Ministry of Police of the Russian Empire: implementation of the project by M.M. Speransky

Abstract

We consider the views of M.M. Speransky on the sphere of the police department, which were not previously the object of special research, as well as the implementation features of his project for the creation of the Ministry of Police of the Russian Empire, designed, according to the creator's plan, to ensure not only order and security, but also oversee the legality of the administration’s activities on the ground. We draw conclusions: firstly, the formation of Speransky’s views took place under the influence of internal needs to strengthen power and maintain order that arose in the Russian Em-pire at the beginning of the 19th century; secondly, Speransky was influenced by the last representative of the European school of Roman law, the ideologue of the Enlightened absolutism J. Dom, who was the first in Europe to see the police as a universal instrument for maintaining order based on the norms of public law, and the lawyer-policeist N. Delamare, who systematized the French police legislation. The Ministry of Police of the Russian Empire, created according to Speransky’s project, was supposed to ensure compliance with the rule of law on the basis of public law and on behalf of the state, as well as protect and, if necessary, restore the rights of subjects as private individuals. The solution of this problem within the framework of the theoretical concept proposed by Speransky, which reflected the needs of the development of Russian society, required a long-term perspective and included a gradual restructuring of police activities, the development of appropriate legal, ideological and personnel support and, in fact, meant a transition to the rule of law. We emphasize the contribution of the Ministry of Police to ensuring victory in the Patriotic War of 1812 and suggest the reasons for its inclusion in the Ministry of Internal Affairs in 1819.