A CRISIS OF THE IDEA OF LEGAL PROGRESS

The article examines the origins of the idea of social and legal progress and its genesis. It highlights the tendency that arose in the late XIX – early XX century in the Western legal culture to deny the idea of progressive upward legal development of society, and analyses in detail the causes of this phenomenon. Social conditions, civilizational factors, a role of the professional legal community and the legal science in the emergence and implementation of the idea of legal progress are considered. The author talks about the significance of civilizational challenges and external factors that can bring humanity out of the legal stagnation and move it forward towards progress.