Frolova Elizaveta Alexandrovna

The review gives the main theses on the history of political and legal doctrines. It is mainly noted that this discipline is one of the oldest in classical legal education. Against the backdrop of widespread cuts in hours for fundamental legal disciplines, it is necessary to firmly defend our positions in the educational process of the theory of state and law and the history of political and legal doctrines.

The article shows the social and philosophical-theoretical foundations of the idea of the rule of law. Based on world political and legal thought, the nature and evolution of this phenomenon is revealed. It is argued that in the presence of the institution of human rights, the mechanism of separation of powers and the predictability of the actions of state power, the rule of law can be assessed not only as an ideal, but also as a real way of organizing the state. It has been demonstrated that public order is a constant compromise between various forces in society, determined by the intensity of social interests. One of the ways to overcome political alienation is the subordination of the state to law, designed to ensure predictability of the actions of state power, guaranteeing a stable legal order. It is emphasized that the issue of the state being bound by law cannot be resolved within the framework of the theory of legal positivism and requires turning to meta-legal concepts (justice, good morals, common good) that lie outside positive law, and their basis and boundaries must be sought in philosophical and legal principles. Special attention is paid to the understanding of the social state — a state that establishes social (material) guarantees for broad layers of the population, fights poverty and introduces legal mechanisms for this purpose. It is shown that a legal social state is one of the central problems of Russian liberal philosophy of law. The rule of law, from the point of view of its representatives, must be supplemented by the “right to a decent existence”.

The article shows the nature and evolution of theoretical and legal sciences in Russia. In the 21st century, a feature of the sciences of fundamental jurisprudence is the comparative method of research, manifested in a combination of ideographic (individualizing) and nomological (generalizing) approaches to the study of law and state. It is noted that it is not enough to consider law and the state only from the perspective of the science of the general theory of law — understanding their meaning and essence involves studying the genesis, ontology and axiology of these social phenomena. The contribution of the Department of Theory of State and Law and Political Science of the Law Faculty of Moscow State University named after M.V. is shown. Lomonosov into modern theoretical and legal science. The complex interdisciplinary nature of the works prepared by teachers of the Department of Theory of State and Law and Political Science is emphasized, which demonstrates the results of many years of methodological developments in the areas of general theory of law, history of political and legal doctrines, comparative law, philosophy of law and sociology of law.

The article is dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the birth of a prominent Soviet and Russian legal scholar, Doctor of Law, Professor of the Department of Theory of State and Law and Political Science of the Law Faculty, Honored Professor of Moscow State University named after M.V. Lomonosov Oleg Ernestovich Leist (1925–2003). The article shows the main stages of his scientific biography. It is noted that the work of O.E. Leist organically combines the doctrinal developments of lawyers of the pre-revolutionary school with the best that was expressed by legal scholars during the Soviet era. O.E. Leist developed a comprehensive study of law and the state. According to his estimates, on a societal scale, legal thinking cannot be formed by orders from above; it arises along with mass everyday interest in understanding social relations through specific rights and obligations of their participants, the grounds for the emergence of these rights and obligations, in connection with procedural guarantees of legal relations and responsibility for violations of rights and failure to fulfill obligations. O.E. Leist made a significant contribution to fundamental jurisprudence by developing the topic of sanctions and legal liability. His attention was focused on the analysis of the place of sanctions in the structure of a legal norm, the connection of substantive law and process with legal guarantees of members of society. The general conclusion is made that, in many ways, thanks to the works and activities of Professor Leist, the continuity of theoretical and legal science is currently ensured in Russia.