CHAPTER XV.
The Russian Empire.
There have always been plenty of laws in Russia, the chief difficulty being not with the quantity but the quality. Another perplexing feature of Muscovite laws is the uncertainty of this patchwork of royal decrees, undefined traditions, changing customs and priestly superstitions.
If Peter the Great had lived long enough he would probably have given Russia a regular code such as Napoleon bequeathed to France, but he was too busy during his career with wars, travels and social reforms.
The Emperor Nicholas I. is entitled to the credit of being the first Russian sovereign to direct the compilation of anything approaching a classified legal code, and under his authority the jurist Speransky collected together some forty volumes. This code, as revised from time to time, is the best exposition obtainable of the law of the Empire. Its first article, however, qualifies the entire code by recognizing the Tsar’s privilege of altering or setting aside any law of the realm at will.
Until recently the first lesson for the Russian law student to learn was expressed in the doctrine: Quod principi placuit, legis habet vigorem. “The sovereign’s pleasure has the force of law.”
Many reforms have of late years been worked in Russian law and judicial procedure, but in these matters Russia is still a long way off from justifying the belief expressed by Count Mouravieff, that this country has a civilizing mission such as no other nation of the world, not only in Asia, but also in Europe.
Such benefits as can be derived from the law are still more for the privileged classes than for the great body of the people, and the point has not yet been reached of substituting judicial trials for ecclesiastical in matrimonial causes.