Legal Iconography and Iconographic (Iconological) Method in Legal Studies

The methodology of Russian legal science has a poor understanding of such an interdisciplinary science as legal iconography and the iconographic (iconological) methods. This article focuses on the legal history studies and legal iconography. The current source-centric approach in the socio-humanitarian sciences requires a broader understanding of research subject and methodology. The history of legal iconography is an independent scientific direction, its main tasks being systematization and description. The author defines legal iconography as an interdisciplinary direction of scientific research that describes and interprets visual sources of legal content. The essence of iconographic method is the description of the general theme, the definition and attribution of details, and the interpretation of images, allegories, and plots. This definition is illustrated by numerous examples. The author also defined prospective areas of iconographic research in law. Iconological research includes three stages. The pre-iconographic stage is purely empirical and descriptive. The iconographic stage is theoretical and analytical; it reveals the direct content and meaning of the image. The author believes that the iconographic (iconological) method of scientific research in law and the prospects of legal iconography in Russian legal studies require further research and scientific discussion.