RUSSIA’S PUBLIC SPHERE IN THE FIRST QUARTER OF THE 19TH CENTURY: FROM PRIVATE PETITIONS TO THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE “HOUSE OF PRACTICAL JURISPRUDENCE”

In the author’s interpretation, a concrete-historical study of the process of formation of Russia’s public sphere in the first quarter of the 19th century is possible based on complex analysis of the specifics of socio-communicative practices accompanied by the emergence of relatively independent from the state communities of Russian subjects. The article, as one of the topical issues that contributed to the emergence of a space for discussion and appealing to the institutions of power with complaints, petitions and projects, considers the question of the need to provide Russian subjects with the opportunity to defend themselves against arbitrary behaviour of officials and unlawful decisions of the courts. In the context of the existing practice of publishing various letter writing guides, “general secretaries”, “sudobryadniki” and other reference publications, as well as the relevant norms of the current legislation, it reveals the ideological and organisational foundations, methods of interaction and the state’s reaction to a “public lawyers” community created by I. Naumov. It is concluded that, despite the short period of its activity, the “House of Practical Jurisprudence” became one of the important “assembly points” of public sphere institutions. The study suggests that the “nodal points” of public communication in the first quarter of the 19th century could arise not only on the initiative of the ruling elites or the monarch, as it was in the 18th century, but also as a result of the public activities of private individuals.