What binds Russia in its transformations,occurred in recent years, with the works of glossary commentators of the XI century, engaged in the activities of the University of Bologna study of Roman law? At what stage of the legal science of private property, nourished by the roots of the achievements of thinkers of the slave Roman Empire, was the basis for the settlement of the emerging relations of the capitalist society of Western Europe? And why did Roman law develop only in one direction, and the second (public law) has irretrievably gone into history?

The logic of the answer to all these and many other questions,behind which stands the reception of Roman law, is fairly simple and obvious. But the process of penetration of the law, which was used in the days of Ancient Rome, on the territory of Western Europe and even more so in patriarchal Russia is quite interesting and worthy of special attention.

The reception of Roman law presupposes a widea spectrum of restorative actions, which includes the borrowing and selection, processing and assimilation of norms and ideas, the theoretical foundations of Roman law, which have shown their suitability in the process of regulating the relations of a society that has stepped onto a higher stage of development. Tracing how the reception of Roman law in the countries of Western Europe was carried out, one can single out the periodicity of this process.

At the first stage, a study of the Romanrights, and the renaissance of the Renaissance only stimulated it. At the exit of Europe from the Middle Ages, interest was not only caused by the achievements of art and culture related to Ancient Greece and Rome, but also by the heritage of thinkers and scholars of these ancient empires.

At the second stage, the principles of private relations took over the public opinion, as well as its use in the activities of practicing judges.

The third stage was a process when ideas that were floating in the air began to be realized after careful analysis and processing in the norms of the adopted laws.

Talk about unconditional acceptance of principlesancient rights do not have to. In fact, there was a reception of Roman private law. But public law, despite the emergence of a halo of grandeur around the antique, was completely incapacitated in the new economic conditions. Assignment of the name of the "Holy Roman Empire" by the German Empire, the establishment by many states of senates, the considerable spread of the title of the emperor and even the resurrection by Napoleon of the post of the first "consul" turned out to be a carnival tinsel incapable of resurrecting Roman state institutions. New relations in society not only put an end to Roman public law, but also demanded a thorough and fundamental revision of the foundations of private law. And only because of its original flexibility with the inherent ability to develop, the reception of Roman law took place in the form in which it is perceived by modern jurisprudence.

Very contradictory is the reception of the Romanrights in Russia. Even the existence of the process itself raises controversy among law specialists. There is a process of gravitating Russian law to Romano-Germanic traditions, which are based on Roman law. But in Russia there is an extensive list of circumstances that affect the specifics of the development of law in general and civil in particular. This is also the force of traditions that go back to the era of pre-revolutionary Russia. Roman law, even in the period of the XIX - beginning of the XX centuries, sought for genetic continuity with the real, hereditary and obligatory rights of Russia. Also, the long existence of administrative and command relations in the society played a significant role in the development of entire branches of Russian science, including the theory of state and law. It is this peculiarity and disagreement in understanding the essence of the recession process that cause disagreement among legal analysts.

But no matter how it was, rapid activitythe development of new relations in society is encouraging lawmaking science to create a powerful legal framework based on scientific findings, rather than on political ideas. And in this matter it is Roman private law that helps to organize legal relations in a newly formed society.