The history of state and law is one of the main disciplines taught in the first years of law and history faculties. To many, this science seems boring, and most importantly, not everyone understands why a practicing lawyer needs it.
Subject of discipline
The subject of the GPI is the features of the legal and state systems of different eras, considered in chronological order in specific political and historical conditions.
This discipline studies legal systems in historical retrospect, as well as the state structure of different eras.
Traditionally, science and the subject are divided into the history of the domestic state and law, and the history of the state and law of foreign countries.
If we talk about the subject of GPI as a science, then most scientists also include here philosophical treatises and works of scientists who are contemporaries of the normative acts of the past.
Why is this science needed
Like any story, the GPI is needed in order to avoid the mistakes of the past in the future. However, the specificity of the subject and its legal orientation adds a littleanother meaning in the study of the subject.
In modern jurisprudence, there is not a single law that has not been partially or completely borrowed from the normative acts of past years.
Studying the laws and state structure of the Ancient World, the Middle Ages and the New Age, will allow the future lawyer to better understand, memorize and analyze modern legal norms.
The history of the state and law of Russia will be useful to both future officials and legislators. A clear understanding of the development of legal families of the past, allows you to choose their best moments and avoid weak and orthodox norms.
The most important thing is that the study of the GPI allows us to predict the further development of the state and law. Knowing the detailed history of individual public institutions, one can predict the development trends of their modern descendants.
What is the history of a foreign state and law
This academic discipline is focused on the study of legal and state institutions in foreign countries of the past. ISPP is a kind of basis for most branches of law in Russia. Without knowledge of Roman law, it is almost impossible to master the Civil Code of the Russian Federation. Without understanding the principle of talion, one cannot understand the humanistic direction of criminal law, as well as why in the modern world it is impossible to cut off the wrists of criminals.
The importance of the history of the state and the law of foreign countries can hardly be overestimated. Analyzing the storehouse of the legal past, you can create moreperfect legislation, allowing not to change it for centuries. An example of this is the US Constitution, which has absorbed all the positive principles of the past, fits into several articles and requires virtually no changes.
Periodization of the history of the state and the law of foreign states
Modern science divides the IGPP into the following periods:
The state and law of the Ancient World (IV-V centuries BC), as well as the history of the legal system of the Ancient East: Egypt, Babylon, China, India. This period is one of the most important in the study of this science. Babylon is famous for one of the first codified legal acts, India - the longest-lived system of caste society, Egypt - a perfect state system and one of the most ancient monarchies
- The history of the state and law of antiquity, including Greece and Rome. This section is the most important for the future civilist. The legendary Roman law, which became the prototype for modern legislation throughout Europe and Russia. Scholars still don't understand how such perfect codification could have been done without computers.
- The history of the state and law of the Middle Ages, including the state of the Franks, as well as the birth of the first European and Eastern kingdoms. The emergence of the first monarchies and the feudal system shifted the development of state thought. The study of the state structure of the Middle Ages can teach the future lawyer a qualitative analysis of the constitutional norms of our time.
- History of the state and law of modern times. Thethe section itself is of great value for modern legal science. What are the Napoleonic codes alone worth, which in some countries have been in effect in an unchanged version for two hundred years. Or the aforementioned US Constitution, which is recognized as a masterpiece of legal thought by most scientists in the world.
Important and interesting
If a person goes to the Faculty of Law or History, then his interest in history is summed up. And perhaps the most interesting kind of history is the history of law.
Legal acts of the past are the embodiment of people's fragile idea of justice, its gradual development and evolution. For a future lawyer, nothing could be more interesting than watching the development of the state and law, like a child that grows and gradually becomes an adult and a perfect person.
This is a science that, by studying the past, saves the future. A science that allows you to light your way in the dark labyrinths of legal practice. The more attention the future law enforcer or legislator pays to the history of the state and law, the more perfect his actions will be.
