En
Ru
Birthday anniversary of Nikolai P. Bogolepov, Minister of public education
27 November (9 December) 1846 in the town of Serpukhov, Moscow province, in the family of an official was born Nikolai P. Bogolepov, Russian statesman, lawyer, specialist in history of the Roman law, chancellor of the Moscow University (1883-1887; 1891-1893), Minister of the public education of the Russian Empire (1898-1901).
In 1864 Bogolepov entered the Law Facultry of the Moscow University. After graduation he began his civil service at the Criminal Department of the Senate in Moscow. However, in spring of 1869 he accepted the proposal of professors M. N. Kapustin and V. N. Nikolsky to return to the University in order to prepare for obtaining professor’s status at the civil law sub-department. As the main object of his scientific research the young scholar chose the Roman law.
In summer of 1873, Bogolepov passed his master’s exam and in autumn, as a docent, started to conduct practical lessons on Justinian Institutes at the Law Faculty of the Moscow University, along with delivering lectures on the history of Roman law. Three years later he received his master’s degree having defended the thesis (“The meaning of the national civil law (jus gentium) in the Roman classical jurisprudence”) and was sent abroad in order to perfect his knowledge in legal sciences. There, during two years, he was attending lectures on the Roman law, history of philosophy, world history in the universities of Germany, France and England. Having returned to Russia in 1878, the researcher continued to lecture at the Law Faculty of the Moscow University.
In 1881 Bogolepov defended his doctor’s thesis (“The formal limitations of the freedom of testaments in the Roman classical jurisprudence”) and was appointed to the post of the professor. Two years later he became the chancellor of the Moscow University. In 1887, however, he left voluntarily the post since the death of the three children of the professor in the end of 1886 undermined his health and made him unable to work for some time. After long hesitations, in 1891 Bogolepov accepted the proposal of the administrator of the Moscow educational district to return to the post of the university’s chancellor. It was the period of increase of revolutionary attitude among students and teachers which impeded the proper studying. The attempts of the chancellor to reassure the enraged university community were futile. In 1893 he sent in his resignation, continuing nevertheless to lecture at the Law Faculty.
In summer of 1895 Bogolepov received a proposal to occupy the post of the administrator of the Moscow education district. His work at this post was intended for creation of conditions for the proper operation of educational institutions and, first of all, of the Moscow University. He was against the efforts to transform educational institutions into the centers of revolution propaganda.
In February 1898 Bogolepov was appointed the minister of public education of the Russian Empire. In the situation of students’ unrests the minister decided to focus on the improvement of the primary and secondary school, creation and improvement of the system of public schools. He believed that a well organized and coordinated work of the primary and secondary educational institutions will create the necessary prerequisites for the successful reorganization of the system of university education in Russia. However, the minister did not receive support in his initiatives neither from the emperor, nor from other members of the government including the minister of finance S. Yu. Witte, whom the success of the reforms in the field of education depended on the most.
In order to suppress the students’ unrests, Bogolepov was obliged to resort to ‘unpopular’ measures: he introduced the posts of inspectors in educational institutions, who were watching the students’ behavior. More to that, in summer of 1900 the Emperor Nicolas II approved the draft of the so-called “Provisional rules…” developed by Witte. According to the rules, the students taking part in disturbances, were sent to serve in the army as soldiers. Putting the “Provisional rules” into practice provoked unprecedented indignation among students which was directed at the minister of public education Bogolepov.
14 (27) February 1901, in the building of the ministry, Bogolepov was seriously wounded by a Gomel petty bourgeois, the former student of the Moscow and Yuriev Universities P. V. Karpovich. 2 (15) March he died.
Nikolai P. Bogolepov was buried in Moscow, at Dorogomilovsky cemetery, today abolished. His gravestone was erected by means of professors of the Moscow University.
Lit.: Боголепов Н. П. Значение общенародного гражданского права (jus gentium) в римской классической юриспруденции. М., 1876; Он же. Учебник истории римского права. М., 1895; Он же. Формальные ограничения свободы завещаний в римской классической юриспруденции. М., 1881; Боголепова Е. А. Николай Павлович Боголепов. М., 1912; Некрасов П. А. Николай Павлович Боголепов // Русский вестник. 1902. Кн. 2. С. 564—579; Томсинов В. А. Николай Павлович Боголепов // Вестник Московского университета. Сер. Право. 1996. № 5. С. 32—42.
Based on the Presidential Library’s materials: