Forms of regulatory legal acts of the Russian Empire at the beginning of the 19th century

The article deals with the question in what forms the normative acts of the first three (1801–1803) and the last three (1823–1825) years of the reign of Emperor Alexander I were issued. A brief characteristic of all the forms “legalized” by the Code of Laws of the Russian Empire — manifestos, decrees, regulations, etc. — is given. Special tables indicate the number of acts issued in each form by year. A separate table calculates the share of each form of “legalized” acts in the total number of acts of the Complete Collection of Laws. It is established that most often acts were issued in the form of decrees, but their share in the total number of documents gradually decreased — from 84.7 % in 1801 to 55.6 % in 1825. At the same time, such a form as the Highest Approved Opinion of the State Council tended to grow. The conclusion is that the forms of normative acts in the initial and final period of Alexander I’s reign were more diverse than those specified by the legislator in the Code of Laws.