Abstract:
The study of the Russian State throughout its history will show that the State evolved in spite of failures of the successive domestic legal and administrative reforms under the tsars and the Soviets. There is an element of historical necessity in the evolution of the Russian legal system and institutions during its eventful history. Throughout the centuries the tsars felt compelled to enlarge the central organisation, whose functions were both legal and administrative, to fulfil what they believed to be their responsibility to the Russian people, whose backwardness was proverbial. The administrative apparatus expanded faster than there were suitably trained staff to carry out the state functions. The formal legal system and institutions hindered leaders and officials from carrying out reforms which were considered to be essential to the exploitation of the natural wealth of Russia. Those who tried to bring about such changes relied on their personal power and influence, including elements of tyranny and despotism, as the real basis for practical accomplishments. They often consciously violated law and procedures, and continually subverted the laws and regulations of the government to do their task effectively. Authority within the administration remained in many respects personal, closely dependent on forceful personality, and none of the outstanding leaders of the Russian nation could trust his administrators, or was prepared to surrender his personal power. The empire of the latter days of the Romanovs and Lenin and his Soviets fit into this pattern.
