Exclusive legal regimes in the regulation of the estate system of the Russian Empire in the first half of the ХIХ century

Relevance . At the present stage of the development of Russian society, changes in public life require a rethinking of the role of law, the nature of legal regulation of social relations and the improvement of legal instruments. An exclusive legal regime may be one of these instruments. Legal regimes allow for more flexible regulation of various spheres of public relations, taking into account their specifics, as a result of which the socio-legal experience of using exclusive legal regimes has both theoretical and practical significance. The purpose is to identify the specifics of exclusive legal regimes as a tool for regulating the estate structure of the Russian Empire in the first half of the 19th century, to characterize the mechanism of implementation and the role of exclusive legal regimes in maintaining social hierarchy and stratification. Objectives : to analyze the specific features and essential characteristics of exclusive legal regimes, to study the legal means used in their constitution, to determine the importance of exclusive legal regimes in the mechanism of legal regulation of estates in the Russian Empire in the first half of the nineteenth century. Methodology . The research applied general scientific and special methods of cognition, including formal legal, comparative legal, systematic, methods of analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction. Results . It is proved that the use of exclusive legal regimes in regulating the estate structure of society in the Russian Empire ensured the preservation of the hierarchy of social statuses through their legal consolidation. It is revealed that with the help of exclusive legal regimes, the legislator adjusted the legal status of estates by using a set of legal means of a stimulating, encouraging or restrictive orientation. Conclusion . The need to establish exclusive legal regimes of estates was determined by the prevailing socioeconomic and political relations, public interests, and state goals and objectives. Exclusive legal regimes served as a tool for social differentiation and stabilization of the existing social hierarchy, but partial changes in their legal structure allowed the legislator to respond to the evolution of social relations and reflected the need to deconstruct the existing social system.