Desnitsky was born in Nezhin, Russian Empire (present-day Ukraine). He was the second son of a meschanin, a member of the petty bourgeoisie. After a brief spell in the Trinity Lavra seminary, he attended Moscow University, starting in 1759. He went to continue his education at the University of Glasgow, where he studied with Adam Smith. In 1767, upon receiving a doctor of laws degree (LLD), he returned to Russia and was appointed professor of law at Moscow University.
Desnitsky pioneered the comparative approach to the study of law and regarded property as a cornerstone of every legal system. There was a great outcry over his rejection of Latin as the sole language of instruction; but Catherine II of Russia personally settled the issue in his favour.
^Scott, W.R. (1937). Adam Smith as Student and Professor. Glasgow: Jackson Son & Co. pp. 158n. & 424 ff.
^Raphael, D.D. (1985). Adam Smith. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. p. 18.
^Smith, Adam (1978). Meek, R.L.; Raphael, D.D.; Stein, P.G. (eds.). Lectures on Jurisprudence (The Glasgow Edition of the Works and Correspondence of Adam Smith). Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. p. 27.
^Smith, Adam (1976). Raphael, D.D.; Macfie A.L. (eds.). The Theory of Moral Sentiments (The Glasgow Edition of the Works and Correspondence of Adam Smith). Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 31–32.
Brown A.H., "The Father of Russian Jurisprudence: The Legal Thought of S.E. Desnitskii", in William E. Butler (1977), Russian Law: Historical and Political Perspectives, Berlin: Springer, pp. 117–41.
Butler, William E. (2009). Russia and the Law of Nations in Historical Perspective: Collected Essays. London: Wildy, Simmonds & Hill. p. 130. ISBN978-1-884445-42-2.
