Законодательное регулирование статуса северо-западной территории Северной Америки в составе Российской империи

Abstract

The studies of colonization belong to the topical issues of modern historical and legal science, since they allow to reveal the features of the state-legal formation of the Russian Empire. Empire-building in Russia had distinguishing characteristics predetermined by the legal policy of the state toward conquering and discovering new lands. The colonization of the North America is a problem of scientific interest, and there are many approaches to assessing the legal status of this territory as part of imperial Russia. The research materials were legal acts contained in the Complete Collection of laws of the Russian Empire; scientific works of researchers studying Russian colonies in North America. The theoretical basis of the article is the work of jurists of the XIX - beginning of the XX century, the research of Soviet and modern jurists exploring the empire building in Russia. The methodological basis of the article was a set of general and special methods of inquiry, which predetermined a comprehensive and complete study of the object and matter of research. Formal legal, systematic, and historical legal research methods were used in the preparation of the article. The results of the study allow us to characterize the specifics of legal control of the northwest territory of North America as part of the Russian Empire. The author concludes that the experience of the state and legal development of North America as part of the Russian Empire contributes to the disclosure of the historically established features of the state structure and the activities of state authorities; explains the peculiarities of the foreign policy of the Russian Empire carried out during the seizure of the northwestern territory of North America.