Portraits of Russian Legal Scholars. V.A.Tumanov: Voltaire of Russian Law

Abstract

The article written in the memory of Vladimir Tumanov (1927 - 2011) an outstanding Russian constitutional law scientist is a collective work. It is based mostly on the recollections of Tumanov’s friends and colleagues who knew him for a long time. The article describes a many-year research, organizational and editorial activity of Tumanov in the prestigious academic Institute of State and Law where he headed successfully the Sector of Foreign State and Law. Under his supervision the sector became the alma-mater of qualified experts in constitutional law who specialized in western constitutionalism. The authors write about the analytical works written by Tumanov in the 1960s – 1970s, his high quality translations of French research works. The article stresses one circumstance, i.e. despite the hegemony of the single-party dictatorship which interfered the research process by means of ideological postulates and was not beneficial for a creative approach to the reality, Tumanov’s articles and monographs were characterized with seriousness, impartiality in the coverage of subject-matters. It has been noted that this quality was no less applicable to the works written in the sector on constitutional law research, the political parties of the western countries, their parliaments, judicial system, and many aspects of foreign constitutionalism. Many of the works prepared and published at Tumanov’s initiative contained deep conclusions and evaluation which remain topical until now. Despite obsolete factual material, these works are highly appreciated by Russian constitutional lawyers, continues to serve as a benchmark and methodological basis for legal analysis. The article touches upon the state career of Tumanov, who at the end of life became the Deputy of the State Duma and later the Head of the RF Constitutional Court (1994 - 1997).