Law and social constructivism

the Russian school of the legal realism reexamined

Andrey N. Medushevsky

pp. 37-65

in: Bartosz Broek, Julia Stanek, Jerzy Stelmach (eds), Russian legal realism, Berlin, Springer, 2018

Abstract

The overarching goal of this chapter is to examine the nature of the Russian psychological school of law from the perspective of the international realist movement. This will allow us to define its most common characteristics, its original ideas and general influence on the development of legal philosophy. Discussing the crisis of legal thought at the beginning of the twentieth century, the author shows the impact of Russian legal philosophy on overcoming this impasse. Furthermore, the author emphasizes the role of the psychological approach in the formation of the realist paradigm and its influence on the development of critical theory in early Soviet law as well as its general influence on the legal sociology of the twentieth century.