Scientific creativity of an outstanding Russian jurist M. N. Gernet and his role in developing criminal legal sciences and criminology in the pre-revolutionary period

Abstract

Objective : to comprehensively study the results of the work of an outstanding Russian jurist and scientist, Professor N. Gernet, and his role in the formation and improvement of the criminal-legal and criminological science in prerevolutionary jurisprudence. Methods : dialectical approach to cognition of social phenomena, allowing to analyze them in historical development and functioning in the context of the totality of objective and subjective factors, which predetermined the following research methods: formal-logical, comparative-legal, and sociological. Results: it is proved that, being the author of serious scientific developments in the field of criminal law and fundamental criminological research printed in pre-revolutionary Russia, M. N. Gernet laid the foundation for the further formation of criminological doctrine, which later became a sub-branch of criminal law science, thus significantly influencing the formation of the humanistic principle in the Russian criminal-legal theory. Analysis of M. N. Gernet’s works allows the author to assert that they identify many shortcomings in fighting crime by solely criminal-repressive methods, and also to show the negative phenomena in the field of assigning criminal penalties, which were created by the judicial practice in force at that time, which used various means to intimidate the population. Scienti fic novelty: the author’s approach to the analysis of the pre-revolutionary scientific heritage of Professor M. N. Gernet, as well as individual scientific works of his students and followers, allowed the author to conduct a comprehensive scientific study of the life, activities, scientific creativity of the greatest Russian jurist and scientist, Professor M. N. Gernet, as well as his role in the formation and development of criminal law and criminological science in pre-revolutionary jurisprudence. significance : the author’s conclusions proposed in this study can act as a theoretical basis in conducting new research concerning the results of scientific creativity of the Russian jurists developing various scientific criminal law and criminological areas of jurisprudence.