Аннотация: MMMDLXXIII. Vladimir Spasovich and the Statute of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. A note. - November 23, 2024.
Vladimir Spasovich and the Statute of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. A note.
On November 22, 2024, a monument to Vladimir Spasovich (Włodzimierz Spasowicz) was unveiled in St. Petersburg.
Spasovich was a creative man of great energy. He has proven himself in many spheres.
The origin of Vladimir Spasovich (1829 - 1906) is covered with some historical fog.
For this, we can be grateful to the "History" of Karamzin. Historian Nikolay Karamzin (1766-1826) made the Grand Duchy of Lithuania "transparent", almost invisible. From Karamzin's "light hand", a using of the name "Lithuania" - instead the name "The Grand Duchy of Lithuania" - was a sign of good (loyal) behavior.
Vladimir Spasovich himself wrote: "As a child, I plunged into a different environment, just like into a deep lake, in the waves of which I got healthier and stronger. This lake was my homeland, my Lithuania..."
However, modern people who are interested in the activities of Vladimir Spasovich can reconstruct some details of his biography.
He was born in 1829 in the settlement Rechytsa, Minsk province (Minsk Governorate) of Russian Empire.
From 1566 to 1772 Rechytsa was the center of the Rechytsa district as part of the Minsk Voivodeship of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
On December 14 (25), 1795, the Russian Empress Catherine II issued a manifesto "On the annexation to the Russian Empire of the entire part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which, after the end of the rebellions in Lithuania and Poland, was occupied by troops." With this, the actual existence of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania ceased.
Since August 29, 1797 Rechytsa has been a county town of the Minsk province (Minsk Governorate) of the Russian Empire.
In 1857-1861, Vladimir Spasovich was a professor of criminal law at St. Petersburg University.
In 1863, Vladimir Spasovich published the Textbook of Criminal Law, for which he was awarded the degree of Doctor of Law.
On May 31, 1866, in connection with the judicial reform in Russian Empire, Vladimir Spasovich became a lawyer (a leading trial lawyer, a defense attorney).
Let us turn again to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
In ... 1566-1581 ... years, a system of elected courts was formed in this state (such courts were fundamentally different from the courts appointed by the monarch).
Apparently, Vladimir Spasovich's cultural potential allowed him to act effectively after the emergence of jury trials in Imperial Russia.
In addition, Vladimir Spasovich in the late 1850s was preparing for publication the Statutes of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (they were not published in connection with the uprising of 1863-1864). (These Statutes - "the first full code of laws written in Europe since Roman Law", "the first attempt to codify significant East European legal trends").
The Statute (code of Laws) of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania of 1529 consisted of 13 Chapters and was divided into 282 Articles. The Statute contained norms of land, criminal, civil, procedural and State law.
For the "Full Collection of Laws" and the " Digest of Laws of the Russian Empire ", compiled by Mikhail Speransky (1830), there was a good historical landmark, guideline: the Statute (code of laws) of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. (The " Digest of Laws of the Russian Empire " was the code of penal and civil law in the Russian Empire starting on January 1, 1835).
The "Full Collection of Laws" " and the " Digest of Laws of the Russian Empire " were useful works to lawyer and creative person Vladimir Spasovich.
In Rostov-on-Don, the law gymnasium (school) number 9 is named after Speransky. There is a bus stop next to this gymnasium. The sign placed for the convenience of passengers indicates (of) "Speransky" (that is, the bus stop of "Speransky").
Monuments to Mikhail Speransky have been erected in a number of Russial cities. Perhaps in the future, a monument to Mikhail Speransky will appear in Rostov-on-Don.
November 22, 2024 23:40
Translation from Russian into English: November 23, 2024 12:09
Владимир Владимирович Залесский " Владимир Спасович и Статут Великого Княжества Литовского ".
{ 3602. Владимир Спасович и Статут Великого Княжества Литовского. Заметка. - 23 ноября 2024 г.
MMMDLXXIII. Vladimir Spasovich and the Statute of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. A note. - November 23, 2024.
Vladimir Zalessky Internet-bibliotheca. Интернет-библиотека Владимира Залесского. }