Legacies from the Past

Abstract

Abstract This chapter explains how developments in the late Tsarist era and the years of Soviet rule helped to shape the court system that exists in the Russian Federation today. On the one hand, the ups and downs of, and limits on, judicial independence and power in both eras foreshadowed similar tensions in the twenty-first century. On the other hand, particular legal institutions, such as trial by jury and justices of the peace, and ways of organizing the judiciary would become component parts of the administration of justice under Putin. The chapter starts with analysis of the courts created by the Judicial Reform of 1864 that were designed to provide fair and independent adjudication within an autocratic political order, an experiment that led inevitably to clashes between the courts and the Tsarist regime and, in turn, to counter-reform measures. The chapter goes on to explore the Soviet struggle to make judges competent as well as loyal to the regime, culminating in the creation, after the Second World War, of a European-style judicial bureaucracy and an elaborate method of evaluating judges through quantitative indicators. For both periods, it also explores the limits of judicial power, including the jurisdiction of courts over administrative justice and commercial and constitutional matters.