Introduction of Russian state judiciary on the territory of Ukraine (end of XVIII – early XIX century)

Abstract

The article reveals the peculiarities of the implementation of the Russian judicial system in the Hetmanate in the second half of the XVIII - first half of the XIX century. It is pointed out that the incorporation policy of the Russian Empire provided for the full inclusion of Ukrainian lands in the empire, both in administrative and legal aspects. Beginning with the abolition of the institution of the Hetmanate, the regimental-hundred system, the imperial authorities tried to eradicate from life all the legal attributes of the Cossacks, which were traditional for the population and differed from the classical Russian. One of such attributes of statehood was the system of the judiciary and the judiciary. Having determined the specifics and characteristics of the traditional Ukrainian judicial system, which has been implemented in the Hetmanate since the middle of the XVII century, judicial reforms of P. Orlyk, K. Rozumovsky, the peculiarities of the introduction of the Russian class system of justice are established. After the liquidation of the regimental-hundred system and the introduction of division in the provinces, zemstvo (provincial) and county courts began to be established on the territory of Ukraine, which had a wide range of powers and were divided into criminal and civil departments. Zemsky courts were the court of the highest instance and the main appellate body, but decided only cases involving the nobility. The formal election of judges and their subordination to the emperor was a compromise that satisfied both the government and guaranteed the loyalty of the nobility. County courts were under the control of the nobility, which leveled the transparency of decisions. The lowest judiciary was the village courts, which dealt with most economic and administrative issues related to the most vulnerable. The practice of «arbitration» and «conscientious» courts, whose task was to resolve disputes at the pre-trial stage, can be considered a certain positive. They minimized and debureaucratized the judicial system, forming an effective alternative to county courts. Contractual principles in the judiciary, given the existence of about 10 thousand legal acts, some of which were naturally not known to judges, and sometimes contradicted each other, became the key to the stability of the judiciary in the pre-reform period.