The curriculum vitae of Leon Petrażycki

Abstract

This paper is devoted to the Curriculum Vitae (CV, autobiography) of Leon Petrażycki sent to professor S. A. Vengerov, a prominent biographer of the Russian writers and scholars, circa 1911. The paper mentions the documented place and date of birth of Leon Petrażycki which differ from those usually cited in the reference literature. Special attention is paid to the details of the biography considered important by Petrażycki himself — where he studied; what book he translated while being a student; whose lectures and on what subjects he attended during his trip to Germany and France; who supervised his scientific work; what he considered to be his scientific achievement; when he proposed to create the science of the policy of law. The paper describes what thesis Leon Petrażycki defende and what kind of teaching, public and political work he carried out. In his autobiography Leon Petrażycki writes that he is a founder of a new experimental psychological study of legal phenomena, and proposes a theory of composition of a spiritual life and motives of behavior different from the existing ones. In connection with his work in the 1st State Duma and its further dissolution, it is described how Leon Petrażycki himself treated the Vyborg Appeal, a protest against the dissolution of the Duma, and why he signed it, although he proposed another declaration. It is confirmed that he suffered a prison sentence because of his support of the Appeal. The CV mentions whom he considered to be his companions, with whom he debated, who came to the acknowledgement of his theory. The paper contains the information about the scholars mentioned in the autobiography (full names and years of life).

Keywords:

autobiography, L. I. Petrażycki, S. A. Vengerov, Kiev University, : autobiography, L. I. Petrażycki, S. A. Vengerov, Kiev University,, University of Berlin, policy of law, St. Petersburg University, Vyborg appeal, debates, Saratov Law Society