Abstract: This article presents the historiographical analysis of the published over the last two decades monographs and textbooks, scientific articles, and doctoral dissertations, which capture the different aspects of the history of Russian state and law, including the in-depth examination of the government activity in the area of legislation, as well as the evolution of the Russian civil legislation of the XVII-XIX centuries. The author reviews the question of genesis of the legislative structure of the Digest of Laws of the Russian Empire of 1832. Special attention is given to the projects of establishment of the system of civil procedural legislation. The conclusion is made that within the modern historical legal science, the integral pattern of the development of the Russian law throughout the period of the XVIII-XIX centuries is being restored; the objective and subjective factors that predetermined the character of reformation of the legal relations are being determined. Scientific novelty consists in the fact that in the course of examining the legislation structure of the Digest of Laws of the Russian Empire, the author reveals the interconnection between the elements and the peculiarities of the public relations.