Separate Residence of Spouses under the German Civil Code and the Russian Law of 1914: Similarities and Differences

This paper examines the question of foreign influence on the 1898 draft law concerning the separate residence of spouses in the Russian Empire, prepared by the Editorial Commission for the Compilation of the Civil Code. The draft was ultimately rejected following accusations by the Ober-Procurator of the Holy Synod, K. P. Pobedonostsev, of uncritical adoption of a foreign legal institution. The author argues that this charge was not rooted in a genuine concern over foreign borrowing, but rather reflected the ecclesiastical administration’s unwillingness to allow the establishment of a secular alternative to ecclesiastical divorce. Through a comparison of the texts of the draft of the German Civil Code and the Russian law dated 12 March 1914, approved by the Holy Synod, the author demonstrates that in the final version of the Russian law, the borrowing from German legislative material is manifested far more explicitly. This is evidenced by textual coincidences in the list of grounds for permitting the rejection of a request by one spouse to restore cohabitation.