Trips to the Precincts in the Communicative Space of Magistrates in Yakut Oblast in the late 19th − early 20th Century

Abstract

The research subject is the trip of judges of the peace to the districts in the Yakutsk region in their communicative space in the late 19th - early 20th centuries. The object is the communication practice related to the development of judicial proceedings in the Yakutsk region in the period specified. The trips to the sections in the communicative space of justices of the peace are analyzed. The research follows the methodological principles of the frontier modernization approach of I. V. Poberezhnikov, the one commonly used for the analysis of the peripheral regions of the Russian Empire. The comparative-historical method, revealing cause-and-effect relationships and patterns of the historical process, is used as a cognitive tool. The scholarly novelty of the study is that for the first time in the national historiography, the magistrates’ court proceedings are studied specifically in the context of communication space in the North-East of the Russian Empire in the late 19th − early 20th century. Based on the results of the study, a conclusion is made that, during the period under review, overland communications and summonses for magistrates of the Yakutia region served as the main communication channel in the judicial proceedings. In Yakutia, given that overland communications were seasonal, magistrates rarely traveled to certain inaccessible areas. In addition, frequent trips to vast areas of judges of the peace led to the fact that they practically did not have time to hide all the mail received during their absence, which became one of the reasons for the slowdown in legal proceedings. During their trips, magistrates could use any suitable premises for court proceedings as a temporary chamber.