The Main National Idea of the Russian Empire of the XIX century and Its Reflection in the Legislation of the XIX - early XX centuries

The article examines the content of the three components of the ideologeme "Orthodoxy. Autocracy. Nationality" as a national idea of the Russian Empire, formulated by Count S.S. Uvarov. The authors focused on identifying the degree of legal certainty of each of the components of the well-known triad, as well as on identifying their political and legal assessment by jurists, historians and philosophers of the late XIX - early XX centuries. The research is based on a systematic and formal legal analysis of a number of legislative acts of the Russian Empire - the Supreme Manifestos of 1881, 1905 and 1906, as well as the Main state Laws of April 23, 1906. As a result of the conducted research, the authors found that all three elements of the ideologeme, on the basis of which S.S. Uvarov proposed to build a system of public education and public service to strengthen the unshakable foundations of Russian statehood, are no longer fully reflected in the legislative norms of these acts. Deviations from the completeness of the original content were observed to varying degrees in relation to each of the components of the national idea. The authors substantiate that the component "autocracy" retained its legislative appearance with the least interference, while "nationality", being previously the most uncertain from a legal point of view, was completely lost in the norms of the Basic state Laws, despite some attempt to introduce popular representation in the exercise of legislative power. Russian Russian Orthodoxy, as the first of the triad of the Russian national idea of the XIX century, was significantly narrowed and reduced only to the participation of the Russian Orthodox clergy (and no other) in the formation of representative power. Thus, by the time the Main state Laws of the Russian Empire were adopted in 1906, the slogan "Orthodoxy. Autocracy. Nationality" did not have its own legal foundation.