Právněhistorické studie / Legal History Studies (Charles University journal; below referred to as PHS or Journal) is a scientific journal listed in the international prestigious database SCOPUS. The journal is published by Charles University in Prague under the guarantee of the Department of Legal History of the Faculty of Law of Charles University. It is published by the Karolinum Press. The journal focuses on the field of legal history and related topics.
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PRÁVNĚHISTORICKÉ STUDIE, Vol 56 No 2 (2026), 95–106
ArticleVýzva svědomí a hledání spravedlnosti – Tolstého „Vzkříšení“ z pohledu práva
[The Call of Conscience and the Search for Justice – Tolstoy’s “Resurrection” from a Legal Perspective]
Radim Seltenreich
DOI: https://doi.org/10.14712/2464689X.2026.554
published online: 06. 10. 2026
abstract
In his article, the author discusses Tolstoy’s work Resurrection, which is often characterized as a distinctly “legal novel”. For a better understanding of the context, he first introduces us to Tolstoy’s life and work, in which law played an important role, if only because he studied law, even though he did not complete his studies. In this context, for example, he showed a lifelong interest in the issue of the death penalty. The novel Resurrection is based on a real case that Tolstoy learned about from the famous Russian lawyer Koni. Tolstoy changed the facts somewhat, but it is interesting to note that in the novel he makes precise references to specific legal provisions during the court proceedings. The work is a strong criticism of criminal law and the prison system in Russia at the time, with Tolstoy also addressing the philosophy of crime and punishment, rejecting the punishment of one person by another as part of his “Christian anarchism”.
keywords: Tolstoy; Resurrection; crime; punishment; prison system
references (11)
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Výzva svědomí a hledání spravedlnosti – Tolstého „Vzkříšení“ z pohledu práva is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
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ISSN: 0079-4929
E-ISSN: 2464-689X
