Genesis of Term “Private International Law” in the Russian Doctrine of the 19th Century: from Legal Heritage to Modernity

The article is the result of the authors' study of the texts of Russian pre-revolutionary scholars in order to establish when exactly and by whom the term “Private International Law” was introduced into legal content by publishing in a publicly available printed publication. The purpose of the study is to search for new data and facts to introduce them into scientific circulation, to try to eliminate gaps and close the “blank spots” in the history of the science of Private International Law. The methodology of the study is historical and dogmatic methods, deduction and induction, methods of comparative analysis and comparative law. The article emphasizes that any “well-known facts” in legal science (especially those related to its history) should be approached with great caution, not allowing them to transform into cliches that hinder the search for and perception of new information. The authors analyze how the “well-known fact” that the first to introduce the term “Private International Law” belongs to prof. N.P. Ivanov has become established in the Russian doctrine. The focus is also on the works of modern Russian experts who have refuted this “fact”, but whose discoveries are still practically not in demand in educational and scientific literature. In the course of studying the prerevolutionary legal heritage, the authors were able to establish that the term “Private International Law” was first published in print in 1856, and its authorship belongs to prof. D.I. Kachenovsky. The second author to publish this term in print was V.I. Perogovsky (1859), the third was N.S. de Galet (1860), and the fourth was prof. A.N. Stoyanov (1862). It is concluded that to date, the merit of introducing the term “Private International Law” into scholar circulation in Russia belongs to prof. D.I. Kachenovsky. Of course, these data are relevant only until new information is found. Contrary to popular belief, Russian pre-revolutionary literature on Private International Law is extremely rich and has not been fully studied; its careful study is always necessary from both a theoretical and a practical point of view.

private international law, history, doctrine, term, Russian pre-revolutionary literature, priority, well-known fact