Keyword: «terminological polysemy»

The article is devoted to the historical and legal analysis of the genesis and transformation of legal terminology in Russian law, identifying stable trends in this process. The study covers the key stages of the development of the terminological apparatus: from its archaic origins in Kievan Rus and the reception of Byzantine concepts to the large-scale Westernization under Peter I and systematization during the imperial period. The radical break of tradition in the Soviet era, accompanied by the ideologization of the legal language, and the contradictory trends of the modern stage, characterized by the reception of international concepts and the rehabilitation of pre-revolutionary vocabulary, are considered separately. It is proved that the transformation of terminology is determined by major socio-political transformations and is cyclical, between continuity and radical renewal. In conclusion, the necessity of systematic work on the unification and standardization of the modern legal language to ensure its stability and accuracy is substantiated.