Russian Legal Culture Before and After Communism - 9780415317702

Taylor & Francis

Following the emancipation of the serfs in 1861, and again during the Gorbachev and Yel\u2019tsin eras, the issue of individual legal rights and freedoms occupied a central place in the reformist drive to modernize criminal justice. While in tsarist Russia the gains of legal scholars and activists in this regard were few, their example as liberal humanists remains important today in renewed efforts to promote juridical awareness and respect for law. A case in point is the role played by Vladimir Solov\u2019ev. One of Russia\u2019s most celebrated moral philosophers, his defence of the \u2018right to a dignified existence\u2019 and his brilliant critique of the death penalty not only contributed to the development of a legal consciousness during his lifetime, but also inspired appeals for a more humane system of justice in post-Soviet debate. This book addresses the issues involved and their origins in late Imperial legal thought. More specifically, it examines competing theories of c.