Conservative Projects of Political and Legal Justice: Domestic Doctrinal Approaches

The paper offers the author’s interpretation of the phenomenon of justice as understood by the domestic conservative legal doctrine of the 19th to the early 20th centuries. The relevance of historical and legal research that revisits the value and essential foundations of law lies in its potential to increase the effectiveness of legal regulation and to contribute to the harmonious development of the political and legal system within the canons of national culture. The author observes that the category of justice in conservative thought was oriented toward ideals governing the political sphere, where it was associated with moral policy and with the preservation of traditional political institutions, social hierarchy, and the prevailing social order. The study concludes that legal justice, conceived as both the basis and the guiding direction of legal development, was interpreted by domestic conservatism as an imperative of improvement grounded in moral and religious principles — a principle of conduct that seeks to reward each person in their affairs in the pursuit of the highest truth. The author argues that within the domestic conservative doctrine there was an integration of religion, morality, and law, which elevated the regulation of social relations to a new level. The paper asserts that the conservative doctrinal approaches of the period produced distinctive conceptions of justice, rooted in a Christian political and legal worldview, and reveal the category’s potential for promoting conscientious, volitional legal behavior.

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