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Birthday anniversary of Alexander D. Gradovsky, Russian historian and legal scholar
13 (25) December, 1841 in Valuyisky district, Voronezh Province, into a noble family was born Alexander D. Gradovsky, Russian historian, legal scholar, writer of political essays of liberal shade.
In 1858 Gradovsky graduated from the Kharkov classical school and entered the Law Faculty of the Kharkov University. After graduation from the university, he had worked as the editor of the “Kharkov Provincial Bulletin” but in 1863 he began his state service.
In 1866 Gradovsky obtained his master’s degree having defended the thesis “The supreme administration of Russia of the 18th century and prosecutor generals”. A year later he was elected an associate professor of the state law sub-department of the Petersburg Imperial University. In 1868 he defended his doctor’s thesis (“History of the local self-government in Russia”) after which he was approved as a professor of the Petersburg University. Under the university Gradovsky founded the administrative department of the legal society. For a few years Gradovsky had been a member of the committee and the treasurer of the literary fund at the department.
In his lectures and publications Gradovsky focused a lot on the problem of history and nature of the state. Defining the state as a special "body", rooted in social life and inextricably linked with all the specific historical diversity of its forms and relations, he singled out two the most fundamental elements of the "integral statehood" - the church and the property. According to the scientist, both of these origins serve to strengthen the authority of the state in the spiritual and economic spheres.
In the 1870's Gradovsky turned to the theme of national relations. From the very beginning of his scientific career he acted as a statesman, who saw the national life, with all its peculiarities and its own history at the heart of the state. The researcher believed that there can’t be any national life out of the state. Consistently defending the idea of "diversity of national peculiarities," he recognized the need for "political independence of nations" and the national statehood in his work "The Ethnic Issue in History and Literature" (1873).
In 1865, the scientist delivered a public lecture on provincial institutions in Western Europe in accordance with the spirit of the Slavophilism. However, over time his beliefs changed. The main difference, according to Gradovsky, lay in the fact that the Slavophiles not only denied the western forms, but also denied the necessity of legal forms in general. "Their political doctrine is the theory of a formless state", said the researcher. The idea of the "people-utopia," according to him, was not so much a Slavophile one and, moreover, not Orthodox one, but exclusively European.
The most significant work of Gradovsky on the history and theory of law is the study of the "Origins of the Russian state law," published in 3 volumes at the turn of 1870-1880s. Liberal views of the scientist had clearly manifested in the fundamental study of the history of European parliamentarism - "Public right of the major European nations" (1886).
Having become a professor at St. Petersburg University in 1869, Gradovsky had worked there until his death. As a professor he enjoyed a considerable influence among the students who then followed the ideas of the famous scientist in their practice.
6 (18) November, 1889 Alexander D. Gradovsky died in St. Petersburg.
Лит.: Градовский А. Д. Собрание сочинений. Т. 1–9. СПб., 1899-1904; Ивановский И. А. А. Д. Градовский как учёный. СПб., 1900; Краткий очерк жизни и деятельности А. Д. Градовского. СПб., 1904.
Based on the Presidential Library’s materials:
Градовский А. Д. Начала русского государственного права. Т. 1. СПб., 1875;
Градовский А. Д. Начала русского государственного права. Т. 2. СПб., 1876;
Градовский А. Д. Начала русского государственного права. Т. 3. Ч. 1. СПб., 1883 ;
Ивановский И. А. А. Д. Градовский как учёный. СПб., 1900;
Конспект «Начал русского государственного права, составленный профессором А. Градовским». СПб., 1878;
Общее государственное право : лекции проф. А. Д. Градовского: 1885 г. СПб., 1885;
Политика, история и администрация: критическая и политическая статьи А. Градовского. СПб., 1871;