A significance of the creative heritage of the legal scholar of the XX century Leon Petrazycki was discussed in the Presidential Library

“A contribution of Leon Petrazycki is now becoming more obvious. He can be considered one of the founders of law and economics,” — a judge of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation Gadis Hajiyev pointed out speaking at the international scientific conference entitled “The Creative Legacy of L. I. Petrazycki (on the occasion of his 150th birthday)” in the Presidential Library.

The scientists from different countries of the world attended the conference, including: Russia, Poland, the USA, Italy, Serbia and others. The organizers of the event are St. Petersburg State University and the Presidential Library.

The creative heritage of an outstanding jurist, a sociologist, a philosopher and a deputy of the first State Duma Leon Petrazycki, as well as his students followers, occupies a special place in the Presidential Library stock, as evidenced by the digital collection L. I. Petrazycki: to the 150th anniversary of his birth. A selection includes the copies of paperback editions, scientific journalism of the late XIX — the early XX century, some of Petrazycki’s jurisprudential works, a study of his scientific achievements, and the photographs.

In one of the magazines of the Law Community named Vestnik Prava (lit. legal herald) of 1899, an article by Leon Petrazycki, “What is the justice?” in where the scholar examines the issues of the legislative base and offers some possible solutions for these. He writes: “A solid ground and an sustainable foundation are the established laws of the given state and other norms that are active in it… Returning to the covenants of the best and glorious times of legal science must consist in clear and firm distinguishing the existing law and its doctrinal theology, positive jurisprudence from “philosophical law,” as the former lawyers would say… to recognize and to assure both these areas a right to the scientific, principle, systematic and methodical development.”

Therewithal, a photograph by Karl Bulla in 1906 entitled “A group of the deputies of the first State Duma from St. Petersburg” is published on the of the Presidential Library website, including Leon Petrazycki among the other diplomats.

Participants of the conference were also able to get familiar with the collection about Leon Petrazycki in the Presidential Library fund. The materials were presented at the multimedia exhibition entitled “Creative work of L. I. Petrazycki and his students in the Presidential Library stock,” which was opened along the course of the conference.