The author analyses the transformation of higher legal education in the German states in 1810–1820’s. He argues that its subjective assumptions were made: the formation of a new vision of legal science as a system of knowledge of positive law; the doctrine of the nation as the main subject of legal development, national law as the main object of this development and at the same time the main subject matter of legal science; the idea of empirical knowledge as the main way of acquiring knowledge about the law, historical and comparative methods of such knowledge; the presence in German states of extremely advanced legal research and education infrastructure. The author suggests that the impetus for this was the formation of the historical and historical-philosophical directions of legal thought so as their debates. They had the founding basis of positivism, which, combined with the «legal nationalism» in that terms generated comparative approach to the study and teaching of law.

 The author analyzes the teaching of courses on the law faculties of German universities in the context of the principles and ideas that lay in their basis. From this he concludes that German higher legal education interconnected positivation and comparativisation in 1810–1820’s showed themselves primarily in: 1) essentially and meaningful transformation of the discipline of natural law into philosophy of (positive) law; 2) synthesis and transformation of doctrinal knowledge on law in the system of knowledge and discipline «Encyclopedia of (current) law»; 3) formation of complex of comparative legal disciplines devoted to all-German secular and canon law and its history; 4) the teaching of Roman law as a positive phenomenon that should be studied in historical and comparative aspects; 5) the complex of disciplines occurrence devoted to comparative legal knowledge of foreign law. The basis of the latter was the idea of comparative jurisprudence as a relatively independent legal science. Identified are two approaches to the teaching of comparative jurisprudence — within encyclopedia of law and as an independent discipline (since 1827). Also emphasizes the connection of the latter to the discipline of comparative history of law, which, as author showed, had been taught since 1818.

 According to the author, higher legal education in the German states in 1810–1820’s comparativization is compelling evidence of dynamic development of comparative jurisprudence at this time, and increase its acceptance in scientific circles.