Financial and Logistics Support of Activities of the Magistrate’s Courts in the Tauride Province (60—80-ies of the XIX Century)

Abstract

The revival of the lay justice in new constituent entities of the Russian Federation in the Republic of Crimea and the federal city of Sevastopol necessitated the recourse to historical and legal experience of formation and development of the institution of lay judges under the 864 judicial reform, as well as institutional support for their activities. The article discusses the financial and logistics support of the activities of Magistrate's and Assemblies of lay judges in the Tauride Province as a result of the implementation of the provisions of the Judicial Statutes in 60-80-ies of the XIX century. It is found that the lay justice of the province was entirely financially supported by the district municipalities (zemstva) and the expenses for Magistrate's were among the obligatory municipal duties. Based on the analysis of the budget documentation of the expenses and revenues of the district municipalities the author studied the items of financing the activities of the Magistrate's of the Tauride Province, and identifies the role and resources of district municipalities of the Province concerning their salaries. Local institutions were committed to annually provide allocations for salaries of district magistrates, Assemblies of Lay Judges, construction and maintenance costs for the premises where the arrested were held, maintenance of the prisoners. It was revealed that for maintenance of the Magistrate's district municipalities spent on average from RUR 6,000 to 13,200 per year; Assemblies of Lay Judges - from RUR 1,190 up to 8,450 per year; maintenance of the lockup houses and the provision of food for prisoners - from RUR 600 to 3,788 per year. The largest amounts were spent on maintaining the Magistrate's by the District Assembly of Feodosia Municipality (on average RUR 24,300 per year), and the least maintenance obtained the Magistrate's backed by the Evpatorian District Municipality (RUR 7,600 per year). The Crimean District Municipalities spent on average 15, 3% of funds from the expenditure side of the District budget. Among the factors that affected the expenses for the Magistrates' are the following: the number of Magistrate Courts in the District, the number of resident population as payers of District Municipality taxes, agriculture, industry and trade, ensuring appropriate income of District Municipalities. Besides, the author identifies some of the problems of financial provision of lay justice, which had objective reasons. During the study, it was found that the expenses and logistical support for the activities of the Magistrates in the province were directly dependent on sources of income of district budgets, rational distribution of which affected their performance.