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The article analyzes legal approaches to the concept of traditional values in Russia. Using policy papers, laws and sub-normative documents, the article focuses on how traditional values are constructed by legal instruments. It is argued that the introduction of traditional values as a concept signifies a search for identity strategies in various spheres, making private life and the family a testing ground for experiments in changing the contemporary value system of Russians. The article concludes that the rather blunt imposition of traditional values has failed due to divisions within the political elite and the overall strength of more modern attitudes to the family and social policy among the Russian population. The article argues that current policies follow the paths of traditional modernism comparable with early modern projects to construct a nation state based on resource economy.

The abuse of parents is regarded to be an increasing problem in contemporary society. It is often seen as a new phenomenon marking the dysfunctional nature of the modern family. This article provides arguments to the contrary, focusing on the analysis of the abuse of parents and parricide in early modern Russia, where the concept of the patriarchal and traditional family served as a basis for the prosecution of any disrespect to parental authority. This article offers an in-depth analysis of the normative concepts of family relationships, the criminal prosecution of parricide, and the abuse of parents based on an examination of court records. This article highlights the major developments in the construction of parricides within normative legal, social, and political discourses to argue that parricide challenged the established patriarchal hierarchy; the authorities thus normalized it through normative gender-appropriate behavior, constructing responses to male and female behavior based on the common understanding of their respective abilities and limitations in respect to violence.

This article offers an overview of the literature and methodological attitudes to the "culture of complaint." Complaining is a popular form of communication in present-day Russian society. It has received the attention of scholars of the Soviet period in Russian history as a specific mass form of popular political participation and relationship with the authorities. However, the reasons for and origins of mass complaining need further research. This article offers an analysis of possible developments in such research with specific focus on gender, emotional regimes of complaint, and the comparative analysis of cultures of complaint.

he chapter gives an overview of the development of early modern Russian law. During this period, Russian law was undergoing a definite modernization which intensified in the seventeenth and, particularly, in the eighteenth century. The law became more rational, predictable and efficient. Russia actively engaged in codification and systematization of law, and that led to the more regular application of procedure and better lawyering. Russian law quickly adapted to the social, economic and political challenges, as it was under constant revision. Legal rules became more uniform and unvarying in their application. The Russian legal system grew to be hierarchical and bureaucratic, staffed by professionals via either practice or education. Due to these changes, the legal reforms of the nineteenth century allowed the Russian Empire to become a Rechtsstaat, although it was widely criticized and often even denied by contemporaries and scholars. ; Peer reviewed

Abstract
This article examines Russia's record in complying with the European Convention of Human Rights, the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) and the CoE's policies in relation to the human rights of women – the protection of women from domestic violence in particular. It seeks to explain why Russia has systematically refused to introduce specialized legislation on protection from domestic violence. It argues that human rights of women, especially cases of domestic violence, became the main point of contention between Russia and the CoE for two main reasons: a fundamentally different approach to the human rights of women and equality, inherited from Soviet-era legislation; and a special type of legal reasoning of international legal obligations – conservative jurisprudence – which undermined the understanding of the legal value of protection of human rights of women and led to invoking various arguments of cultural sovereignty. Non-compliance and quiet avoidance of any gender-sensitive legislation, not least on domestic violence, indicate that Russia has never really committed to the rule of law.