Abstract

In this chapter, we look first at several prominent nineteenth-century Russian legal philosophies including those of Shershenevich and Chicherin, with whom Solov’ëv would squabble in conjunction with their opinions of the Justification. Whereas there were a number of legal positivists before Solov’ëv, Chicherin emerged as a defender of an idealist philosophy of law. Solov’ëv himself took exceptional interest in the topic and addressed it both in his Justification as well as in a separate monograph Law and Morality, the title reflecting the central issue for him of the relation between the two. The outcry against his ideas was largely confined to professionals in the field, Solov’ëv’s treatment of economics, however, of which he had little understanding in today’s sense, and of international conflicts struck a responsive chord across a wide field.