The Reform of Local Court of 1912 in Imperial Dimension: The Making of Common Institutes in Plural Society

Abstract

The judicial reform of 1912, which recreated in the inner and western provinces of the Russian Empire an updated version of the magistrates’ court (mirovoy sud) and liquidated the judicial functions of land captains and other judicial-administrative instances, is usually studied either in the historic-legal context or as part of political struggles of the early twentieth century. For the first time, the reform was considered in the context of managing imperial diversity and strategies of creating common institutions in conditions of heterogeneity (class, ethnic, confessional, political), both among the population of the empire as a whole and in regional and local communities. This paper addresses the state of local justice and factors that necessitated reforms, Including main positions that formed the basis for criticizing the government bill and alternative options for local courts. Positions in the discussion were related to visions of prospects and ways for integrating the Russian Empire, constructing common institutions, and nation building. The resulting model was a compromise and hybrid. A number of developed elements of local courts were in demand after the fall of the empire, even in the Soviet period.