Осуществление правотворчества в судах присяжных заседателей с введением Судебных уставов 1864 года

Abstract

The article discusses the main problems encountered in the implementation of judicial law-making in the courts conducted with the presence of jurors, introduced by the judicial Reform of 1864. The jury was granted by law the right to apply legal practices as a legal norm in the judicial process, which made it possible to disregard the requirements of the law and render verdicts in the cases under consideration, based on his personal conviction. In the absence of prescribed rules on evidence, all information and concepts about the signs and reality of the crime were heard by the jury and retained a certain force in their opinion, which left its mark and influenced the jury’s verdict. The procedure of the debate in court represented a lot of contradictory facts and impressions that had to be dealt with, drawn from illiterate peasants or an undeveloped urban environment and randomly assigned to the decision of court cases, jurors. The plight of the jury of the peasants during the period of execution of their duties adversely affected the quality of the conduct of the trial and the consideration of cases in court. The verdict was often made not on the facts of the offense committed by the defendant, but on the social, family and moral situation and under the impression of the ongoing trial as opposed to actual evidence of the guilt of the perpetrators. The elimination of the influence of state power on the administration of crimi-nal justice has led to a significant number of acquittals in spite of obvious violations of laws and local legal customs