Stock Exchange Legislation of the Russian Empire (the Second Half of the 19th — Beginning of the 20th Century)

Trading at stock exchange is the result of the evolutionary development of wholesale trade, in particular trading at fairs. At the present stage, the stock exchange is one of the main instruments of the financial market that ensures stable functioning and development of the economy. In modern conditions, the ongoing economic changes in Russia against the background of sanctions from Western Europe and the United States and the withdrawal of a large number of foreign companies from the market have led to unfavorable processes in the country’s economy. Therefore, it is the state authorities that play the main role in leveling the negative consequences in trade and economic relations, searching for various methods aimed at supporting the financial well-being of the country in the current crisis. The purpose of the study is to identify patterns in the development and formation of exchange legislation based on the study of the features of the state law foundations of banking trade in its historical retrospect. The state-legal regulation of exchange relations is studied in the context of the historical and legal method in jurisprudence. Based on the study of the legal regulation of stock exchange trading, the author has identified a two level system of exchange activity legislation: the national level and by means of exchange charters. During the research period, the legislator, despite various projects, failed to adopt a uniform regulatory legal act regarding exchange trading and limited itself to various rules to fill various gaps in this area. Exchange charters regulated the rights and obligations of subjects of exchange relations, bodies and rules of exchange trading. The author concludes that legal regulation of exchange trading by the state is insufficient, unified policy aimed at maintaining exchanges in the conditions of the growth of capitalist relations has not been developed.

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