Private Justice in Public Courts: Victims' Lawyers in Post-Reform Russia, 1866-1884

• In Event: Appealing to the Tsar: Petitioning and Advocacy in Imperial Russia

Abstract

The 1876 trial of an alleged arsonist, millionaire merchant Stepan Ovsiannikov, is one particularly prominent and controversial example of how private advocacy, public interest, and state power mixed together during Russia's age of liberal reforms. This and numerous other landmark criminal trials in post-reform Russia included victims' lawyers who sought monetary compensation for their clients. Such "civil plaintiffs" attracted much public spotlight, being often more capable than the state prosecutor and in effect multiplying the latter's efforts. Private prosecution was common in major nineteenth-century legal systems, and especially in France, from which Russia's reformed procedures were adapted. The joining of formal judiciary authority and private advocacy helped victims to avoid additional costly civil trials, as long as the jury agreed to convict. But the practice also tended to weaponize the law and encourage parties in property disputes to eschew negotiation and compromise. Top-notch victims' lawyers could ensure that even wealthy and powerful criminals were given their due, but could also harass and persecute individuals whose guilt was anything but apparent.

Author

• Sergei Antonov, Yale U