The influence of the judicial complaint initiative of one-courtyard people on the punishment of officials of the Central Chernozem region from the beginning of the XVIII-th to the middle of the XIX-th century

Abstract

Introduction. This article explores establishing the impact of complaints and lawsuits of one-courtyard people on the punishment of individual representatives of the bureaucratic apparatus of the Central Chernozem region from the beginning of the XVIII century to the middle of the XIX century. The objectives of the article consist of studying various methods of overcoming the vacuum of regional abuses and the punishment of impious officials that followed them, as well as identifying the improvement of the system using the example of landed justice between the XVIII-th and XIX-th centuries. Materials and methods. In the process of working on the study were used analytical-synthetic and comparative-historical methods, as well as retrospective and historiographical analyzes. Results. In the study, the author shows the attempts of smallholders to overcome the vacuum of bureaucratic abuses in the regions. Moreover, both unsuccessful and cases with a favorable outcome are covered. At the same time, the article provides examples of appeals by the descendants of service military people about their land disputes to various levels of government, including the governor, ministries, the Senate, and even the emperor. Then the researcher shows many cases of punishment of officials for their abuses, which are classified according to the severity of the penalties. Finally, the author presents several areas of judiciary and administration of one-courtyard people, which have clearly undergone improvement over time. Conclusion. In the course of working on the article, the researcher concludes that the smallholders often won disputes over the land with landowners and officials, especially after the establishment of the Ministry of State Property. Complaints of the descendants of military service people also often reached their addressees. The consequence of the latest processes was that the punishments of the upcoming «cases» were constantly monitored, and affected almost all levels of government controlled. In this regard, it is impossible to state the complete impunity of the bureaucracy. On the whole, over time, the list of methods for maintaining the vacuum of bureaucratic abuses gradually decreased. However, at the same time with this process, there was an improvement and the invention of new methods of bureaucratic abuses