Abstract: The subject of the research is  to find out the background of charity work (mental, spiritual, social and economical) and motivation (mercy and compassion, religion, thirst for education). One of the reasons for the popularity of charity work in the 19th and early 20th centuries is a governmental support and stimulation. The article reviews the forms for such support. The reflection and interpretation of merchants’ and businessmen’s charity work is shown on the example of Bryanski Region represented by the following people: S.I. Maltsov, P.I. Gubonin, the married couple of V.N. and M.K. Tenishevs and the brothers S.S. and P.S. Mogiljovtsevs.  The article researches the contribution of these people not only in the social and cultural development of the region, but also their meaning for the Russian history. Different characteristics of men’s and women’s charity work are shown. The comparative method, method of historic retrospective, method of analysis and synthesis have been used in the course of the research. The methodology of the research is based on the correlation of motivation and background of the charity work. The traditions of merchants’ and businessmen’s charity work are based on the social position of merchants and businessmen, their spiritual needs and aspirations, their wish to be useful for their motherland. These traditions are reviewed in the following aspects: family charity work, men’s and women’s charity work. The following conclusions have been made: personal live principles, religion and family traditions became the foundation for the merchants’ charity work. The governmental support let the merchants’ charity become a unique phenomenon of the Russian history in the second half of the 19th century.

Abstract: The article is devoted to the court administration forming and development in the Soviet Russia, to the evolution of processes of the court administration development performed by the subjects of the outward administrative court management (the organization’s executives) as well as by the subjects of the court administration inside the court system. The author of the articles also shows the role of the Soviet Party bodies in forming and developing organizational and ideological principles of the court administration and in working out models of the court administration and its gradual transformation into internal administration which serves to make the present-day court system independent and self-sufficient. The methodological basis of the work is the principles of dialectic and historical materialism which lets view the problems under research in their appearance and development in tight connection with the Soviet State building and the necessities of the court administration. In the course of the research the comparative analysis, technical, logical, historical and legal and other methods of learning the state legal processes and phenomena have been used. The scientific novelty is in the distinctiveness of the question posing which supposes to study the whole complex of the administrative influence in the courts from the Party’s bodies, Administration and State Power branches and the higher courts that aimed at providing the optimal work of the people’s courts. The author of the article strongly believes that the court administration as an institution is not dying, but it is transforming into a new state – internal system administration and continues its incessant influence on the processes in the present-day internal court power.

Abstract: It has been one hundred years since the beginning of the First World War and both historians and all who concern about the past are again interested in the lessons of the First World War. Despite the well known opposition of the two military alliances, the war was quite unexpected by most of regular population. Yet, the war was first perceived as something elated or grandiose. The murderer of the heir presumptive to the Austria-Hungarian throne Franz Ferdinand followed by the Sarajevo crisis led to the global conflict and the crisis of all European civilizations. Based on the memories of the eyewitnesses, feature materials and archive documents, the author of the article re-enact circumstances that led to the murderer in Sarajevo and event afterwards. According to the author of the article, the spiritual crisis of the European civilization was the true reason of the world conflict. The society was inevitably coming to that and encouraged by military and political leaders. Almost all governments of the leading European countries were interested in Franz Ferdinant's death. They wanted to change the situation in the world but need an official reason to take actions. 

Keywords: the First World War, Sarajevo crisis, Franz Ferdinand, Austria-Hungary, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Black Hand, Franz Joseph, Germany, Russia

Abstract: The article reviews one of the most important parts of the Russian Orthodox Church’s activity as a meaningful institution of the Russian society – working out and realization of the youth policy. From the second half of the 1980s the state lived through a rise of interest to the religion. And the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) aspired to use the new opportunities at maximum to widen its influence, extend and even inculcate the Orthodox spiritual values among young people. The Russian Orthodox Church pays special attention to the youth because it is the youth that makes the future of the Russian society’s development. In 1991 the All-Church Christian Youth Movement (ACCYM) was created at the congress of the Orthodox youth. On the order of the Holy Synod (January, 30-31, 1991) the Moscow Patriarchate Department for the Religious Education and Catechetesis was founded under the chairmanship of hegumen Ioann (I.N. Economtsev). In 1994 the first meeting of rectors of religious schools was conducted by His Holiness Alexis II Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia. In 2000 the Synodal Department for the Youth Affairs was opened with the goal to start missions among young people and make the youth more active. Since 2001 eparchial Departments for the Youth Affairs began to open on the canonical territory of the ROC. Since that time the annual All-Russia meeting of the Orthodox youth have been conducted. In 2002 the All-Russia Orthodox Youth Movement and the children’s organization “The Fellowship of the Orthodox Pathfinders” were created. The methodological basis of the research consists of objectivity concepts, concepts of historism, system, full consideration of social and subjective in the subject of the research and the maximum possible neutrality in the researcher’s attitude to the interpretation and estimation of the material.  Where possible, the principle of social and psychological approach have been used as well as the principles of tactfulness in the estimation of facts because the specificity of the confessional practice of the ROC were strong moral and ethical characteristics of its participants. The scientific novelty is based on the attempt to analyze the youth policy of the ROC under the present-day condition.    The reality shows that the priesthood in general accepted the ideas of the Orthodox youth service and felt its taste. And though the Church does not have enough experience in tangible embodiment of such ideas (and that makes it difficult to realize the ideas), its position about the youth service becomes more clear year by year. Giving its general support to the constructive endeavours of the Russian Orthodox Church in the youth upbringing, the government must strictly follow the norms of the Confessional Law not to violate the rights of other religions and the irreligious people of the Russian Federation.

Abstract: The main theme of the present research article is the place and role of sources of personal origin in historical studies and legal studies. This is one of the least investigated questions in historical and legal studies. Reflection of one's personality and epoch, events and relations between participants of these events complete historical studies of state and legal phenomena which other carriers of historical information can't do. The author of the present research article focuses on current researches of source studies in different spheres of social studies and appeals to the theory and practice of using sources of personal origin in studying the legal development of the society. Research methodology is based on the analysis of traditional approaches to using personal perception in creating the image of the past. The scientific importance and novelty of the article is that the author discusses the role and place of personal experience as the historical sources in studying state and legal phenomena. The author of the article also analyzes special features of this carrier of historical information from the point of view of using this method in research work conducted by a historian and a lawer. 

Keywords: history, historical source studies, historical and legal science, historical sources, studies of historical and legal studies, classification of historical sources, sources of personal origin, diaries, memoirs, correspondence