Стадии судебного разбирательства в Калмыцкой степи во второй половине XIX – начале ХХ в.: особенности правоприменительной практики

Abstract

The article aims to study the stages of the trial in the Kalmyk steppe in the second half of the 19th century and to identify special law enforcement practices. The study is based on the analysis of the imperial legislation and documentary materials from the funds of the National Archive of the Republic of Kalmykia. The legal norms of Section II, On Judicial Proceedings in Ulus Zargo, of the Provisions on the Administration of the Kalmyk People (1847) can be grouped according to the thematic principle: the purpose and sources of legal proceedings in the ulus courts; participants in the trial; punishment; execution of punishment. Unfortunately, the legislator in this normative act did not consider in detail the procedure of the proceedings, which determined the relevance of the article. The study is based on the principles of scientificity and objectivity. The research methods were: reconstructive, which restored the stages of judicial proceedings; comparative historical, which revealed the general patterns and features in the functioning of judicial proceedings in the Kalmyk steppe; and historical genetic, which established the cause-andeffect relationship in the judicial proceedings’ development. In the course of the study, the authors emphasize the analysis of the case management practice of the ulus directorates in the field of judicial proceedings, thus highlighting their three main stages in the Kalmyk steppe in the specified period. The first stage is the preliminary investigation; the second is the trial itself; the third is the execution of the verdict. The authors note that the Provisions of 1847, for the first time in the imperial legislative practice on regulating the vital activity of the Kalmyk people, took into account the level of their well-being in the punishment. The authors conclude that the legal proceedings in the Kalmyk steppe during the analysed period were characterised by the following features: (1) the incompetence of judges, who had a low level of education, not to mention legal literacy, was typical for this period; (2) the judicial system was not independent from the administrative power, because ulus guardians and their assistants played an essential role in the work of ulus Zargo, and since 1892 they started managing the courts; (3) despite the fact that, after the judicial reforms of Alexander II, openness, adversariality, equality of the parties were declared as the basic principles of justice, the ulus Zargo did not implement these principles, since these reforms did not apply to foreign societies of the Russian Empire.