Ideology of human rights as the imperishable monument to the Russian lawyers - members of the I State Duma

In the article the author gives a thorough analysis of the Russian lawyers’ role in the first Russian representative body. Lawyer-deputies were the most active, deedful and progressive members of the Duma and their names as scientists are still most cited in the modern legal studies. According to the author the deputies’ human rights work was carried out in two forms. The first of which was the deputy-formulated reply to the Tsar’s Speech from the Throne, which determined the goals and objectives. This document may be regarded as an antecedent of the Declaration of Rights. The second form of deputies’ human rights protection was to review grievances, letters and petitions from the citizens on authorities’ arbitrariness and to submit parliamentary inquiries to the governing bodies. This was a real and effective means of parliamentary control, not used by the present-day popular representatives even now.