Gradovskii, Aleksandr

Born Dec. 13 (25), 1841, in Valuiki District, Voronezh Province; died Nov. 6 (18), 1889, in St. Petersburg. Russian historian of law. publicist. The son of a pomeshchik (landlord).

Gradovskii graduated from the University of Kharkov in 1862. In 1867 he became a docent and in 1869 a professor at St. Petersburg University. Gradovskii’s main work. The Bases of Russian State Law (vol. I: On the State System [1875]; vol. 2: Administrative Bodies [1876]: vol. 3: Local Administrative Bodies [1883]) shows the historical development of state legislation and institutions in Russia under conditions of unlimited monarchy and compares these with other state systems. In his historical views Gradovskii combined the positions of the state school (the role of the state and the theory of enslavement and emancipation of social classes) with those of the historical school of law, which were particularly reflected in Gradovskii’s articles on the national question and on Slavophilism and Westernism. He wrote special monographs on state law in Western European countries. He actively worked on the liberal periodical press. As a publicist Gradovskii wrote from the standpoint of conservative liberalism and defended the reforms of the 1860’s and 1870’s.