CUSTOMARY LAW AND LEGAL DUALISM IN RUSSIA: THE ROLE OF THE IMPERIAL FACTOR Aminov Anton Ravilevich, postgraduate student. <...> Place of study: Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration. <...> Department: Theory and history of state and law chair. <...> Annotation: The central theme of this article is the problem of the role of customary law in the origin and development the system of the legal dualism, which was a characteristic feature of the Russian legal system before the revolution of 1917. <...> It is noted that in recent years the study of the theory and history of customary law in the legal science has increased significantly, which to some extent was caused by the updating in the mass consciousness of the Russian society of traditional notions of justice, dating back to the common law, and the revival of the use of customary law in some national regions countries. <...> It is stated that with good research in the pre-revolutionary and modern legal historiography of customary law of the Russian peasantry, and other peoples of the Russian Empire, the theme of the legal dualism remains still poorly understood. <...> Model studies used in this article is based on an analysis of the legal dualism in the context of the processes of formation and development of the imperial state, whose origins are linked to the historical features of formation of the Muscovite state, predetermined its subsequent transformation into an empire. <...> The author argues the view that the most important role in the occurrence and long-term existence of legal dualism in Russia played objective factors of natural and geographical nature, dictate the need to preserve community organization of peasant farming and customary law as a regulatory tool intercommunity relations in the interest of resource support imperial expansion of Russia during the XVI-XIX centuries. <...> Therefore, the Russian legal dualism in Russian Empire should be seen as a natural extension of the legal dualism inherent already Muscovite Russia, and at the same time the necessary historical background of modernization transformations XVIII-XIX centuries. <...> Materials of this article can be used in training courses on the history of Russian state and law and may be interesting to teachers and students of legal specialties of higher education. <...> В статье рассматривается проблема роли обычного права в возникновении и развитии правового дуализма, являвшегося характерной чертой российской правовой системы до революции 1917 г <...>