Activities of the Mining Police in Pre-Revolutionary Russia in the Early 20th Century (the Irkutsk and Priamursk Governorates-general, as an Example)

Abstract

The article is devoted to a less studied topic — research of the main directions of activity of mining police of the beginning of the 20th century in the East of Russia. Far Eastern and East Siberian mining-police units were headed by the mining police chiefs (ispravniki), who were subordinate in their activities — the Irkutsk and Priamursk governorates-general. In the East of Russia, the mining police at the beginning of the 20th century carried out activities to protect public order, monitor compliance with criminal, labour and commercial legislation in the zone of mountain districts.
 The article deals with the structure of the mining police, the powers of the mining police. Normative legal acts regulating the regular construction of mining police in the region under study are being studied.
 The materials of the study were articles of scientists, norms of legislation of the Russian Empire, departmental acts of the Ministry of State Property, archival documents. The methodological basis of the study is a set of popular scientific methods, such as analysis, synthesis, comparison, and special methods — historical-legal, systemic-structural, comparative-legal.
 The result of the study was an analysis of the process of gradual change of the legislation of the Russian Empire in terms of the description of the functions of the mining police in the zone of mines of the Irkutsk and Priamursk governorates-general.