“Railway justice” in the Processes of Acculturation in the Frontier Zones of Asian Russia in the Late 19th — early 20th Century (Bukhara Emirate and Northern Manchuria)

Abstract

The article is a comparative study of two variants of the “railway justice”, i.e. justice systems in the Russian exclaves in the Emirate of Bukhara and the Northern Manchuria at the end of 19th — beginning of 20th century. Basic mechanisms of integration and acculturation of both territories and their population was railway infrastructure (Central Asia and Chinese Eastern Railways) and judicial institution connected with it. The research is based on the wide circle of sources: archival materials of court cases, legal acts of central and regional authorities, hand-books, analytical woks and contemporary memories. The correlation of Russian jurisdictions of different levels is studied. The special attention is paid to court practice of the Russian political agency and lay justice in Bukhara and mixed Russian-Chinese courts in the Northern Manchuria. Authors found that Russian justice in both exclaves on the one hand were based on the imperial post-reform legal rules and on the other hand were adopted for the specific interstate context, ethno-confessional diversity of territories, local legal culture. Russian courts were succeeded in the provision pf basic law and order and promote the processes of cultural legal integration of the studied regions and their varied population. Distinctions of two justice models are connected with difference competence of the Russian post-reform courts in the Emirate of Bukhara and Northern Manchuria. Central authorities and administration of the Chinese Eastern Railway took into account and discussed the Bukharan experience of deeper justice integration, but saved the wide latitude of mixed Russian-Chinese courts.