Moral Foundations of Law in the A. N. Radishchev’s Works

Abstract

The paper is devoted to the study of the moral principles of law in the works of the outstanding educator, philosopher, lawyer and founder of revolutionary ideas in Russian science Aleksandr Nikolaevich Radishchev. Investigating the question of the relationship between morality and law in general, the author considers four conceptual models: a single regulatory and protective system (mononorms); the absence of common origins and features; understanding of law as a minimum of morality; complementary, but independent social regulators. The author concludes that the problem of the relationship between morality and law, despite the interest the representatives of the humanities have in it, needs further conceptual certainty by referring to the political and legal views of specific scientists. In the context of the A. N. Radishchev’s general legal views, the author examines the moral nature of the national state, the inviolability of natural law, the legal status of a person and procedural guarantees of the rights of the accused (defendant). The civil-legal views of A. N. Radishchev are considered separately. The author examines some questions of legal capacity through the prism of class distinctions denial, and analyzes the possibility of a person to use the services of a representative. The paper considers the proper moral aspect of A. N. Radishchev’s views in relation to the institution of property and concludes that the educator’s desire to recognize things as objects of property law and any person a subject of law. In terms of contract law, the author concludes that A. N. Radishchev reasonably believed that the subject of the contract must not contradict the law, and in the case of deliberate non-compliance with this principle by the parties, recognized the contract as invalid. As for the educator’s outlook on family law, it is focused on their value component: the voluntary nature of marriage; equality of spouses; proportionality of persons’ age when entering into marriage; the inadmissibility of understanding marriage as a simple civil transaction; the duty of parents to take care of children; the duty of children to selflessly and cordially honor their parents; freedom of inheritance by will with mandatory consideration of the interests of "illegitimate" children and "cohabitees".