Sergey Andreevich Kotlyarevsky on the theory of the constitutional state in the context of political morphology

Introduction. A prominent Russian historian, jurist and politician in one person, a long–time professor at Moscow University, S. A. Kotlyarevsky, who was born in 1873 and innocently shot in 1939, made an outstanding contribution to the substantiation of the political morphology of the constitutional state, wrote a number of landmark works on the criteria of legal statehood, legal kratology, history and theory, political and legal doctrines.

Purpose. Substantiation of the need for a deeper and more authentic analysis of the scientific achievements of S.A. Kotlyarevsky, mastering the original methodology of the study of transformations of constitutional states tested by him in the context of his experience of political and morphological review.

Theoretical foundations. The article analyzes the major contribution to the development of the political and legal theory of the constitutional state and its morphology, which was made to Russian legal science by the famous Russian scientist of the late 19th – first half of the 20th century, Professor S.A. Kotlyarevsky. His monograph "The Constitutional State. The experience of a political-morphological review" in conjunction with some of his other studies. The authors pay close attention to the inaccurate judgments and conclusions of some modern Russian dissertators in assessing certain provisions and generalizations of S.A. Kotlyarevsky, as well as insufficient coverage of his most important original texts and summaries on various historically formed political regimes. Other important achievements of S.A. Kotlyarevsky in the corporatelegal analysis of historical sources and concepts of the theory of state and law are overlooked.

Results and conclusions. A critical assessment of some of the opinions of modern authors that are not entirely correct and attributed to S.A. Kotlyarevsky is presented. The necessary arguments are made in defense of the true content of the scientific conclusions and theoretical achievements of this Russian encyclopedist. The author's views on the role and significance of the key conceptual provisions of S.A. Kotlyarevsky's legal works and his scientific conclusions and methodology for analyzing power relations in states of various forms that remain relevant are substantiated. In the final part of the article, the conclusion is made about the need to create a fundamental monographic study on the scientific achievements of S.A. Kotlyarevsky.

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