The history of state and law is one of the main disciplines taught in the first courses 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 GPI are the features of legal and state systems of various eras, considered in chronological order in specific political and historical conditions.
This discipline studies legal systems in historical retrospective, as well as the state system of various eras.
Traditionally, science and 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 IHL as a science, then most scientists also include philosophical treatises and works of scientists who are contemporaries of normative acts of the past.
Why is this science needed?
Like any story, GPI is needed in order to prevent mistakes of the past in the future. However, the specificity of the subject and its legal orientation adds a slightly different meaning to the study of the subject.
In modern jurisprudence there is not a single law that would not be partially or fully borrowed from regulatory acts of past years.
Studying the laws and government of the Ancient World, the Middle Ages and the New Age will allow the future lawyer to better understand, remember and analyze modern legal norms.
The history of the state and law of Russia will be useful to both future officials and lawmakers. 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.
Most importantly, the study of 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 discipline focuses on the study of legal and state institutions in foreign countries of the past. IGPZS 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 the talion, one cannot understand the humanistic direction of criminal law, as well as why in the modern world criminals cannot cut their wrists.
The significance of the history of the state and the law of foreign countries can hardly be overestimated. By analyzing the treasury of the legal past, it is possible to create more advanced legislation that allows us not to change it for centuries. An example of this is the US Constitution, which incorporates all the positive principles of the past, fits in several articles and practically does not require changes.
Periodization of the history of the state and the law of foreign states
Modern science divides IHPS into the following periods:
- The state and law of the Ancient World (IV-V century 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.
- History of the state and law of antiquity, including Greece and Rome. This section is the most important for the future civilist. Legendary Roman law, which has become a prototype for modern legislation throughout Europe and Russia. Scientists still do not understand how such a perfect codification could be carried out without computers.
- The history of the state and law of the Middle Ages, which includes the state of the Franks, as well as the birth of the first European and Eastern kingdoms. The appearance of the first monarchies and the feudal system displaced the development of state thought. Studying the state system of the Middle Ages can teach the future lawyer a qualitative analysis of the constitutional norms of our time.
- History of State and Law of the New Age. This section in itself is of great value to modern legal science. What are the codes of Napoleon alone, which in some countries have been operating unchanged for two hundred years. Or the aforementioned US Constitution, which is recognized as a masterpiece of legal thought by most scholars in the world.
Important and interesting
If a person goes to law or history, then summarizes his interest in history. And perhaps the most interesting form of history is the history of law.
Legal acts of the past - this is the embodiment of a weak idea of people about justice, its gradual development and evolution. For a future lawyer, nothing could be more interesting than observing the development of the state and law as a child who grows and gradually becomes an adult and a perfect person.
This is a science that, studying the past, saves the future. A science that allows you to illuminate your path in the dark labyrinths of legal practice. The more attention a future law enforcer or legislator pays to the history of the state and law, the more perfect his actions will be.