This book examines Mikhail M. Speranskii's attempt to codify Russian law in the 1820 and 1830s -- that was the last major bureaucratic project of this important Russian statesman and an aspect of his long career that has been largely ignored by historians. Based on material from the Manuscript Division of the Russian National Library, the Russian State Historical Archives, and the Archives of the Academy of Sciences (all in St. Petersburg, Russia) a complete picture emerges of the codification efforts.