheniya rastushchikh lesov [Forest protection or conservation rules for growing forests. In Russ]. St. Petersburg, Tip. Med. departamenta MVD publ., 1835, 280 p.

ROMANOVSKII, M. Kurs russkogo zakonodatel'stva [The course of Russian legislation. In Russ]. St. Petersburg, Tip. A.F. Devrien publ., 1881, 353 p.

SHILOV, D. D. Poryadok presledovaniya narushenii Lesnogo ustava: Rukovodstvo dlya lesnichikh, zaveduyushchikh kazen. i chastn. lesami i dlya mirovykh sudei [Procedure for prosecuting violations of the Forest Charter: A guide for foresters supervising treasury and private forests and for magistrates. In Russ]. St. Petersburg, Tip. A. F. Devrien publ., 1879, 250 p.

About the authors

Cernyh Vladimir Vasilievich, PhD in History, professor, East-Siberian Institute of the Ministry of Internal Affaires of Russia, department of philosophy and socio-humanitarian sciences, professor, Irkutsk, Russian Federation, +7-914-903-78-07, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Submitted 11.10.2021, published (for citation):

CHERNYKH, V. V. Pravovedy rossiiskogo lesnogo zakonodatel'stva XIX veka [Law Scholars of the Russian Forest Legislation of the 19th Century. In Russ.]. IN: Vestnik arhivista / Herald of an Archivist, 2023, no. 1, pp. 275-285. doi 10.28995/2073-0101-2023-1-275-285

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