The purpose of this article is to discuss traditional attitude towards law in Russian society at different periods of its history. The article demonstrates sources and grounds of paternalism in the minds and practice of the Russian people and political powers. Attention is paid to special aspects of attitude towards private property and the related state of limited development of civil society. In relation to this, an assumption is made that the attitude of Bolsheviks to law and state is a crude form of continuing this Russian tradition. Gradual change of social consciousness and practice during the recent decade is emphasized, and this trend could not avoid affecting the state of the Russian legal studies. In order to support these theses, a comparative analysis of L.D. Trotsky and E.B. Khokhlov on regulating labour during the first years of the Soviet power is provided.