Abstract: The object of the study is the text of the manuscript, and the subject of the study is its historical and legal characteristics. Research objectives: 1) establishing the reliability of the source and the accuracy of the information contained therein; 2) establishing the year, author, purpose, completeness and meaning of the source. The article introduces into scientific circulation a monument of political and legal culture of the first quarter of the XIX century, promotes the initial publication of the manuscript belonging to the Russian Freemasons of the first quarter of the XIX century. Based on the original source, the study shows what legal and political ideas were actually spread among Russian Freemasons. The reasoning demonstrates the continuity of the state-legal ideas of the domestic political and legal thought of the XVIII and XIX centuries. Within the framework of the study, a manuscript of the first quarter of the XIX century is published for the first time and the attribution of the manuscript is given for the first time: the establishment of the author, year, authenticity and meaning of the work - "Arguments about the support of the monarchical power in Russia by Masons". The reasoning was recorded by S.P. Fonvizin (1783-1860) from the words of the author – Joseph Alekseevich Pozdeev (1742-1820) in 1817. The reasoning is aimed at supporting the estate monarchy among the Masonic brothers in Russia in the first quarter of the XIX century .The reasoning demonstrates a commitment to social peace based on "good morals" and conscientious performance of class duties. The reasoning is rich in elements of the organic theory of the state and natural-legal argumentation.

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.