In Memoriam Aleksandr L. Makovskii

Review of Central and East European Law, vol. 46, pp. 147–152

Abstract

Aleksandr L'vovich Makovskii was born in Leningrad in 1930 in a family which gave Russia a number of renowned painters, art historians, writers, and academics.As a boy, he was among those who survived the long siege of Leningrad during World War ii.Makovskii then studied law at the Leningrad State University graduating, with distinction, in 1953.There, a young O.S. Ioffe -later to become, arguably, the greatest civilist of the Soviet era -had been one of his teachers.In that same year, Makovskii started his graduate studies in law at the All-Union Institute of Legal Science (auils) in Moscow, becoming a member of its academic staff in 1956.It marked the beginning of his scholarly career in the two fields which would become the main spheres of his professional interests: civil law and private international law.He earned a candidate-of-science graduate degree in 1959.His thesis dealt with the legal regime governing the carriage of goods by Soviet ships, and his supervisor was a remarkable auils faculty member: Professor Ekaterina Abramovna Fleishits.1 Makovskii received his doctorate-in-law -on problems of private international law and the law of the sea -in 1984 from the All-Union Scientific-Research Institute for Soviet Legislation (ausrisl) also in Moscow.In the late 1960s, Makovskii became head of the legal department at a Moscow maritime-transport research institute -remaining there until 1980.During the last five years of this period, he was also an advisor to the Soviet delegation at the Third UN Law of the Sea Conference.The position was, for him, unexpected (as he would describe it in 2012) but very close to his love for civil law and private international law.It may have come about -as he later mused -because of his participation in drafting a number of International Maritime Organization conventions beginning in the late 1960s.In this stage of his career, he also was one of the founders of the Association of Maritime Law in Russia.In the early 1980s, Makovskii moved to ausrisl and, in 1988, became professor of law.From 1981 until 1992, he was chief of the Institute's section dealing with legislation on international relations; later, head of its department of private international law.(By then, ausrisl had been renamed the Institute of Legislation and Comparative Legal Studies and, since 1993, has been attached to the Russian Government.)However, it was his decades-long association with the Research Center for Private Law (attached to the Office of the Russian President) which formed the pinnacle of his career.The Center -suggested by one of the most vocal

Authors 2

1. F.J.M. Feldbrugge Aachen Professor Emeritus

   Leiden University

   Affiliation as printed

   Professor Emeritus, University of Leiden, Leiden, The Netherlands, f2hfeldbrugge@hetnet.nl

2. William B. Simons Aachen Professor Emeritus of East European Law

   Leiden University

   Affiliation as printed

   Professor Emeritus of East European Law, University of Leiden, Leiden, The Netherlands, wbsimons@gmail.com