Abstract
The article examines issues of the Philosophy of Law from the position of Kant and Russian Neo-Kantians. The difference between the principle of necessity (based on the natural course of things) and the principle of obligation (applied to the sphere of morality) is shown. According to the principle of ethical obligation, each person is recognized as an end in itself, and all persons are considered equal. The focus of Russian Neo-Kantian lawyers is the process of implementing the transition from formal ethics to the Philosophy of Law, which combines the requirements of the moral law and political and legal phenomena. Following Kant, Russian lawyers argued that the state should not impose models of justice on the population – it should create conditions under which everyone could freely choose what is good for them (happiness) and achieve what they want with the only limitation – not to violate the rights and freedoms of others members of society. During the period of conflict of interests of various social groups, domestic Neo-Kantian lawyers sought to find ways of peaceful social development. The core of their concepts created confidence in the positive meaning of morality, tradition, law and the state.