The genesis of the rules of inheritance under the will of the XIX century in Russia was associated with the expansion of freedom of the Property, the most important reform legislation union sources in the Code, the development of science. To lay down some and some elements of the will. Also developed ideas about the juridical nature of the testator and the heirs, legal scientists to explore the contents of the will. However, the factor of absolute monarchy and the conservative nature of the legislation has affected the dynamics of the inheritance law. The law retained birth, religious and public beginning. These conditions also influenced the theory of testamentary law. The main problem of the concept of the will in theory have been associated with poor development of the whole inheritance law. The idea of universal succession was absent in the testamentary law, the mechanism of legacy mixed with an inheritance. The principle of freedom of the will was not revealed in the law. Presentation of the legal purpose and object of the will is not developed in science. The classification of orders of the will was absent, methods of interpretation were not established in law. Despite the shortcomings of the theory of Russias inheritance law, the beginning of XX century, the law clearly consolidated the most important signs of wills one-sided, the possibility of changes and cancellations, a strict form. Problems of pre-revolutionary science relevant and current. In particular, in the modern literature there is no consensus on the conditional wills, on the subject of wills, the methods of interpretation.