Which of Speransky's proposals have not been implemented. The reform activities of M.M.

I find two states in Russia: the sovereign's slaves and the landlord's slaves. The former are called free only in relation to the latter; really, there are no free people in Russia, except beggars and philosophers.

The reign of Alexander 1 was marked by numerous reforms that affected almost all aspects of the life of the state. One of the inspirers of changes in Russia at that time was Mikhail Speransky, who proposed to radically reform the country's political structure by organizing its power according to the principle of separation of branches of power. These ideas are known today as Speransky's reforms, which we will briefly consider in this material. The reforms themselves were carried out in the period from 1802 to 1812 and were of great importance for Russia at that time.

The main provisions of the Speransky reform project

Speransky's reforms are usually divided into three stages: 1802-1807, 1808-1810, 1811-1812. Let's take a closer look at each of the stages.

First stage (1802-1807)

At this stage, Speransky did not hold positions of particular importance, but at the same time, taking part in the "Secret Committee", together with Kochubei, he developed a ministerial reform. As a result, the collegiums that had been created under Peter 1 were liquidated, then abolished by Catherine, however, in the years of Paul 1 they again resumed their activities as the main state bodies under the emperor. After 1802, ministries were created instead of collegia. A Cabinet of Ministers was created to coordinate the work of the Ministries. In addition to these transformations, Speransky published a number of reports on the role of law in the life of the state and the need for a competent distribution of responsibilities among state bodies. These studies became the basis for the next stages of Speransky's reforms.

Second stage (1808-1810)

After increasing confidence on the part of the emperor and the appointment to important government posts, Speransky prepared in 1809 one of the most important documents in his political career - "Introduction to the Code of State Laws." This was a plan for the reforms of the Russian Empire. Historians note the following key provisions of this document, as a system that rather clearly characterizes Speransky's reforms:

At the heart of the political power of the state. Division of branches into legislative, executive and judicial. Speransky got this idea from the ideas of the French Enlightenment, in particular Montesquieu. Legislative power was to be exercised by the State Duma, executive power by the already created ministries, and judicial power by the Senate.
Creation of an advisory body under the emperor, the State Council. This body was supposed to prepare draft laws, which would then be submitted to the Duma, where, after voting, they could become laws.
Social transformations. The reform supposed to carry out the division of Russian society into three classes: the first - the nobility, the second ("middle class") - merchants, bourgeois and state peasants, the third - "working people".
Realization of the idea of \u200b\u200b"natural law". Civil rights (the right to life, arrest only by court order, etc.) for all three estates, and political rights were to belong only to the "free people", that is, the first two estates.
Social mobility was allowed. With the accumulation of capital, the serfs could redeem themselves, which means they could become the second estate, and therefore receive political rights.
The State Duma is an elected body. The elections were to be held in 4 stages, thereby creating regional authorities. First of all, two estates elected the volost duma, whose members elected the county duma, whose deputies, in turn, formed the provincial duma with their votes. The deputies at the provincial level elected the State Duma.
The leadership of the Duma passed to the Chancellor appointed by the emperor.

After the publication of this project, Speransky, together with the Emperor, began to implement the ideas. On January 1, 1810, an advisory body was organized - the State Council. Mikhail Speransky himself was appointed its head. In theory, this body was supposed to become a temporary legislative body until the Duma is formed. Also, the Council was supposed to manage the finances of the empire.

Third stage (1811-1812)

Despite the incompleteness of the implementation of the first stage of reforms, Speransky in 1811 published the Code of the Governing Senate. This document suggested:

He proposed to divide the Senate into the Government (local government issues) and the Judicial (the main body of the judicial branch of the Russian Empire).
Create a vertical of the judiciary. Provincial, district and volost courts should be created.
He expressed the idea of \u200b\u200bgranting civil rights to serfs.

This project, like the first document of 1809, remained just a draft. At the time of 1812, only one idea of \u200b\u200bSperansky was realized - the creation of the State Council.

Why did Alexander 1 never dare to implement Speransky's project?

Speransky began to be criticized back in 1809 after the publication of the "Introduction to the Code of State Laws." Alexander 1 took Speransky's criticism as his own. In addition, since Speransky's reforms were based largely on the ideas of the French Enlightenment, he was criticized for trying to "flirt" with Napoleon. As a result, a group of influential conservative-minded nobility formed in the Russian Empire, which criticized the emperor for trying to "destroy the historical foundations" of the Russian state. One of the most famous critics of Speransky, his contemporary, the famous historian Karamzin. Most of all, the nobility resented the desire to give political rights to the state peasants, as well as the idea of \u200b\u200bgiving civil rights to all classes of the empire, including the serfs.

Speransky took part in the financial reform. As a result, the taxes that the nobles had to pay had to increase. This fact also set the nobility against the head of the State Council.

Thus, we can note the main reasons why the implementation of Speransky's project was not carried out:

Enormous resistance from the Russian nobility.
The emperor himself was not decisive in carrying out reforms.
The reluctance of the emperor to form a system of "three powers", since this significantly limited the role of the emperor himself in the country.
Possible war with Napoleonic France, which, however, only suspended the reforms, if there were no other reasons for their complete stop.

Reasons and consequences of Speransky's resignation

Given the distrust and protests from the nobility, Speransky found himself constantly under pressure. The only thing that saved him from losing his post was the emperor's trust, which lasted until 1812. So, in 1811, the Secretary of State himself personally asked the emperor to resign, because he felt that his ideas would not be realized. However, the emperor did not accept the resignation. Since 1811, the number of denunciations against Speransky also increased. He was accused of many crimes: libel against the emperor, secret negotiations with Napoleon, attempted coup d'etat and other meanness. Despite these statements, the emperor awarded Speransky the Order of Alexander Nevsky. However, with the spread of rumors and criticism of Speransky, a shadow fell on the emperor himself. As a result, in March 1812, Alexander signed a decree dismissing Speransky from his duties as a civil servant. Thus, Speransky's state reforms were also terminated.

On March 17, Speransky and Alexander 1 met in person in the office of the Winter Palace, the content of this conversation is still a mystery to historians. But already in September, the former second person in the empire after the emperor was sent into exile in Nizhny Novgorod, and on September 15, he was transported to Perm. In 1814 he was allowed to return to his estate in the Novgorod province, but only under political supervision. Since 1816, Mikhail Speransky even returned to public service, becoming the Penza governor, and in 1819 he became the governor-general of Siberia. In 1821 he was appointed head of the commission for drafting laws, for which he received a state award during the years of Nicholas I. In 1839 he died of a cold, before his death he was included in the list of count families of the Russian Empire.

The main result of Speransky's activities

Despite the fact that Speransky's reforms were never implemented, they continued to be discussed in Russian society even after the death of the reformer. In 1864, when carrying out judicial reform, they took into account Speransky's ideas regarding the vertical of the judicial system. In 1906, the first State Duma in the history of Russia began to work. Therefore, despite its incompleteness, Speransky's project had a huge impact on the political life of Russian society.

Speransky's personality

Mikhail Speransky was born in 1772 into a modest family, his parents belonged to the lower clergy. A career as a priest awaited him, but after graduating from theological seminary he was offered to remain a teacher. Later, the Metropolitan of St. Petersburg himself recommended Mikhail for the post of house secretary for Prince Alexei Kurakin. The latter became Prosecutor General under Paul 1 a year later. This is how Mikhail Speransky's political career began. In 1801-1802 he met P. Kochubey, began to take part in the work of the "Secret Committee" under Alexander 1, for the first time showing a penchant for reforms. For his contribution to the work of the "committee" in 1806 he received the Order of St. Vladimir, 3rd degree. Thanks to his reports on legal topics, he has established himself as an excellent expert in jurisprudence, as well as an expert in the field of theory of the state. It was then that the emperor began to systematize Speransky's reforms in order to use them to change Russia.

After the signing of the Peace of Tilsit in 1807, the "Secret Committee" opposed an armistice with France. Speransky himself supported Alexander's actions, in addition, expressed interest in the reforms of Napoleon Bonaparte. In this regard, the emperor dismisses the "Secret Committee" from the activities. Thus begins the ascent of Mikhail Speransky as a reformer of the Russian Empire.

In 1808 he became Deputy Minister of Justice, and in 1810 the main appointment of his life took place: he became the State Secretary of the State Council, the second person in the country after the emperor. In addition, from 1808 to 1811 Speransky was the Chief Prosecutor of the Senate.

Mikhail Mikhailovich Speransky (1772-1839) - Russian political, public figure, author of numerous works on law and jurisprudence, author of major bills and reforms.

Speransky lived and worked during the reign of Alexander I and Nicholas I, was an active member of the Academy of Sciences, was engaged in social activities and reforming the legal system of the Russian Empire. Under Nicholas I, he was the tutor of the heir to the throne - Alexander Nikolaevich. Speransky wrote many theoretical works on jurisprudence and is considered one of the founders of modern law. In addition, he drafted a constitution.

Brief biography of Speransky

Born in the Vladimir province in the family of a church clerk. From early childhood he learned to read and write and read holy books. In 1780, Speransky entered the Vladimir Seminary, where, soon, thanks to his sharp mind and unusually strong ability for analytical thinking, he became the best student. After graduating from the seminary, Speransky continued his education there, but already as a student. For his academic success, he got the opportunity to transfer to the Alexander Nevsky Seminary in St. Petersburg, after which he remained to teach there.

Speransky's teaching activity at the seminary did not last long. In 1795 he received an offer to become the secretary of Prince Kurakin. Thus began Speransky's political career.

Speransky quickly moved up the career ladder. In 1801 he became a full state councilor, which allowed him to more actively participate in the social and political life of the country. In 1806, Speransky met Emperor Alexander I and impressed him so much with his talents and intelligence that he received an offer to develop a project of reforms that could improve the state of the country. In 1810, Speransky became secretary of state (the second person in the country after the sovereign), and began his active reformatory activities.

The reforms proposed by Speransky affected the interests of too many sectors of society and were so extensive that the nobility feared them. As a result, in 1812 Speransky fell into disgrace and is in such a miserable position until 1816.

In 1819, he unexpectedly received the post of Governor-General of Siberia, and in 1821 he returned to St. Petersburg.

The emperor died, and his brother ascended the throne. Speransky met Nikolai and also charmed him with his intelligence, which allowed him to regain his former political influence and respect. At this time, Speransky received the post of educator of the heir to the throne. The Higher School of Jurisprudence was opened, in which he actively worked.

Speransky died in 1839 from a cold.

Speransky's political reforms

Speransky became widely known for his numerous reforms, which were comprehensive. Speransky was not a supporter of the monarchical system, he believed that the state should give all citizens the same rights, and power should be divided, but at the same time he was sure that Russia was not yet ready for such radical changes, so he proposed, as it seemed to him , a more suitable option. By order of Alexander I, Speransky developed a program of reforms that were supposed to help Russia get out of the crisis.

Speransky proposed the following ideas:

obtaining by citizens, regardless of class, equal civil rights;
a significant reduction in all expenses for the activities of state bodies and officials, as well as the establishment of strict control over the budget;
division of power into legislative, executive and judicial, restructuring of the system of ministries and changes in their functions;
creating more modern judicial bodies, as well as writing new legislation that would take into account the needs of the new management system;
extensive transformations in the domestic economy, the introduction of taxes.

The main idea of \u200b\u200bSperansky's reforms was to create a democratic model of government headed by a monarch, who, however, would not have power alone, but society would be equalized before the law. According to the project, Russia was to become a full-fledged legal state.

Speransky's reforms were not accepted by the nobility, who were afraid of losing their privileges. The project was not completed in full, only some of its points were implemented.

Results of Speransky's activities

Results of Speransky's activities:

significant growth in foreign trade by increasing the economic attractiveness of Russia in the eyes of foreign investors;
modernization of the state administration system; reforming the army of officials and reducing the costs of their maintenance;
the emergence of a powerful economic infrastructure that allowed the economy to self-regulate and develop faster;
creation of a modern legal system; Speransky became the author-compiler of the "Complete collection of laws of the Russian Empire";
creation of a theoretical basis for modern legislation and law.

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Introduction

speran reform state

In the first half of the 19th century, the state and public order of the Russian Empire was on the same basis. The nobility, constituting a small part of the population, remained the dominant, privileged class. The landowners, freed from obligatory service to the state, turned from the service class into an idle, purely consumer class.

State policy expressed the interests of the bulk of the nobility. The growing contradiction of the feudal system in Russia was reflected in the confrontation and clash between the liberal and protective ideology.

Alexander I at the beginning of his reign promised to govern the people "according to the laws and according to the heart of his wise grandmother." The main concern of the government was proclaimed the preparation of fundamental (basic) laws to eliminate "arbitrariness of government." The court nobles were involved in the discussion of the reform projects. They discussed relatively minor issues and scattered reforms of some state institutions, until the talented thinker and statesman M.M. Speransky (1772-1839).

The purpose of the control work is to consider the main projects of reforms developed by M.M. Speransky.

The objectives of this essay are:

1. coverage of the biography of M.M. Speransky

2. disclosing the essence of reform projects

3. consideration of the circumstances of the excommunication of Speransky from public affairs.

Chapter 1. Biography of M.М. Speransky

Mikhail Mikhailovich Speransky was born in January 1772 into the family of a rural priest in the village of Cherkutin, Vladimir province. His father assigned him to the Suzdal Theological Seminary. In January 1790 he was sent to St. Petersburg to the newly founded First Theological Seminary. After graduating from the seminary in 1792, Speransky was left as a teacher of mathematics, physics and eloquence, French. Speransky taught all subjects with great success. From 1795 he also began to lecture on philosophy and was promoted to "prefect of the seminary." A thirst for knowledge drove him to the civil service. He considered going abroad and completing his education at German universities.

Metropolitan Gabriel of St. Petersburg recommended him as his personal secretary to Prince Kurakin. In 1796, Kurakin, appointed to the post of Prosecutor General, took Speransky into public service and entrusted him to head his office. Speransky brought to the untidy Russian office of the 18th century. an unusually refined mind, able to work endlessly and an excellent ability to speak and write. For all this, of course, he was a real find for the clerical world. This paved the way for his unusually fast career. Already under Paul, he gained fame in the St. Petersburg bureaucratic world. In January 1797, Speransky received the rank of titular counselor, in April of the same year - collegiate assessor (this rank was given to the personal nobility), in January 1798 - court councilor, and in September 1799 - collegiate councilor.

In November 1798 he married an Englishwoman, Elizabeth Stephens. His happy life was short-lived - in September 1799, shortly after the birth of his daughter, his wife died.

Speransky was distinguished by his broad outlook and strict systemic thinking. By the nature of his education, he was an ideologist, as they said then, or a theoretician, as they would call him now. His mind grew up in persistent work on abstract concepts and was accustomed to disdain for simple everyday phenomena. Speransky had an unusually strong mind, of which there are always few, and in that philosophical age there were fewer than ever. Hard work on abstractions gave Speransky's extraordinary energy and flexibility to his thinking. The most difficult and bizarre combinations of ideas were easy for him. Thanks to such thinking, Speransky became an embodied system, but it was precisely this intensified development of abstract thinking that constituted an important defect in his practical activity. Through long and hard work, Speransky prepared for himself a vast stock of various knowledge and ideas. In this reserve there was a lot of luxury that satisfied the exquisite requirements of mental comfort, there was, perhaps, even a lot that is superfluous and too little that was needed for the base needs of a person, for understanding reality. In this he was like Alexander, and on this they agreed with each other. But Speransky differed from the sovereign in that the former had all the mental luxury tidied up and harmoniously arranged in places. The most confusing question in his presentation acquired an orderly harmony.

Chapter 2.Projects of state reforms M.M. Speransky

Alexander I, who ascended the throne as a result of the assassination of Paul I, at the beginning of his reign, promised to govern the people "according to the laws and according to the heart of his wise grandmother." The main concern of the government was proclaimed the preparation of fundamental (basic) laws to eliminate "arbitrariness of government." The court nobles were involved in the discussion of the reform projects. Relatively minor issues and scattered reforms of some state institutions were discussed until the talented thinker and statesman Mikhail Mikhailovich Speransky (1772-1839) fell into the circle of the emperor.

On the instructions of Alexander I, Speransky prepared a number of projects for improving the state structure of the empire, in essence, the projects of the Russian constitution. Some of the projects were written in 1802-1804; in 1809, extensive "Introduction to the Code of State Laws", "Draft Code of State Laws of the Russian Empire" and related notes and projects were prepared.

2.1 Public administration reform

A supporter of the constitutional system, Speransky was convinced that new rights must be granted to society by power. A society divided into estates, whose rights and obligations are established by law, need civil and criminal law, public administration of court cases, and freedom of the press. Speransky attached great importance to the education of public opinion.

At the same time, he believed that Russia was not ready for a constitutional system, that it was necessary to begin reforms with the reorganization of the state apparatus.

The period 1808-1811 was the era of the highest significance and influence of Speransky, about whom it was at this time that Joseph de Maistre wrote that he was the "first and even only minister" of the empire: reform of the State Council (1810), reform of ministers (1810-1811) , Senate reform (1811-1812). The young reformer, with his characteristic fervor, set about drawing up a complete plan for the new formation of state administration in all its parts: from the cabinet of the sovereign to the volost government. Already on December 11, 1808, he read to Alexander I his note "On the improvement of general public education." As late as October 1809, the whole plan was already on the emperor's desk. October and November passed in almost daily consideration of its various parts, in which Alexander I made his amendments and additions.

The views of the new reformer MM Speransky are most fully reflected in the note of 1809 - "Introduction to the Code of State Laws." Speransky's "Code" opens with a serious theoretical study of "properties and objects of state, indigenous and organic laws." He further explained and substantiated his thoughts on the basis of the theory of law or, even, rather, the philosophy of law. The reformer attached great importance to the regulating role of the state in the development of domestic industry and by his political transformations strengthened the autocracy in every possible way. Speransky writes: "If the rights of state power were unlimited, if the state forces were united in sovereign power and they would not leave any rights to their subjects, then the state would be in slavery and the government would be despotic."

According to Speransky, such slavery can take two forms. The first form not only excludes subjects from any participation in the use of state power, but also deprives them of the freedom to dispose of their own person and their property. The second, milder one, also excludes subjects from participation in government, but leaves them free in relation to their own personality and property. Consequently, subjects have no political rights, but civil rights remain with them. And their presence means that there is freedom in the state to some extent. But it is not guaranteed enough, therefore - Speransky explains - it is necessary to protect it - by creating and strengthening the basic law, that is, the Political Constitution.

Civil rights should be listed in it “in the form of initial civil consequences arising from political rights”, and citizens should be given political rights by which they will be able to defend their rights and their civil liberties. So, according to Speransky, civil rights and freedoms are insufficiently provided by laws and law. Without constitutional guarantees, they themselves are powerless, therefore it was the demand to strengthen the civil system that formed the basis of Speransky's entire plan of state reforms and determined their main idea - "rule, hitherto autocratic, to establish and establish by law." The idea is that state power should be built on a permanent basis, and the government should be on a solid constitutional and legal basis. This idea stems from a tendency to find in the fundamental laws of the state a solid foundation for civil rights and freedoms. It bears the desire to ensure the connection of the civil system with the fundamental laws and to firmly establish it, precisely based on these laws. The transformation plan involved a change in the social structure and a change in the state order. Speransky divides society on the basis of differences in rights. “From the review of civil and political rights, it is revealed that all of them in their belonging to three classes can be divided: Civil rights are common, to all subjects of the Nobility; People of average condition; Working people. " The entire population appeared to be civilly free, and serfdom was abolished, although, establishing "civil freedom for the landowners' peasants," Speransky at the same time continued to call them "serfs." The nobles retained the right to own inhabited lands and freedom from compulsory service. The working people consisted of peasants, artisans and servants. Speransky's grandiose plans began to come true. Back in the spring of 1809, the emperor approved the "Regulations on the composition and management of the commission for drawing up laws" developed by Speransky, where for many years (up to the new reign) the main directions of its activities were determined: "The works of the Commission have the following main subjects:

1. Civil Code. 2. Code of Criminal. 3. Commercial Code. 4. Various parts to the State Economy and to public law belonging. 5. Code of provincial laws for the provinces of Ostsee. 6. Code of laws such for the provinces of Little Russia and Polish annexed.

Speransky speaks of the need to create a legal state, which ultimately must be a constitutional state. He explains that the security of a person and property is the first inalienable property of any society, since inviolability is the essence of civil rights and freedoms, which have two types: personal and material freedoms. Content of personal freedoms:

1. No one can be punished without trial; 2. No one is obliged to perform personal service except by law. Content of material freedoms: 1. Everyone can dispose of his property at will, in accordance with the general law; 2. No one is obliged to pay taxes and duties other than by law, and not arbitrarily. Thus, we see that Speransky everywhere perceives the law as a method of protecting security and freedom. However, he sees that guarantees are needed against the arbitrariness of the legislator. The reformer approaches the requirement of constitutional and legal limitation of power, so that it takes into account existing law. This would give it more stability.

Speransky considers it necessary to have a system of power sharing. Here he fully accepts the ideas that prevailed then in Western Europe, and writes in his work that: “You cannot base government on the law, if one sovereign power will make up the law and execute it”. Therefore, Speransky sees a reasonable structure of state power in its division into three branches: legislative, executive and judicial, while maintaining the autocratic form. Since the discussion of draft laws involves the participation of a large number of people, it is necessary to create special bodies representing the legislative branch - the Duma.

Speransky proposes to involve the population (personally free, including state peasants, subject to a property qualification) to direct participation in the legislative, executive and judicial authorities based on a system of four-stage elections (volost - district - provincial - State Duma). If this plan were actually embodied, the fate of Russia would have turned out differently, alas, history does not know the subjunctive mood. The right to elect them cannot belong equally to everyone. Speransky stipulates that the more property a person has, the more he is interested in protecting property rights. And those who have neither real estate nor capital are excluded from the election process. Thus, we see that the democratic principle of general and secret elections is alien to Speransky, and in contrast to this he puts forward and attaches greater importance to the liberal principle of separation of powers. At the same time, Speransky recommends widespread decentralization, that is, along with the central State Duma, local councils should also be created: volost, uyezd and provincial. The Duma is called upon to resolve issues of a local nature. Without the consent of the State Duma, the autocrat had no right to issue laws, except for those cases when it came to saving the fatherland. However, in contrast, the emperor could always dissolve the deputies and call new elections. Consequently, by its existence, the State Duma, as it were, was called upon to give only an idea of \u200b\u200bthe needs of the people and to exercise control over the executive power. The executive power is represented by boards, and at the highest level - by ministries, which were formed by the emperor himself. Moreover, the ministers were to be held accountable to the State Duma, which was empowered to ask for the abolition of illegal acts. This is Speransky's fundamentally new approach, expressed in the desire to place officials, both in the center and in the localities, under the control of public opinion. The judicial branch of government was represented by regional, county and provincial courts, consisting of elected judges and acting with the participation of a jury. The highest court was the Senate, whose members were elected for life by the State Duma and personally approved by the emperor.

The unity of state power, according to Speransky's project, would be embodied only in the personality of the monarch. This decentralization of legislation, court and administration was supposed to give the central government itself the opportunity to solve with due attention those most important state affairs that would be concentrated in its bodies and which would not be overshadowed by the mass of current small matters of local interest. This idea of \u200b\u200bdecentralization was all the more remarkable because it was not at all on the agenda of Western European political thinkers, who were more concerned with the development of questions of central government.

The monarch remained the only representative of all branches of government, heading them. Therefore, Speransky believed that it was necessary to create an institution that would take care of planned cooperation between individual authorities and would be, as it were, a concrete expression of the fundamental embodiment of state unity in the personality of the monarch. According to his plan, the State Council was to become such an institution. At the same time, this body was supposed to act as a guardian of the implementation of legislation.

On January 1, 1810, a manifesto was announced establishing the Council of State, replacing the Permanent Council. M. M. Speransky received the post of state secretary in this body. He was in charge of all the documentation that passed through the State Council. Speransky originally envisaged in his reform plan the State Council as an institution that should not be particularly concerned with the preparation and development of bills. But since the creation of the State Council was considered as the first stage of transformations and it was he who was supposed to establish plans for further reforms, then at the beginning this body was given broad powers. From now on, all bills had to go through the State Council. The general meeting consisted of members of four departments: 1) legislative, 2) military affairs (up to 1854), 3) civil and spiritual affairs, 4) state economy; and from ministers. The sovereign himself presided over it. At the same time, it is stipulated that the king could only approve the opinion of the majority of the general assembly. Chancellor Count Nikolai Petrovich Rumyantsev (1751_1826) became the first chairman of the State Council (until August 14, 1814). The Secretary of State (new position) became the head of the State Chancellery.

Speransky not only developed, but also laid down a certain system of checks and balances in the activities of the highest state bodies under the rule of the emperor. He argued that already on the basis of this, the very direction of reforms was set. So, Speransky considered Russia mature enough to start reforms and get a constitution that would ensure not only civil, but also political freedom. In a memo to Alexander I, he pinned his hopes on the fact that "if God blesses all undertakings, then by 1811 ... Russia will accept a new being and will be completely transformed in all parts." Speransky argues that there are no examples in history that an enlightened commercial people remained in a state of slavery for a long time and that shocks cannot be avoided if the state structure does not correspond to the spirit of the times. Therefore, heads of state must closely monitor the development of the public spirit and adapt political systems to it. From this, Speransky drew the conclusion that it would be a great advantage for a constitution to arise in Russia thanks to the “beneficent inspiration of the supreme power”. But the supreme power in the person of the emperor did not share all the points of Speransky's program. Alexander I was quite satisfied with only partial transformations of feudal Russia, spiced with liberal promises and abstract discourses about law and freedom. Alexander I was ready to accept all this. But in the meantime, he also experienced the strongest pressure from the court circle, including members of his family, who sought to prevent radical transformations in Russia.

Also one of the ideas was to improve the “bureaucratic army” for future reforms. On April 3, 1809, a decree on court ranks was issued. He changed the order of obtaining titles and certain privileges. Henceforth, these titles were to be regarded as simple insignia. Privileges were received only by those who carried out public service. The decree, which reformed the procedure for obtaining court ranks, was signed by the emperor, but it was no secret to anyone who was its real author. For many decades, the offspring of the most noble families (literally from the cradle) received the court ranks of the chamber-junker (respectively - 5th grade), after a while - the chamberlain (4th grade). When they entered the civil or military service after reaching a certain age, they, who had never served anywhere, automatically occupied the “highest places”. By decree of Speransky, chamber junkers and chamberlains who were not on active duty were ordered to look for an occupation for themselves (otherwise, resignation) within two months.

The second measure was published on August 6, 1809, a decree on new rules for the production of civil service ranks, secretly prepared by Speransky. In a note to the sovereign under a very unassuming title, rooted a revolutionary plan to radically change the order of production for ranks, to establish a direct connection between receiving a rank and educational qualifications. This was a bold attempt on the system of rank-and-file production that has been in effect since the era of Peter I. One can only imagine how many ill-wishers and enemies appeared to Mikhail Mikhailovich thanks to this decree alone. Speransky protests against the monstrous injustice when a law school graduate gets the ranks later than a colleague who has never really studied anywhere. From now on, the rank of collegiate assessor, which previously could be obtained by seniority, was given only to those officials who had in their hands a certificate of successful completion of a course of study at one of the Russian universities or passed the exams under a special program. At the end of the note, Speransky directly speaks of the harmfulness of the existing system of ranks according to Peter's "Table of Ranks", proposing either to abolish them, or to regulate the receipt of ranks, starting from the 6th grade, with a university diploma. This program included testing the knowledge of the Russian language, one of the foreign languages, natural, Roman, state and criminal law, general and Russian history, state economics, physics, geography and statistics of Russia. The rank of the collegiate assessor corresponded to the 8th grade of the “Table of Ranks”. From this class and above, officials had great privileges and high salaries. It is easy to guess that there were many who wanted to get it, and most of the applicants, as a rule, were not young, were simply not able to take the exams. Hatred for the new reformer began to grow. The emperor, having protected his loyal comrade with his aegis, raised him up the career ladder.

Elements of market relations in the Russian economy were also highlighted in the projects of M. M. Speransky. He shared the ideas of the economist Adam Smith. Speransky linked the future of economic development with the development of commerce, the transformation of the financial system and monetary circulation. In the first months of 1810, a discussion of the problem of regulating public finances took place. Speransky drew up the "Plan of Finance", which formed the basis of the tsarist manifesto of February 2. The main purpose of this document was to eliminate the budget deficit. According to its content, the issue of paper money was stopped, the amount of financial resources was reduced, the financial activities of the ministers were put under control. In order to replenish the state treasury, the per capita tax from 1 ruble was increased to 3, and a new, previously unheard of tax was introduced - “progressive income”. These measures gave a positive result and, as Speransky himself later noted, “by changing the system of finance ... we saved the state from bankruptcy”. The budget deficit has decreased, and treasury revenues have increased by 175 million rubles in two years.

In the summer of 1810, on the initiative of Speransky, the reorganization of the ministries began, which was completed by June 1811. During this time, the Ministry of Commerce was liquidated, cases on internal security were allocated, for which a special Ministry of Police was formed. The ministries themselves were divided into departments (with the director at the head), departments - into departments. The top officials of the ministry made up the council of the minister, and of all the ministers, a committee of ministers to discuss matters of an administrative and executive nature.

The clouds begin to gather over the head of the reformer. Speransky, despite the instinct of self-preservation, continues to work selflessly. In a report submitted to the emperor on February 11, 1811, Speransky reports: „/… / the following main subjects have been completed: I. The State Council was established. II. Completed two parts of the civil code. III. A new division of ministries was made, a general charter was drawn up and draft charters of private ones were drawn. IV. A permanent system for the payment of public debts has been drawn up and adopted: 1) by terminating the issue of bank notes; 2) I sell property; 3) the establishment of the repayment commission. V. A coin system has been drawn up. Vi. The commercial code for 1811 was drawn up.

Never, perhaps, in Russia within one year have so many general state decrees been made as in the past. /… / From this it follows that in order to successfully complete the plan that Your Majesty will prescribe for himself, it is necessary to strengthen the methods of its implementation. /… / The following subjects in this plan seem to be absolutely necessary: \u200b\u200bI. To complete the civil code. II. Draw up two codes that are very necessary: \u200b\u200b1) judicial, 2) criminal. III. Finish the structure of the judicial senate. IV. Draw up the structure of the ruling Senate. V. Management of the provinces in the order of the ship and the executive. Vi. Consider and strengthen ways to pay off debts. Vii. Establish state annual revenues: 1) By introducing a new census of people. 2) The formation of land tax. 3) A new device of wine income. 4) The best device for income from state property. /… / It can be argued with certainty that /… / by making them /… / the empire will be placed in a position so firm and reliable that the age of Your Majesty will always be called a blessed century. " Alas, the ambitious plans for the future, outlined in the second part of the report, remained unfulfilled (primarily the Senate reform).

By the beginning of 1811, Speransky also proposed a new project for transforming the Senate. The essence of the project was significantly different from the initial one. It was supposed to divide the Senate into government and judicial. The composition of the latter provided for the appointment of its members as follows: one part - from the crown, the other was elected by the nobility. Due to various internal and external reasons, the Senate remained in the same state, and Speransky himself eventually came to the conclusion that the project should be postponed. Note also that in 1810, according to Speransky's plan, the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum was established.

This was, in general terms, the political reform. Serfdom, court, administration, legislation - everything found a place and permission in this grandiose work, which remained a monument of political talents far beyond the level of even highly talented people. Some reproach Speransky for paying little attention to peasant reform. We read in Speransky: “The relations in which both these classes (peasants and landowners) are placed finally destroy all energy in the Russian people. The interest of the nobility requires that the peasants be completely subordinate to him; the interest of the peasantry is that the nobles were also subject to the crown ... The throne is always a serf as the only counterbalance to the property of their masters, “that is, serfdom was incompatible with political freedom. “Thus, Russia, divided into different classes, exhausts its strength in the struggle that these classes are waging among themselves, and leaves the government the entire volume of unlimited power. A state organized in this way - that is, on the separation of hostile classes - if it has this or that external structure - both letters to the nobility, letters to cities, two senates and the same number of parliaments - is a despotic state, and as long as it consists of the same elements (warring estates), it will be impossible for it to be a monarchical state. " The awareness of the need, in the interests of the political reform itself, to abolish serfdom, as well as the awareness of the need for the redistribution of power to correspond to the redistribution of political power, is evident from the reasoning.

2.2 Judicial reform

All strata of society, and most importantly, the ruling class were interested in the reform of the court. The judicial reform was a consequence of the so-called crisis at the top, the ruling elite's awareness of the need to create an effective mechanism to protect the individual and property. And, of course, the emperor Alexander II himself, as well as his brother Konstantin Nikolaevich, who adhered to even more radical views, acted as a supporter of judicial reform.

Preparation and principles of reform. The history of the preparation of the judicial reform goes back to the first half of the 19th century. In 1803 M.M. Speransky proposed a broad program for improving the judicial system, which was developed in the "Introduction to the Code of State Laws" in 1809. In 1821 and 1826. he returned to projects of judicial reform. However, the governments of Alexander I and Nicholas I rejected them, since these projects, albeit very timidly, proposed the implementation of certain bourgeois principles. In addition, judicial reforms could not be carried out in isolation, without addressing the fundamental issues of public life, primarily peasant. As you know, Alexander I and Nicholas I were opposed to the abolition of serfdom. Therefore, the bourgeois principles of equality of all owners before the law, which underlie the improvement of the judicial system of M.M. Speransky, turned out to be unacceptable and premature for feudal Russia, where more than 50% of the population was in slavery and depended not on the law, but on the will and arbitrariness of the landowners.

In the summer of 1857, Alexander II ordered to submit to the State Council a draft Charter of Civil Procedure, which was born in the bowels of the II Department. The project was accompanied by an explanatory note from the head of the II department, Count D.N. Bludova. The project proceeded from the introduction of the adversarial principle of the process, it was proposed to reduce the number of courts and pay attention to a significant improvement in the quality of training and selection of personnel in the judicial system. The draft Charter provoked controversial reactions, splitting the high-ranking officials into two main groups - liberals and conservatives. The former wanted a significant restructuring of the judiciary and legal proceedings, the latter - only cosmetic changes. Conservatives and, above all, Count D.N. Bludov did not want to follow Western European models and introduce the principles of orality, publicity, equality of parties in the process, and establish the legal profession. For the years 1857-1861. Section II prepared and submitted 14 bills to the State Council, proposing various changes in the structure of the judicial system and judicial system. The materials of the judicial reform amounted to 74 voluminous volumes.

The work became especially active after the abolition of serfdom. In October 1861, the preparation of documents on the judicial system and legal proceedings from the II department was transferred to the state chancellery. A special commission was created, which included the most prominent lawyers of Russia: A.N. Plavsky, N.I. Stoyanovsky, S.I. Zarudny, K.P. Pobedonostsev and others. In fact, it was headed by the State Secretary of the State Council, S.I. Zarudny. Fundamentally, the commission, which consisted mainly of like-minded people, took a path opposite to fornication. It was based on the general theory of the bourgeois judicial system and legal proceedings and the practice of Western European legislation. Of course, the fathers of the reform had to reckon with Russian reality and traditions and made certain adjustments to their projects, but at the same time they tried to prove that bourgeois institutions, for example, the jury and the legal profession, in no way undermine the foundations of autocracy.

The result of the commission's work was the "Basic Provisions for the Transformation of the Judicial Branch in Russia". In April 1862, this document was submitted by the emperor for consideration to the State Council, and on September 29, 1862, it was approved by him and published in print. Simultaneously with the promulgation of the "Basic Provisions", Count V.N. Panin, who on February 18, 1860 was temporarily relieved from the management of the Ministry on the occasion of his appointment as chairman of the Editorial Commission. By the highest decree of October 21, 1862, a deputy (deputy) minister, senator, privy councilor - Dmitry Nikolayevich Zamyatin was appointed minister of justice.

D.N. Zamyatin was born in 1805 in the Nizhny Novgorod province. After graduating with a silver medal from the course of science at the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum, he entered the service of the commission for drawing up laws, and then the II department of his own office of His Imperial Majesty. Having built a reputation for himself as a capable, hardworking and impeccably honest official, he quickly moved up the career ladder. In 1848 he was appointed a member of the consultation at the Ministry of Justice, in 1852 - chief prosecutor of the second department of the Governing Senate and senator. In 1858 he was appointed to the post of Assistant Minister of Justice. He was finally approved as Minister of Justice on January 1, 1864.

The legislative framework. On the basis of the "Fundamental Provisions", four laws were prepared, which were approved by the emperor on November 20, 1864: "Establishment of Judicial Regulations", "Charter of Civil Procedure", "Charter of Criminal Procedure", "Charter on Punishments Imposed by Justices of the Peace".

The judicial reform radically changed the judicial system, procedural and partly material law of the Russian Empire. Judicial charters were built in accordance with the procedural and organizational forms of the bourgeois states. They proclaimed principles that were bourgeois in nature: the judiciary was separated from the legislative, executive, and administrative; the principle of independence and irremovability of judges was consolidated; the equality of all before the law was proclaimed, an all-estate court was introduced; the legal profession was established; the institute of jurors was introduced to consider criminal cases in district courts; an elective magistrate court was created to consider minor cases; the institution of forensic investigators, independent of the police, was established; the prosecutor's office was reorganized, freed from the functions of general supervision and focused on work in court; introduced the principles of orality, publicity, adversarial proceedings; the presumption of innocence was proclaimed.

Changes in the judiciary. Fundamental changes in the judicial system of Russia were outlined in the "Institution of Judicial Regulations." Instead of the complex and cumbersome structure of the estate courts, two judicial systems were created: local and general courts.

The local ones included: justices of the peace and congresses of justices of the peace as the second (appeal) instance. Volost courts were also local. created in 1861; they tried cases of peasants for minor offenses, if persons of other estates were not interested in them and if these acts were not subject to consideration by general courts. The general courts were classified - the district courts and the court of appeal as an appellate instance. This system was headed by the Senate, which was the only cassation instance for all courts of the Russian Empire.

2.3 Peasant reform

The peasant question was the most important question of the internal policy of the autocracy. Alexander 1 took measures to alleviate the situation of the peasants, but the steps in his solution of this problem were extremely careful. The emperor and members of the Secret Committee saw in serf relations a source of social tension, were convinced of the advantages of free labor over the serf, and perceived the power of the landowner over the peasants as a moral shame for Russia. However, they considered it impossible to take drastic measures and adhered to the principle of gradualism. On December 12, 1801, a decree was issued to grant the right to own land to merchants, petty bourgeois and state peasants, who could henceforth buy uninhabited land. Already at the beginning of his reign, Alexander 1 stopped distributing state peasants to private hands. The law of December 12 destroyed the age-old landowning monopoly of the nobility, who had previously enjoyed the right to acquire land as personal property. Encouraged by this first undertaking, some free-thinking landowners had a desire, entering into an agreement with their serfs, to free them into the will of entire villages. It must be said that up to that moment there was no law on such a massive liberation of peasants. Thus, the Voronezh landowner Petrovo-Solovovo made a deal with 5,001 souls of his peasants, giving them the ownership of the lands they cultivated, with the condition that he be paid 1 1/2 million rubles at the age of 19. The son of Catherine's field marshal, Count Sergei Rumyantsev, conceived to release 199 souls of his peasants with land by voluntary agreement with them, but at the same time he submitted to the government a draft general law on transactions between landowners and serfs. The government adopted this project, and on February 20, 1803, a decree was issued on free farmers: landowners could enter into an agreement with their peasants, releasing them without fail with the land of entire villages or individual families. These emancipated peasants, without registering in other states, formed a special class of "free farmers". The February 20 law was the first decisive expression of the government's intention to abolish serfdom.

But, nevertheless, this decree had more ideological than practical significance: during the entire period of Alexander's reign, less than 1.5% of the serfs passed into the category of "free farmers". That is, only 47 thousand male souls were released. But the ideas contained in the 1803 decree later formed the basis for the 1861 reform.

In the Secret Committee, a proposal was made to ban the sale of serfs without land. At that time, human trafficking was carried out in Russia in overt, cynical forms. Advertisements for the sale of serfs were printed in newspapers. At the Makaryevskaya fair, they were sold along with other goods, separating families. Sometimes a Russian peasant, bought at a fair, went to distant eastern countries, where until the end of his days he lived in the position of a foreign slave. Alexander I wanted to suppress such shameful phenomena, but the proposal to prohibit the sale of peasants without land met with stubborn resistance from higher dignitaries. They believed that this undermined serfdom. Not showing persistence, the young emperor retreated. It was forbidden only to publish advertisements for the sale of people in government publications.

2.4 Reorganization of state financial policy

In 1809, Speransky was entrusted with the improvement of the financial system, which after the wars of 1805-1807. was in a state of profound disorder. Russia was on the brink of state bankruptcy. With a preliminary survey of the financial situation in 1810, a deficit of 105 million rubles was opened, and Speransky was instructed to draw up a definitive and firm plan of finance. Professor Balugiansky wrote an extensive note in French, which Speransky revised and supplemented. She underwent a joint discussion with the participation of N.S. Mordvinov, Kochubei, Kampenhausen and Balugiansky, and then in a special committee meeting at the Minister of Finance Guryev. The financial plan prepared in this way was handed over by the sovereign to the chairman of the state council on the very day of its opening, January 1, 1810. Here are its main provisions: "Expenditures must correspond to income. Therefore, no new expenditure can be assigned before a source of income commensurate to him is found. . Costs should be shared:

by departments;

according to the degree of need for them - necessary, useful, redundant, superfluous and useless, and the latter should not be allowed at all;

in space - general state, provincial, district and volost. No collection should exist without the knowledge of the Government, because the Government should know everything that is collected from the people and turns into expenses;

for specific purposes - ordinary and extraordinary expenses. For emergency expenses, the stock should not be money, but the means of obtaining it;

according to the degree of constancy - stable and changing costs ".

Under this plan, government spending was reduced by 20 million rubles, taxes and taxes were increased, all banknotes in circulation were recognized as public debt, secured by all state property, and the new issue of banknotes was supposed to be stopped. The capital for the redemption of the banknotes was supposed to be made through the sale of uninhabited state land and an internal loan. This financial plan was approved and a commission for the repayment of public debts was formed.

By the laws of February 2, 1810 and February 11, 1812, all taxes were raised - some were doubled, others were more than doubled. So, the price of a pound of salt was raised from 40 kopecks to the ruble; per capita serve from 1 rub. was raised to 3 rubles. It should be noted that this plan also included a new, previously unheard of tax - "progressive income". These taxes were levied on the income of landlords from their lands. The lowest tax was levied on 500 rubles of income and amounted to 1% of the latter, the highest tax fell on estates that gave more than 18 thousand rubles of income, and amounted to 10% of the latter. But the expenditures of 1810 significantly exceeded the assumption, and therefore the taxes established for only one year were turned into constant ones. The increase in taxes was the main reason for the popular murmur against Speransky, which his enemies from high society managed to take advantage of.

In 1812, a large deficit was again threatened. The Manifesto of February 11, 1812 established temporary increases in taxes and new duties. Public opinion made Speransky responsible for all these financial difficulties and tax increases caused by the difficult political circumstances of the time. The government could not keep its promises to stop issuing banknotes. The new tariff, 1810, in which Speransky participated, was met with sympathy in Russia, but angered Napoleon as a clear deviation from the continental system. Finnish affairs were also entrusted to Speransky, who only with his amazing hard work and talent could cope with all the duties assigned to him.

The year 1812 was fatal in the life of Speransky. The main weapons in the intrigue that killed Speransky were Baron Armfelt, who enjoyed the great favor of Emperor Alexander, and the Minister of Police Balashov. Armfelt was dissatisfied with Speransky's attitude towards Finland: according to him, he "sometimes wants to elevate us (the Finns), but in other cases, on the contrary, he wants to let us know about our dependence. On the other hand, he always looked at Finland's affairs as small, secondary business ". Armfelt made an offer to Speransky, having formed a triumvirate with Balashov, to seize the government of the state, and when Speransky refused and, out of disgust for denunciations, did not bring this proposal to the attention of the sovereign, he decided to destroy him. Obviously, Armfelt wanted, having removed Speransky, to become the head of more than one Finnish affairs in Russia. Speransky sometimes, perhaps, was not sufficiently abstinent in his comments about the sovereign, but some of these responses in a private conversation, brought to the attention of the sovereign, were, obviously, an invention of slanderers and informers. In the anonymous letters, Speransky was already accused of obvious treason, of dealing with Napoleon's agents, of selling state secrets.

The suspicious and very sensitive emperor at the beginning of 1812 noticeably lost interest in Speransky. Karamzin's note (1811) directed against liberal reforms and various whispers of Speransky's enemies made an impression on Alexander I. his. Starting to fight Napoleon, Alexander decided to part with him. Speransky was suddenly sent into exile.

Chapter 3. Weaning M.M. Speransky from public affairs

On March 17, 1812, after many hours and a highly emotional audience, accompanied by tears and dramatic effects, Alexander I dismissed numerous posts and exiled State Secretary M.M. Speransky. The closest employee and "right hand" of the emperor, for several years, essentially the second person in the state, was sent with the police to Nizhny Novgorod that evening.

In a letter from there to the sovereign, he expressed his deep conviction that the plan of state reform he had drawn up was "the first and only source of everything that happened" to him, and at the same time expressed the hope that sooner or later the sovereign would return "to the same basic ideas." ... The vast majority of society greeted Speransky's fall with great jubilation, and only N.S. Mordvinov openly protested against his exile by resigning from the post of chairman of the department of economy of the State Council and left for the village.

After Speransky was removed, a note in French began to circulate, the author of which claimed that Speransky meant by his innovations to lead the state to decay and a complete revolution, portrayed him as a villain and a traitor to the fatherland and compared him with Cromwell. This note was drawn up by Rosenkampf, who served on the commission of laws and hated Speransky for overshadowing him with his talents, and was corrected by Armfelt.

In September of the same year, as a result of a denunciation that in a conversation with the bishop, Speransky mentioned the mercy shown by Napoleon to the clergy in Germany, Speransky was sent to Perm, from where he wrote his famous letter of acquittal to the sovereign. In this letter, trying to justify himself, Speransky lists with maximum completeness all possible accusations - both those that he heard from the emperor and those that, he believed, could remain unspoken. "I do not know with precision what the secret denunciations of me were cocked. From the words that your Majesty was pleased to say when I was excommunicated, I can only conclude that there were three main points of accusation: 1) that by financial matters I tried to upset the state; 2) bring the government into hatred with taxes; 3) reviews of the government ... The cruel prejudice about my ties with France, having been supported by the era of my removal, now constitutes the most important and, I can say, the only spot of my accusation among the people. your justice belongs to blot it out. I dare to say in the affirmative: in eternal truth before God, you are obliged, sir, to do this ... Finances, taxes, new regulations, all public affairs in which I had the happiness of being your executor, everything will be justified in time, but here how will I justify myself when everything is covered and must be covered in mystery. "

By a decree on August 30, which stated that "after careful and strict consideration of the actions of" Speransky, the sovereign "had no convincing reasons for suspicion," Speransky was appointed to the post of the Penza civil governor, in order to give him a way to "purify himself to the fullest extent by diligent service. ". Here he still does not abandon the thought of state reforms and proposes, having cleared the administrative part, go to political freedom. To work out the necessary reforms, Speransky advises to establish a committee of Finance Minister Guriev, several governors (including himself) and 2-3 provincial leaders of the nobility.

In March 1819, Speransky was appointed governor-general of Siberia, and the sovereign wrote in his own handwritten letter that by this appointment he wished to clearly prove how unfairly the enemies had slandered Speransky. Service in Siberia cooled Speransky's political dreams even more.

Siberian governors were notorious for their brutality and despotism. Knowing this, the emperor instructed Speransky to thoroughly investigate all iniquities and endowed him with the broadest powers. The new governor-general had to simultaneously conduct an audit of the region entrusted to him, and manage it, and develop the foundations of primary reforms. He made a personal office for himself from people devoted to him. Then he began inspection trips - he traveled around the Irkutsk province, visited Yakutia and Transbaikalia.

Speransky understood that evil was rooted not so much in people as in the very system of government in Siberia. He established the Main Department of Trade of Siberia, the Treasury Chamber to resolve land and financial issues, took a number of measures to encourage agriculture, trade and industry in the region. A number of important legal acts were developed and adopted. The result of Speransky's activity as Siberian Governor-General, a new chapter in the history of Siberia, was the fundamental "Code for the management of Siberia", which examines in detail the structure, administration, legal proceedings and the economy of this part of the Russian Empire.

In March 1821 Alexander allowed Speransky to return to Petersburg. He returned a completely different person. He was not a defender of the complete transformation of the state system, aware of his strength and sharply expressing his opinions, he was an evasive dignitary who did not disdain flattering servility even before Arakcheev and did not retreat before the commendable printed word to military settlements (1825). After the projects of transformations in Siberia worked out by him or under his supervision received the force of law, Speransky had to see the sovereign less and less often, and his hopes of returning to its former importance did not come true, although in 1821 he was appointed a member of the state council.

The death of Alexander and the uprising of the Decembrists led to further changes in the fate of Speransky. He was inducted into the Supreme Criminal Court, established over the Decembrists, and played an important role in this trial.

Another important thing - the compilation of the "Complete Collection" and "Code of Laws of the Russian Empire" - Speransky completed already in the reign of Nicholas I.

Conclusion

Thus, the place and role of Speransky in the history of transformations of the national statehood and the formation of government legislative policy are generally recognized and have enduring significance.

It was Speransky who stood at the origins of the creation of ministries in Russia, which are still the core of the executive branch. He also created the State Council and the State Duma project. At the same time, his plan for a radical transformation of the Russian statehood was implemented only to a small extent; nevertheless, he paved the way for the subsequent streamlining of the judicial and legislative system.

For the first time in Russian history, Speransky succeeded in codifying Russian legislation - under his leadership, the “Complete Collection of Laws” (56 volumes) and “Code of Laws of the Russian Empire” (15 volumes) were created. Speransky's worldview was based on the desire to establish the rule of law in Russia, as opposed to the customary rule of arbitrary power, even if formally clothed in the form of "law."

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