“The Case of Professors” in 1821 at St. Petersburg University in the history of Russian statistics

This publication is written in commemoration of the 200th anniversary of the “Case of Professors" of St. Petersburg University, which heralds the important stage in the formation of conservative policy of the Russian government in the sphere of science and education. The object of this research is the impact of the events of 1821 upon the development of government science in Russia – the early direction of statistical science. The author analyzes the prerequisites for the emergence of political-economic direction of government science in Russia, draws parallel with the traditional German school, outlines the key peculiarities – attempt to determine the advantages and disadvantages of the phenomena under review, establish causal relationships between them, appose government science with political economics. In the course of the “Case of Professors”, two of the most prominent representatives of this scientific direction – C. T. Hermann and K .I. Arsenyev were exposed to harsh criticism by the officials of the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Public Education. Leaning on the published and archival sources, the article explores the arguments of M. L. Magnitsky, I. S. Laval, A. N. Golitsyn on the topic of teaching statistics at the university. The conclusion is made that the major complaint of the officials to the teaching techniques and scientific works of Hermann and Arsenyev was their extensive interpretation of the subject of statistical science. The opponents of the scholars sought to bring the government science back to the traditional for the XVIII century descriptive school, as well as limit it solely to the empirical methods. It is indicated that the prohibition against using the works of Hermann and Arsenyev in the educational institutions entail significant consequences and halted the development of political-economic direction of government science for over two decades. The university statistical education returned to this tradition only after 1835, with the adoption of the new university charter.

Judicial Big Data and Big-Data-Based Legal Research in China

The newly established judicial-transparency platforms, like China Judgements Online, have provided access to a new resource—judicial big data—making it possible to conduct empirical, big-data-based legal research. However, as is often the case with new products, these platforms—China Judgements Online, in particular—pose a few problems for big-data-based legal research: insufficient academic depth; immature technical methods; and lack of innovation due to flawed data, strict technical thresholds, and lack of theoretical ambition and ability. In the future, big-data-based legal research should make use of current data resources, continue to promote statistical science and computer science in research, and apply small-data research methods, and in the meanwhile pay attention to the combination of data and theory.