Vladik Nersesyants’s Philosophical and Law Theory

Firstly, this article considers the main aspects of the libertarian legal approach to the understanding of law developed by Soviet and Russian philosopher of law Vladik S. Nersesyants. Secondly, the article shows the contributions of this philosophical and law doctrine to the development of the world philosophy of law and its importance for the improvement of Russian legal theory and practice. Thirdly, the article substantiates the thesis that the libertarian approach to the understanding of law is a logical rationalisation of the jusnaturalist tradition of law understanding as an expression of equality in human relations as reinterpreted by Nersesyants by looking at the efforts in rationalizing the jusnaturalist doctrine reflected in the history of the development of philosophical and law thought from the beginning of the Modern Era. Fourthly, the article pays special attention to the analysis of the concept of civilism as a new post-socialist social system developed by Vladik Nersesyants on the basis of the libertarian approach to the understanding of law. Therefore, the article reveals the content of this concept related to the law approach to the desocialisation of the former socialist property that creates the basis for the formation of a new system of law.