Pre-revolutionary Russian historiography of town self-governing of Belarus at the end of XIV-ХVIII centuries

The author in his article points out the main works of Russian historians of XIX- the beginning of XX centuries, which were classified by social-political courses (conservative, liberal) and schools (historical and legal). The article gives sufficient apprehension of Russian historiography views of town self-governing of Belarus. Reasonable conclusions of contribution of pre-revolutionary of Russian historians on researching of the mentioned problem are made, significant shortcomings of Russian historiography are covered, namely negative estimation of Magdeburg rights.