Genesis of State and Legal Policy in Relation to the Resorts of the Caucasian Mineral Waters in the Russian Empire

Abstract

The article analyzes the early legislative acts of the Russian Empire aimed at regulating the legal framework of the resorts of the Caucasian Mineral Waters, as well as State measures related to the development of these resorts. In general, the legal basis for the formation of domestic State and legal resort policy is considered to be the Decree of Peter I of June 24,1717 "On the search for mineral waters in Russia". However, for a long time, these measures had little impact on the North Caucasus, which was not yet fully integrated into the sovereign geopolitical space of the Russian Empire. Today, the official date of the creation of the resorts of the Caucasian Mineral Waters is considered to be 1803, when Alexander I issued a rescript granting them State significance. However, the authors suggest counting the history of these resorts from 1780, when the Konstantinogorskaya fortress (the future city of Pyatigorsk) was founded here. There is convincing evidence that even then, local mineral water sources were actively used by the Russian military, and the government took significant steps to develop these resorts. The article also examines the further evolution of legal norms regarding the resorts of the Caucasian Mineral Waters and the related achievements in the administrative-legal field, which were later adopted not only by Soviet legislation, but also by modern Russian law. The importance of new scientific, historical, and legal research, based on past experience in the development of domestic resort legislation, is highlighted. This will not only provide a theoretical understanding of the historical legal regulation of relationships in the creation and functioning of national resorts but also open the way for the formulation of practical proposals for incorporating previous political and legal achievements at the present stage