Abstract: The relationship between the government and Masonic lodges have always aroused genuine multifaceted interest. The goal of this research is to provide a historiographical analysis to the enclosure “Lit. A” to the note of special clergy of the Police Ministry. The author establishes the authenticity of the source and precision of the data contained within, as well as the year, title, legal value, purpose, completeness and meaning of the source. The foundation for this study served the works on the source started by V. I Semevsky, G. V. Vernadsky and A. I. Serkov. The author compares the rules of 1811 and the Decree of Prussian King of 1798; demonstrates the meaning of the rules for the legislative regulation of the activity of Mason lodges; and provides the historiographical analysis of the rules of 1811. The introduction of rules served as an example of the Russian version of modernization of the legislative regulation of Masonry.

Abstract: This article is dedicated to the works of pre-Soviet, Soviet, and modern authors pertaining to the state legal ideas of Russian Freemasons of the late XVIII - first quarter of the XIX century. The study covers extensive research material published within the framework of historical, philosophical, and legal sciences, as well as in the area of culturology, philology, and political science. The article contains a literature review for the period of more than 150 years, as well as provides general description to the works of separate authors aimed at examination of Freemasonry alongside their legal and political teachings. The authorial assumptions are illustrated using the references and examples. The article carries out and chronologically classifies the selection of the main sources on the Russian Freemasonry for further legal research. Conclusion is made about the admissibility of application in the legal research of the results and conclusion made in the context of other sciences that explore the same object – the legacy of Russian Freemasonry of the late XVIII and first quarter of the XIX century.

Abstract: The subject of this work is the legal ideas of Ivan Grigorevich Schwartz – prominent representative of masonry in Russia, tenured Professor of philosophy at Moscow University. The author analyzes the origins of and the content of the lectures Schwarz G. I. "three knowledges: curious, pleasant and useful" (1782), lectures at the University (1782) and public lectures (1782-1783), "the Reasoning in the collections of the Friendly learned society" (1782) in relation to law and the doctrine of Russian Freemasons of the XVIII century. This article provides an understanding of the views of I. G. Schwartz for the state, law, morality within the meaning of the terms and categories of the XVIII century and their relation to the doctrine of Russian Freemasonry of the XVIII century. For this purpose the author has used religious-philosophical and historical-legal methods of research. Legal ideas of I. G. Schwartz are the result of religious and philosophical speculation on the nature of man and his place in society. The article shows the role of law, science and itself in religious and social life of man. In his lectures, Schwartz uses such notions as "law", "citizen", "position", "justice", "state" and etc. Schwartz claims that it is necessary for a person to comply with positive law – the existing laws, because this is human nature, pursuit to improvement, return to the Creator, or the original ancient ideal.