National Research University Higher School of Economics
Faculty of Law
Undergraduate Programme “Bachelor of Laws”
Course Title: Historical Introduction to Continental Legal Science
Instructor: Dmitry Poldnikov
Department: Legal Theory and Comparative Law
Email: dpoldnikov@hse.ru
1. Outline
This course aims at introducing development of the distinctive features of the continental legal science
as a major force which contributed to the formation of the civil law system. In order to do this the
course offers an overview of philosophical and methodological foundations of the leading European
law schools and surveys the principal sources and literature of the law from the establishment of the
first universities in Northern Italy in the 12th century until the crisis of legal positivism in the early
20th century. In focus are the schools of the age of Scholasticism (glossators, commentators, canonists,
second scholastics), legal humanism, early national jurisprudence of Germany, France and Spain,
secular natural law, German historical school, the Pandectists, and Russian dogmatic jurisprudence
before 1917. The emphasis is made on such topics as reception of Roman law, development of ius
commune by university professors and legal scholars, its influence upon national jurisprudence in
France, Italy, Spain, and Germany, the process of ‘scientification’ of law in Germany, as well as the
European origins of legal science in Russia.
After completing the course students are expected to be able to:
 define basic concepts of the process of historical development of continental legal doctrine;
 explain how legal doctrines were determined by philosophical and methodological foundations
of a given school of thought examined in the course;
 distinguish and identify legal doctrines of various legal schools;
 determine advantages and disadvantages of different theoretical approaches to legal matters;
 review and summarize recommended academic papers;
 coherently state and reason one's own theses in English regarding the issues of the course.
2. Syllabus
№
№
1
Topics
Course Hours Academic/Contact Hours Self-study Hours
Lectures
Legal science in
continental legal
6
2
1
Seminars
4
National Research University Higher School of Economics
Faculty of Law
Undergraduate Programme “Bachelor of Laws”
history: the settings
2
Emergence of legal
science in Western
Europe: glossators
and canonists in the
12th to 13th century
12
4
8
3
Foundations of legal
science of ius
commune in the
14th to 15th
century: mos italicus
12
4
8
4
Expansion of ius
commune in
Western Europe in
the 13th to 15th
century
12
4
8
5
School of French
humanists (mos
gallicus)
6
2
4
6
Rise of national
jurisprudence in
Western Europe in
the 16th to 17th
century
12
4
8
7
School of natural
law in the 17th to
18th century
8
4
4
8
German Historical
School in the 19th
century
12
4
8
9
Legal positivism in
Europe in the 19th
century
14
6
8
10 Emergence of
Russian legal
science under
European influence
14
6
8
108
40
68
In sum:
Curriculum (by topics)
2
National Research University Higher School of Economics
Faculty of Law
Undergraduate Programme “Bachelor of Laws”
Topic 1. Legal science in continental legal history: the settings.
Introductory notes on the course, its aims, scope and structure.
Features of contemporary notion of legal science in continental Europe.
Significance of legal science on the Continent nowadays.
Role of legal science in the continental legal historyfrom the 12th century onwards. Main stages of its
development. Western influence on Russian legal science in the 18th to early 19th century.
Notion of ‘legal school’. Ideological and methodological foundations of continental legal schools.
Legal doctrine. Major legal schools in European legal history and their relation to the stages of the
development of legal orders in Europe.
Academic hours – 2.
Self-study hours – 4.
Essential Readings
1. Cruz, P. de. Comparative Law In A Changing World. Sidney, 1999, p. 66-67. [LMS resourse]
2. David R. Academic works, reason, equity // International encyclopedia of comparative law.
Tübingen, J.C.B. Mohr, 1984, vol. 2, chapter 3, p. 138-145.
3. Dedek H., Schermaier M. German Law, in: Elgar Encyclopedia of comparative law. 2nd ed.
Northampton, Mass.: Edward Elgar Pub., 2012, no. 7.2 (legal theory) [LMS resourse]
Supplementary readings
1. Braun A. Professors and judges in Italy: it takes two to tango // Oxford Journal of Legal Studies.
2006. vol. 26, no. 4, p. 665–679. [jstor.org]
2. Jestaz Ph., Jamin Ch. The entity of French doctrine: some thoughts on the community of French
legal writers // Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, 1998, vol. 18, no. 4, p. 415–437 [jstor.org];
3. Vogenauer S. An Empire of Light? II: Learning and Lawmaking in Germany Today // Oxford
Journal of Legal Studies. 2006, vol. 26, № 4, p. 627–663 [jstor.org].
Topic 2. Emergence of legal science in Western Europe: glossators and canonists in
the 12th to 13th century
The fall of the Western Roman Empire and subsequent disappearance of jurisprudence in the early
Middle Ages. The phenomenon of the West Roman vulgar law. The remaining knowledge of Roman
law and schools of liberal arts. “The Roman Church lives according to Roman law.”
The school of glossators at Bologna and the emergence of theoretical legal science in Northern Italy in
the end of 11th and 12th century. The main causes of this revival: the rise and economic prosperity of
3
National Research University Higher School of Economics
Faculty of Law
Undergraduate Programme “Bachelor of Laws”
Italian towns, political struggle between the emperors and the popes, fragmentation and archaic nature
of existing laws and customs.
The school of canonists at Bologna. Sources of canon law: the making of Decretum (1140), early
commentaries to it, the papal legislation.
Scholastic methodology of both schools at Bologna. Its roots in ancient logic and rhetoric. Main
features of scholasticism: text authority, search for truth inside the text, rules of formal logic,
resolution of textological contradictions. The common rules of logic in scholasticism: definition,
division, classification. The limits of scholastic interpretation.
The results of scholastic study of Roman legal texts: glosses, collections of questions and rules, sums,
the Gloss of Accursius (mid-13th century).
Academic hours – 4.
Self-study hours – 8.
Essential Readings
1. Caenegem R.C. van. An historical introduction to private law. Cambridge, New York: Cambridge
University Press, 1992, p. 24-28, 45-51, 58-67.
2. Robinson O.F. European legal history: sources and institutions. 3. ed. London: Butterworths, 2000,
chapters 3, 5.
3. Stein P. Roman law in European history. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1999, chapter 3.
[LMS resourse]
4. Bellomo M. The common legal past of Europe (1000-1800). Washington: The Catholic University
of America Press, 1995. p. 34-77, 126-184 [LMS resourse]
Supplementary readings
1. Brundage J.A. The rise of professional canonists and development of the ius commune, in:
Zeitschrift der Savigny-Stiftung für Rechtsgeschichte, Kanonistische Abteilung, 1995, № 81, p.
26–63. [DigiZeitschriften]
2. Brundage J.A. Universities and the ‘ius commune’ in medieval Europe, in: Rivista internazionale
di diritto comune, 2000, № 11, p. 237–253.
3. Dawson J.P. The oracles of the law. Michigan, 1968, p. 124-134. [LMS resourse]
4. Hartmann W., Pennington K. History of Medieval Canon Law in the Classical Period, 1140-1234:
From Gratian to the Decretals of Pope Gregory IX. Catholic University of America Press, 2008,
chapters 1-2. [ebrary.com]
4
National Research University Higher School of Economics
Faculty of Law
Undergraduate Programme “Bachelor of Laws”
5. Stein P. Regulae iuris. From juristic rules to legal maxims. Edinburgh, 1966. p. 124-152. [LMS
resourse]
6. Tamm D. Roman law and European legal history. Copenhagen: DJØF, 1997, p. 201-206. [LMS
resourse]
7. The Creation of the Ius Commune: From Casus to Regula. Eds. John W. Cairns, Paul J. Du Plessis.
Edinburgh, 2010, chapters 1, 3. [LMS resourse]
8. Verger J. The universities and scholasticism // The new Cambridge medieval history. ed. D.
Abulafia, Cambridge University Press, 1999. vol. 5 (c. 1198-c. 1300), p. 256-278. [LMS resourse]
9. Vinogradoff P. Roman law in medieval Europe. London, NY: Harper, 1909, p. 32-58.
Topic 3. Foundations of legal science of ius commune in the 14th to 15th century: mos
italicus
Emergence of Roman-canonical law of the ‘learned men’ (ius commune) in Northern Italy. The school
of commentators in the 14th and 15th centuries. Main features: combination of theory and practice,
commentaries on the works of glossators and the new legislation.
Scientific foundations of the school of commentators. Application of scholastic methodology to the
sources of Roman, canon, feudal, communal and customary law. Practice-oriented activities: editing
statutes for city-states in Italy, commenting on the positive legislation, writing legal opinions for Italian
courts. Legal doctrine becomes a formal source of law.
Straight and crooked ways to apply methods at the school of commentators. Bartolus’ and Baldus’
teaching and their main fields of arguments.
The major results of commentators’ interpretation of the legal texts: the structure of ius commune, its
subdivision into branches, development of legal terminology and legal principles.
The Bartolists: predominant influence of commentators’ legal doctrine in Italy up to the early 18th
century.
Academic hours – 4.
Self-study hours – 8.
Essential Readings
1. Caenegem R.C. van. An historical introduction to private law. Cambridge, New York: Cambridge
University Press, 1992, p. 52-55.
5
National Research University Higher School of Economics
Faculty of Law
Undergraduate Programme “Bachelor of Laws”
2. Robinson O.F. European legal history: sources and institutions. 3. ed. London: Butterworths, 2000,
chapter 4.
3. Stein P. Roman law in European history. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1999, p. 71-75.
[LMS resourse]
4. Bellomo M. The common legal past of Europe (1000-1800). Washington: The Catholic University
of America Press, 1995. p. 74-77, 126-148, 184-202 [LMS resourse]
Supplementary readings
1. Brundage J.A. The rise of professional canonists and development of the ius commune, in:
Zeitschrift der Savigny-Stiftung für Rechtsgeschichte, Kanonistische Abteilung, 1995, № 81, p.
26–63. [DigiZeitschriften]
2. Dawson J.P. The oracles of the law. Michigan, 1968, p. 138-145. [LMS resourse]
3. Gest J.M. Notes upon continental legal literature // University of Pennsylvania Law Review and
American Law Register. 1921. Vol. 69. № 2. P. 121-141. [jstor.org]
4. Tamm D. Roman law and European legal history. Copenhagen: DJØF, 1997, p. 206-208. [LMS
resourse]
5. The Creation of the Ius Commune: From Casus to Regula. Eds. John W. Cairns, Paul J. Du Plessis.
Edinburgh, 2010, chapters 1, 3. [LMS resourse]
6. Verger J. Schools and universities // The new Cambridge medieval history. ed. Ch. Allmand,
Cambridge University Press, 1998. vol. 7 (c. 1415-c.1500), p. 220-242.
7. Verger J. The universities // The new Cambridge medieval history. ed. M. Jones, Cambridge
University Press, 2008. vol. 6 (c. 1300-c. 1415), p. 66-81.
Topic 4. Expansion of ius commune in Western Europe in the 13th to 15th century
Causes of expansion of ius commune in France, Spain, Germany from the 12th to 15th centuries.
Political and legal fragmentation under the feudal system in Western Europe and the rising need for a
common legal rules. Theoretical and practical reception of Roman law in the West. A growing juridical
nature of public administration through borrowing from ius commune. The rules of the ‘learned law’
applied to regulate economic transactions.
Demand for legal knowledge. Spread of the universities in Europe, with support from the church and
the secular rulers. The prevalence of mos italicus and the rise of legal profession.
Ius commune for the Roman Catholic Church. Learned men’s assistance in editing the sources of the
canon law, in church court proceedings, in church administration. Expansion of the jurisdiction of the
church courts in the Middle Ages. Church and preparatory steps for reception of Roman law.
6
National Research University Higher School of Economics
Faculty of Law
Undergraduate Programme “Bachelor of Laws”
Ius commune ans secular powers. Learned men at kings’ service. Written editions of local customs with
the help of the legal science. Replacement of local customs by ius commune. Discrepancy in expansion
of ius commune in various parts of Western Europe.
Some examples from Southern France (Lo Codi), Northern France (Coutumes de Beauvaisis), Spain
(the Siete Partidas) and Germany (Constitutio Criminalis Carolina).
Academic hours – 4.
Self-study hours – 8.
Essential Readings
1. Caenegem R.C. van. An historical introduction to private law. Cambridge, New York: Cambridge
University Press, 1992, p. 67-83.
2. Robinson O.F. European legal history: sources and institutions. 3. ed. London: Butterworths, 2000,
chapter 7.
3. Stein P. Roman law in European history. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1999, chapter 4.
[LMS resourse]
Supplementary readings
1. Bellomo M. The common legal past of Europe (1000-1800). Washington: The Catholic University
of America Press, 1995. p. 78-125 [LMS resourse]
2. Dawson J.P. The oracles of the law. Michigan, 1968, chapters 3-4. [LMS resourse]
3. Gest J.M. Notes upon Continental Legal Literature // University of Pennsylvania Law Review and
American Law Register. 1921. Vol. 69. № 2. P. 121-141. [jstor.org]
4. Hazeltine H.D. Roman law and canon law in the middle ages // The Cambridge Medieval History.
Cambridge: University Press, 1968. Vol. 5. P. 697-764.
5. Vinogradoff P. Roman law in medieval Europe. London, NY: Harper, 1909, chapters 3, 5. [LMS
resourse]
Topic 5. School of French humanists in the 16th century (mos gallicus)
Critique of mos italicus for its methodological limitations, obscure doctrines and corruption of the
learned lawyers. Humanism and Reformation in the 16th century and their implications for legal
science.
The school of French legal humanists and its foundations: Italian Renaissance and Reformation. The
classical ideals and the programme of comprehensive restoration of the civil law.
7
National Research University Higher School of Economics
Faculty of Law
Undergraduate Programme “Bachelor of Laws”
Mos gallicus: new methodology of the humanists: philological and historical studies of Roman law.
Discovery of different epochs of Roman history and admiration for the heritage of the classical lawyers
instead of Justinian’s compilators. The methods of textual interpretation: division, ‘common places’,
historical scale.
Drawbacks of the humanist methodology: focus on the past instead of the present, partial
systematization of the civil law. Isolation of university professors in France. The leading role of
practicing advocates and judges of the parliaments.
Academic hours – 2.
Self-study hours – 4.
Essential Readings
1. Caenegem R.C. van. An historical introduction to private law. Cambridge, New York: Cambridge
University Press, 1992, p. 55-58.
2. Robinson O.F. European legal history: sources and institutions. 3. ed. London: Butterworths, 2000.
(Chapter 10)
3. Stein P. Roman law in European history. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1999, p. 75-85.
[LMS resourse]
Supplementary readings
1. Bellomo M. The common legal past of Europe (1000-1800). Washington: The Catholic University
of America Press, 1995. p. 204-210 [LMS resourse]
2. Black R. Humanism // The new Cambridge medieval history. Ed. Ch. Allmand, Cambridge
University Press, 1998. vol. 7 (c. 1415=c.1500), p. 243-276.
3. Stein P. Regulae iuris. From juristic rules to legal maxims. Edinburgh, 1966. p. 162-170 [LMS
resourse]
4. Kelley D.R. Guillaume Budé and the first historical school of law // The American historical
review, 1967, vol. 72, № 3, p. 807-834 [jstor.org]
Topic 6. Rise of national jurisprudence in Western Europe in the 16th to 17th century
Italy: legal science (mos italicus) is paramout in legal education and practice.
France: ius commune in the centralized kingdom with the preserved local and territorial customs.
Limited influence of the professors of ius commune upon legal practice. Degradation of the faculties of
law. Rise of practical jurisprudence on the basis of the written customs and the case law of the French
parliaments. The Coutume de Paris and the Partiament of Paris. Selective reception of Roman law.
8
National Research University Higher School of Economics
Faculty of Law
Undergraduate Programme “Bachelor of Laws”
Spain: renovation of ius commune by moral theologians of the school of Salamanca. The phenomenon
of the second scholasticism of the 16th century. Its sources: Catholic moral theology, mos italicus,
French humanism, Aristotelian-Thomistic philosophy. Development of generalized legal doctrine:
methodology of consequent deducing of all legal doctrine from the categories of ‘justice’ and ‘law’,
principles-oriented theory, separate legal norms grouped up into legal institutions.
Germany: the school of the modern usage of Justinian’s Pandects (usus modernus) in the late 16th and
17 century. Academic unity of university professors vs. legal diversity of local laws and political
fragmentation in the late medieval Germany. The intricate combination of ius commune with the case
law of the local courts. Continuation of the methodology of mos italicus: Digest-oriented
commentaries, scholastic methods of textological interpretation.
The Netherlands: the Roman-Dutch ‘elegant school’ of law in the newly established Republic of the
United Netherlands. The subsidiary recourse to Roman law and ius commune. Theoretical and
practical commentaries to Justinian’s law books. Influences of natural law ideas and methods.
Academic hours – 4.
Self-study hours – 8.
Essential Readings
1. Caenegem R.C. van. An historical introduction to private law. Cambridge, New York: Cambridge
University Press, 1992, p. 67-83.
2. Robinson O.F. European legal history: sources and institutions. 3. ed. London: Butterworths, 2000.
(Chapters 11, 12)
3. Stein P. Roman law in European history. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1999, p. 83-101.
[LMS resourse]
Supplementary readings
1. Bellomo M. The common legal past of Europe (1000-1800). Washington, 1995, p. 210-232.
2. Dawson J.P. The oracles of the law. Michigan, 1968, p. 196-213, 339-350.
3. Lee R.W. The History of the Roman-Dutch Law // Journal of the Society of Comparative
Legislation. New Series. Vol. 10. № 2 (1910). P. 261-268. [jstor.org]
4. Philip J. Thomas. Usus modernus pandectarum: a spurious transplant // Revue Internationale des
droits
de
l'antiquité,
3e
série,
Tome
XLVII
2000.
P.
483-496.
[www2.ulg.ac.be/vinitor/rida/2000/thomas.pdf]
5. Vogenauer S. An empire of light? Learning and lawmaking in the history of German Law // The
Cambridge Law Journal. 2005. Vol. 64. № 2. P. 481-500 [jstor.org]
9
National Research University Higher School of Economics
Faculty of Law
Undergraduate Programme “Bachelor of Laws”
6. Wieacker F. A history of private law in Europe with particular reference to Germany. Translated
from German by Tony Weir. Oxford, 1995, p. 159-195.
Topic 7. School of natural law in the 17th to 18th century
Scientific revolution in Western Europe and its implications for the legal science. The Age of Reason.
Mathematics, geometry and empirical ways of exploring reality (Galileo, Newton, Descartes).
The new idea of natural law and legal theory in the Age of Reason. Rejection of the medieval
scholasticism and ius commune, quest for universal legal theory, separated from religion and
distinguished from morals. Instrumental role of law in a society created on the basis of the social
contract.
Imitation of the methodology of the hard sciences in legal theory: logical coherence and axiomatical
style of exposition; simplicity and straightforwardness of the rules; deduction of the rules from axioms,
principles and general institutions. Legal system according to Hugo Grotius and Samuel Pufendorf.
Natural law theory in the 18th century. The influence of the Enlightenment. The new vision of statute
and the idea of codification. Civil laws as being reorganized in their ‘natural’ order by Jean Doman and
Robert Pothier. The fully-fledged natural legal theory of Christian Thomasius and Christian Wolff. In
the way towards the first codifications of civil law in Europe.
Academic hours – 4.
Self-study hours – 8.
Essential Readings
1. Caenegem R.C. van. An historical introduction to private law. Cambridge, New York: Cambridge
University Press, 1992, p. 115-121, 139-141.
2. Robinson O.F. European legal history: sources and institutions. 3. ed. London: Butterworths, 2000,
chapter 13.
3. Stein P. Roman law in European history. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1999, p. 94-96.
4. Bellomo M. The common legal past of Europe (1000-1800). Washington, 1995, p. 232-234.
Supplementary readings
1. Schröder J. The concept of (natural) law in the doctrine of law and natural law of the early modern
era // Natural Law and The Laws of Nature in Early Modern Europe: Jurisprudence Theology
Moral and Natural Philosophy. Ed. L. Daston, M. Stolleis. Farnham: Ashgate Publishing Group,
2009, p. 57–71 [ebrary.com]
10
National Research University Higher School of Economics
Faculty of Law
Undergraduate Programme “Bachelor of Laws”
2. Wieacker F. A history of private law in Europe with particular reference to Germany. Translated
from German by Tony Weir. Oxford, 1995, p. 199-221.
Topic 8. German Historical School in the 19th century
The German Historical school in the 19th century as a reaction against the revolutions and the
abstractness of the new natural law. The dispute about the codification of private law in Germany
between Anton Thibaut and Friedrich Savigny.
Ideological foundations of the Historical school: the ‘re-discovery’ of history (Möser, Niebur,
Mommsen); law as a historical phenomenon and an outcome of ‘People’s spirit’ (Volksgeis) in the
teachings of Eichhorn and Savigny. The place of history in the domain of legal science. Histories of
Roman law and German law. Legal past in the present.
Methodology of the Historical school: study of old documents, systematic arrangement of the
historical data, ‘scientification’ of people’s laws and customs by scholars.
Evolution of the Historical school in the works of Friedrich Savigny: from ‘The law of possession’ to
‘The history of Roman law in the Middle Ages’ and ‘The system of the modern Roman law’. Savigny’s
views on the positive law. Savigny’s heritage in the works of Georg Puchta.
Implications of the German Historical school abroad.
Academic hours – 4.
Self-study hours – 8.
Essential Readings
1. Caenegem R.C. van. An historical introduction to private law. Cambridge, New York: Cambridge
University Press, 1992, p. 141-144.
2. Robinson O.F. European legal history: sources and institutions. 3. ed. London: Butterworths, 2000,
chapter 16.
3. Stein P. Roman law in European history. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1999, p. 115-119.
Supplementary readings
1. Coing H. German «Pandektistik» in its relationship to the rormer «ius commune» // The American
Journal of Comparative Law. 1989. Vol. 37. № 1. P. 9-15 [jstor.org]
2. Gale S. A very German legal science: Savigny and the historical school // Stanford Journal of
International Law, 1982, vol. 18, p. 123-146.
3. Kantorowicz H. Savigny and the historical school of law // Law quarterly review. 1937 № 53 p.
326-343.
11
National Research University Higher School of Economics
Faculty of Law
Undergraduate Programme “Bachelor of Laws”
4. Klenner H. Savigny's research program of the historical school of law and its intellectual impact in
19th century Berlin // The American Journal of Comparative Law, 1989, vol. 37, № 1, p. 67-80
[jstor.org]
5. Reimann M. Historical School against Codification: Savigny, Carter, and the Defeat of the New
York Civil Code. // The American Journal of Comparative Law, Vol. 37, No. 1 (Winter, 1989), pp.
95-119.
6. Reimann M. Nineteenth Century German Legal Science // Boston College Law Review. 1990, vol.
31, № 4, p. 837-897.
7. Savigny F.C. von. Of the vocation of our age for legislation and jurisprudence, London, Littlewood
and Co., 1831.
8. Wieacker F. A history of private law in Europe with particular reference to Germany. Translated
from German by Tony Weir. Oxford, 1995, p. 279-340.
Topic 9. Legal positivism in Europe in the 19th century
Positive law and legal positivism. The notion of legal positivism in the ‘long 19th century’: its
emergence and its features. Political, economic and legal causes of legal positivism. Legal norm as
sovereign’s order backed by public force.
The age of codifications. Leading role of statutes and codes in the hierarchy of sources of law in
Europe. Legal doctrine deprived of its normative status.
French school of exegesis. Reform of legal education and change of priorities in legal policy: literary
interpretation of statutes in commentaries and judicial decisions. The limits of such exegesis and its
critique towards the end of the 19th century.
The school of German Pandectists. Persistence of the learned law and legal fragmentation in Germany
until the end of the 19th century. Transition from the Historical school to the Pandectism. Academic
programmes of G. Puchta, H. Dernburg, B. Windscheid: comprehensive scientification of legal science,
development of a coherent body of legal notions, separation of legal science from all non-legal
elements (including morals and politics). Law as a closed and gapless system. The role of scholars,
judges, practicing lawyers in this new system.
Codification of German private and procedural law and its consequences: shifting from legal
positivism to textological positivism. Notable critics of legal positivism and their arguments:
O. Gierke, R. Jhering, K. Marx, A. Menger.
Academic hours – 6.
Self-study hours – 8.
12
National Research University Higher School of Economics
Faculty of Law
Undergraduate Programme “Bachelor of Laws”
Essential Readings
1. Caenegem R.C. van. An historical introduction to private law. Cambridge, New York: Cambridge
University Press, 1992, p. 147-151, 155-159.
2. Robinson O.F. European legal history: sources and institutions. 3rd ed. London: Butterworths,
2000, chapter 16.
3. Stein P. Roman law in European history. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1999, p. 119-128.
4. Bellomo M. The common legal past of Europe (1000-1800). Washington, 1995, p. 21-25.
Supplementary readings
1. Coing H. German «Pandektistik» in its relationship to the rormer «ius commune» // The American
Journal of Comparative Law. 1989. Vol. 37. № 1. P. 9-15 [jstor.org]
2. Gardner J. Legal Positivism: 5 ½ Myths // American Journal of Jurisprudence. 2001, 46. P. 199 sg.
3. Greene
L.
Legal
Positivism
//
The
Stanford
Encyclopedia
of
Philosophy
[http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/legal-positivism/]
4. Reimann M. Nineteenth Century German Legal Science // Boston College Law Review. 1990, vol.
31, № 4, p. 837-897.
5. Wieacker F. A history of private law in Europe with particular reference to Germany. Translated
from German by Tony Weir. Oxford, 1995, p. 341-370.
Topic 10. Emergence of Russian legal science under European influence
French and German spheres of influence in Europe. Reception of the French Civil Code and the spread
of German Pandectist learning in the 19th century.
Beginnings of legal science in the Russian empire in the second half of the 18th and early 19th century.
The influence of natural law and enlightened ideas. Codification projects of Mikhail Speransky.
Establishment of legal education on the basis of study of Roman law under Nicolas I. The conservative
ideology of Official Nationality. The impact of the German historical school. Russia’s first students at
the university of Berlin. Savigny’s pupils in Russia. Foundation of the new chairs for legal studies at
the universities of the Russian Empire. The science of statute interpretation: its features and
limitations.
The age of the Great Reforms and its impact on legal education. Transition from the science of statute
interpretation towards the science of law. German Pandectism and its influence on Russian legal
science and legal education. Study of the foundations of the law. Russian seminar on Roman law at
Berlin university (1887-1896). Development of the sciences of state and private law. Scientific critique
of the positive law. Academic contribution to the codification projects in the Russian Empire.
13
National Research University Higher School of Economics
Faculty of Law
Undergraduate Programme “Bachelor of Laws”
Denial of the ‘bourgeois legal science’ in Russia after the October revolution of 1917.
Academic hours – 6.
Self-study hours – 8.
Essential Readings
1. Butler W. Russian Law. 3d ed. Oxford, 2009, p. 3-88.
2. Rudokvas A., Kartsov A. The Development of Civil Law Doctrine in Imperial Russia Under the
Aspect of Legal Transplants (1800–1917) // Rechtwissenschaft in Osteuropa. Studien zum 19. und
frühen 20. Jahrhundert. Sonderdruck. Frankfurt am Main: Klostermann, 2010. S. 291–333.
Supplementary readings
1. Ajani G. By Chance and prestige: legal transplants in Russia and Eastern Europe // The American
journal of comparative law, 1995, vol. 43, № 1, pp. 93-117.
2. Borisova T. Legislation as a source of law in late Imperial Russia // Preprints of the HSE Series:
Law, WP BRP 04/LAW/2012 [http://www.hse.ru/data/2012/03/01/1265644339/04LAW2012.pdf]
3. Borisova T. The Digest of laws of the Russian Empire: the phenomenon of autocratic legality //
Law and history review, 2012, vol. 30, № 3, p. 901-925.
4. Feldbrugge F.J.M. Law in Medieval Russia. Leiden, Boston: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 2009.
5. Giaro T. Legal tradition of Eastern Europe // Comparative law review, 2011 Vol 2, No 1, p. 1-23.
6. Kartsov A.S. Russian Institute of Roman Law at Berlin University // Diritto e Storia, 1 (4, 2005).
[http://www.dirittoestoria.it/4/Tradizione-Romana/Kartsov-Russian-Institute-Roman-LawBerlin.htm]
7. Poldnikov D. Dogma and Legal History in Russian Science of Civil Law // Journal on European
History of Law. 2011, №1, p. 61-65.
8. Poldnikov D. Legacy of classical natural law in Russian dogmatical jurisprudence in late 19th
century // Preprints of the HSE [http://www.hse.ru/org/hse/wp/prepfr_LAW]
9. Wagner W.G. The Civil Cassation Department of the Senate as an Instrument of Progressive
Reform in Post-Emancipation Russia: The Case of Property and Inheritance Law // Slavic Review,
1983, vol. 42, No. 1, pp. 36-59.
10. Wortman R. The Development of a Russian Legal Consciousness. Chicago University Press, 1976.
3: Prerequisites
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National Research University Higher School of Economics
Faculty of Law
Undergraduate Programme “Bachelor of Laws”
The course is targeted at first-year undergraduate law students who are expected to have successfully
completed the first part of the undergraduate courses on foreign and Russian legal history and legal
theory.
Students are expected to learn essential legal English vocabulary through study of European and
Russian legal history, listening to lectures, engaging in disputes, and preparing final written essay.
The instructor proposes an interactive mode of giving lectures similar to readings in American law
schools. Students are expected to read essential literature before attending lectures, they will be asked
questions in order to check their comprehension. The syllabus will be accompanied with essential
glossary.
From the very beginning of their legal education students are encouraged to make use of the electronic
resources of HSE, as many recommended papers are available at Jstor, Ebrary and other data bases.
4. Author
Dmitry Poldnikov, PhD, assistant professor of foreign legal history at the Department of Law, Chair
for Legal Theory and Comparative Law. For over a decade he studies various issues of European legal
history in the domain of private law, contract law, reception of Roman law, development of continental
legal science. He is an author of numerous publications in Russian and in English, including two
monographies on contractual theories in ius commune (2008, 2011), a textbook on contractual theories
in Western European legal science in the 12th to 18th centuries (2013). More than once he conducted
research projects at the leading adacemic institutions in Germany, Italy, the United States, including
the Max Planck institutes for European legal history (Frankfurt) and for international private law
(Hamburg), the University of Rome “La Sapienza”. This course is mainly the result of his research
stay at Harvard law school (Cambridge, MA).
5. Examination type
The overall learning outcome will be assessed on the basis of lecture attendance and an essay each
student is expected to write referring to the literature from the syllabus on topics suggested by the
instructor.
The essays must comply with the following formal requirements: written in English, 4 to 6 pages in
volume, 1,5-spaced, 14 pt. font size.
15
National Research University Higher School of Economics
Faculty of Law
Undergraduate Programme “Bachelor of Laws”
Essays will be evaluated with the help of the grade scale from 1 (the poorest grade) to 10 (the highest
grade) and the following criteria:
 coherency and consistency in expounding a chosen topic;
 reasonable selection of reviewed academic papers;
 accurate understanding of authors' positions;
 correct use of English terminology;
 proper application of acquired competence and skills.
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