The Russian Jury Trial in the Age of the Great Reforms: 1866-1882

• In Event: Law and Legality I: Crime and the Courts in the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union

Abstract

The judicial reform of 1864 in Russia strengthened the courts' autonomy and introduced public adversarial trials and the right to legal representation. Today we consider these features to be essential to any modern legal system, but 160 years ago their meaning was not clear or predetermined, nor was it assured that the new system would work as intended in actual cases. My reading of the most important criminal jury trials in post-reform Russia argues that the practical meaning of the principles of judicial autonomy, publicity, and adversariality was carefully constructed and negotiated by jurists, journalists, and numerous other individuals. The choices made and opportunities lost had major ramifications for the effectiveness of the late imperial courts as uniquely protected public spaces under autocracy.

Author

• Sergei Antonov, Yale U