The article discusses the formation of legislation on higher education in Russia. The sphere of education is the most important condition for the spiritual, professional formation and development of the individual, the social well-being of society, political and economic formation of the state. An analysis of the historical and legal experience of regulating public relations is a prerequisite for building modern legislation in the field of education. The relevance of the study of the Russian features of legislation on higher education of the XVII-XVIII centuries is that modern social relations in the field of education are not fully regulated. This is evidenced by a range of legal problems. Particular attention should be paid to the legislative regulation of certain powers of participants in public relations in the field of higher education, by-law legal regulation, as well as the implementation of certain legal norms of the Federal Law of 29.12.2012 № 273-FZ. The need to resolve these problems updates the relevance of theoretical problems. The answer to the above questions is an analysis of the historical foundations of Russian legislation on higher education. In the pre-revolutionary Russia, sufficient experience in managing higher education, as well as regulating relevant social relations was in place. The completeness of the study of the subject of public relations in the field of education in the historical context is closely related to the analysis of the activities of Russian universities. The article considers the reasons for the appearance of educational institutions in Russia. The first domestic educational institutions appeared at the end of the 18th century - at a historical moment when the expansion of Western European ideas for organizing university education reached the Russian state. Russia had an urgent need to train specialists in the field of public administration - officials, theologians - to strengthen the Orthodox faith, teachers - to educate and promote morality. The authorization of the first regulatory and legal sources in the field of higher education was associated with attempts to create the Slavic-Greek-Latin Academy in Moscow. The revival of the ideas of education in Russia objec'tively accelerated the process of creating domestic educational institutions. The further development of legislation on higher education is associated with the implementation of new ideas about the establishment of universities under Empress Elizabeth Petrovna and Catherine the Great . In the final part of the work, it is noted that in connection with the creation of the first educational institution in Russia, the first normative legal act regulating legal relations in the field of higher education is published - "Privilege for the Academy." During the XVII-XVIII centuries Russian legislation on higher education contained personal regulatory legal acts. They were strictly targeted and regulated the activities of the educational institution, its officials, teachers, students, as well as other participants in academic social relations.