ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the development in Imperial Russia of the scholarly debate about the Russian notion of pravovoe gosudarstvo, traditionally interpreted as the counterpart of the notion of rule of law, and Rechtsstaat. Confusion was augmented by the fact that, as time passed, civil law and common law scholars increased their contacts and mutual interests. The problem that comes to the fore, most often one observed on the stage of civil law. Observation of the theory of pravovoe gosudarstvo in Russia thus signifies observation of the problem from the point of view of the dissemination of the juridical model, to use the term coined by Alan Watson. The problem of distinguishing between law and morals is crucial to any definition of the law-governed state, for it embraces the question of the legitimation of legal rules “from without the system.” The feature distinguishing the law-governed state from the socialist law-governed state is seen as residing in the removal of economic anarchy.
