The post of President in the liberal projects of state structure in the Russian Democratic Republic in the early 20th century

This article explores the place and role of the institution of President in the liberal lawmaking in the early 20th century, examines the results of a comparative study of the texts of liberal drafts of Constitution of Russia at the beginning of the 20th century relating to this topic, as well as the law-making process of the Special Committee and the Minister of Justice in the Provisional Government. The author concludes that the liberal projects relating to the introduction and functioning of the institution of Acting (Provisional) President had a very insignificant effect on official lawmaking in 1917. Nevertheless, they are an exceptionally important source for characterizing the liberal lawmaking in the era of systemic social and political crisis. In author’s opinion, the project of introducing the post of Provisional President in Russia confirms the general conclusion that the liberal recipes for overcoming systemic crises, based on supremacy of legal ways of transforming public life, do not work. In a revolutionary time, the choice of society tends toward other ways of reforming the social reality and seeks recipes for overcoming the social crises that offer simple solutions understandable to the broad masses.

    1. Antsiferov N.P. Iz dum o bylom: Vospominaniia [From the Thoughts of the Past: Memories.] Moscow, 1992. 511 p. (In Russian)
    2. Aronov D.V. Ot Lazavki do Tavricheskogo dvortsa. Sergei Andreevich Muromtsev – politik, uchenyi, pedagog [From Lazavka to Tauride Palace. Sergei Andreevich Muromtsev – Politician, Scientist, Teacher] Oryol: Publisher Alexander Vorob’ev, 2010. 300 p. (In Russian)
    3. Aronov D.V. Pravo i spravedlivost’ v tvorcheskom nasledii Sergeia Andreevicha Muromtseva. Reforma ili revoliutsiia. [Law and justice in the creative heritage of Sergei Andreevich Muromtsev. Reform or revolution]. Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii [Bulletin of Higher Education Institutions]. The Volga Region. The Humanities, 2012, no. 3, pp. 9–13. (In Russian)
    4. Aronov D.V. “Proekt konstitutsii Rossiiskoi imperii s razdelami: gosudarstv[ennoe] ustroistvo, prava grazhdan, narodnoe prosveshchenie” – iz politiko-pravovogo naslediia Aleksandra Ivanovicha Guchkova [‘Draft Constitution of the Russian Empire with sections: The state system, the rights of citizens, public education’ – from the political and legal heritage of Alexander Ivanovich Guchkov]. History of State and Law, 2014, no. 24, pp. 49–53. (In Russian)
    5. Aronov D.V. Reforma mestnogo samoupravleniia v liberal’nykh proektakh Osnovnogo zakona Rossii nachala XX veka: opyt sravnitel’nogo izucheniia [Reform of local self-government in liberal projects of the Basic Law of Russia at the beginning of the 20th century: The experience of comparative study]. History of State and Law, 2014, no. 12, pp. 41–46. (In Russian)
    6. Aronov D.V. Status monarkha v liberal’nykh proektakh Osnovnogo zakona Rossii nachala XX veka [Status of the monarch in the liberal projects of the Basic Law of Russia at the beginning of the 20th century]. History of State and Law, 2013, no. 3, pp. 14–17. (In Russian)
    7. Aronov D.V., Kosheleva S.V. Tipologiia gosudarstvennoi vlasti v Rossii v fevrale – oktiabre 1917 g. [Typology of state power in Russia in February-October 1917]. History of State and Law, 2017, no. 19, pp. 13-17. (In Russian)
    8. Aronov D.V., Sheparneva A.I., Leonova I.A., Kosheleva S.V. Proekt Osnovnogo zakona Rossiiskoi imperii Khar’kovskogo iuridicheskogo obshchestva – mesto i rol’ v liberal’nom konstitutsionnom zakonotvorchestve nachala XX veka [Draft Basic Law of the Russian Empire by Kharkov Law Society – a place and role in the liberal constitutional lawmaking of the early 20th century]. History of State and Law, 2017, no. 1, pp. 60–64. (In Russian)
    9. Bobrova G.S. Stanovlenie rossiiskogo konstitutsionalizma [The Formation of Russian Constitutionalism. PhD Dis.]. Moscow, 2017. 178 p. (In Russian)
    10. Butler W. Russian Law. London; Oxford, 2009. 986 p.  
    11. Glushkova S.I. Problema pravovogo ideala v russkom liberalizme [The Problem of the Legal Ideal in Russian Liberalism.] Ekaterinburg: Publishing House of Humanitarian University, 2001. 466 p. (In Russian)
    12. Kornev V.N. Liberal'naia kontseptsiia gosudarstva i prava v Rossii nachala KhKh veka (1905–1917 gody) [The Liberal Concept of State and Law in Russia at the Beginning of the 20th Century (1905–1917)]. Belgorod: Publishing House of Belgorod State University, 2001. 160 p. (In Russian)
    13. Late Imperial Russia: Problems and Prospects. New York, 2005. 224 p.  
    14. Levchuk S.V. Konstitutsionnye proekty Vremennogo pravitel'stva Rossii v mezhrevoliutsionnyi period 1917 goda [Constitutional projects of the Provisional Government of Russia in the inter-revolutionary period of 1917]. Law and Life, 1996, no. 10, pp. 155–156. (In Russian)
    15. Liberal'noe dvizhenie v Rossii. 1902–1905 gg. [Liberal movement in Russia. 1902–1905] Moscow: ROSSPEN, 2001. 648 p. (In Russian)
    16. Mamitova N.V. Liberal’nye kontseptsii konstitutsionnogo gosudarstva v Rossii (konets XIX – XX vekov) [Liberal Concepts of the Constitutional State in Russia (end of 19th – 20th  centuries)]. Moscow: MGUK, 2001. 128 pp. (In Russian)
    17. Medushevskii A.N. Dialog so vremenem: rossiiskie konstitutsionalisty kontsa XIX – nachala XX vv. [Dialogue with Time: Russian Constitutionalists of the Late 19th and Early 20th centuries]. Мoscow: New chronograph, 2010. 488 p. (In Russian)
    18. Modeli obshchestvennogo pereustroistva Rossii. XX vek [Models of Public Restructuring in Russia. The 20th Century]. Resp. Ed. V.V. Shelokhaev. Moscow: ROSSPEN, 2004. 608 p. (In Russian)
    19. Power and Legitimacy – Challengers from Russia. London; New York, 2012. 256 p.  
    20. Repnikov A.V. Konservativnye kontseptsii pereustroistva Rossii [Conservative Concepts of the Reorganization of Russia]. Moscow: Academia, 2007. 520 p. (In Russian)
    21. Shelokhaev V.V. Liberal’naia model’ pereustroistva Rossii [The Liberal Model of the Reorganization of Russia]. Moscow: ROSSPEN, 1996. 280 pp. (In Russian)
    22.  S"ezdy i konferentsii Konstitutsionno-demokraticheskoi partii. 1905–1920 gg [Congresses and conferences of the Constitutional Democratic Party. 1905–1920]. Moscow: ROSSPEN, 2000, vol. 3, book. 1. 831 p. (In Russian)
    23. The Rise and Fall of Soviet Union. A Selected Bibliography of Sources in English. London, 1992. 448 p.  
    24. The Russian Provisional Government. 1917. Documents. Selected and edited by R.P. Browder and A.F. Kerensky. Stanford Univ. Press. Stanford, California, 1961. Vol. I–III.
    25. The Russian Revolution and the Soviet State. 1917–1921. Documents. Selected and Edited by Mc Cauley. London, 1975. 317 p.  
    26. Zhukov V.N. Russkaia filosofiia prava: Estestvenno-pravovaia shkola pervoi poloviny XX veka [Russian Philosophy of Law: The Natural Law School of the First Half of the 20th Century]. Moscow: Russian Humanist Society, 2001. 237 p. (In Russian)