Journal section JURISPRUDENCE
Judicial law-making in Russia on land issues in the second half of the XIX – early XX centuries in the process of applying customary law
The article examines the impact of the norms of customary law applied in the peasant
environment in the second half of the 19th century to the judicial law-making of land
reformers. The purpose of the article is to identify the legal grounds that were taken into
account when drafting the legislation of the Peasant Reform of 1861 to create an adequate
and at the same time effective justice system for peasant land issues in the context of
fundamental social transformations caused by the abolition of serfdom and the need to
develop capitalist relations in Russia.
The reformers assumed that the rural community would successfully replace the
authority of the landowner, become the lower unit of local government and the state
taxation system. The legalization of the legal customs of the peasants was taken as a
forced temporary measure, necessary in the early stages of the development of peasant
self-government; The existence of adaptive mechanisms in the established customary
legal system to preserve the viability and stability of the peasant community was taken
into account. The main function of the peasant community was the distribution of land and
the settlement of land use relations among its members. The created peasant class estate
courts were also considered as temporary, later as the peasants became closer to other
estates, their subordination to general civil laws was envisaged.
The volost courts guided by custom and law became the main element of rural selfgovernment and the mechanism for the implementation of customary law in land relations.
The main subject of this right was identified peasant community, which resolved issues of
land use, land relations, economic and social conflicts.
However the legislator did not clearly define that the difference in the proceedings of
the volost and general courts consisted in the property level of the cases and the limit
of punishments – only certain categories of different legal matters were listed that were
subject to the volost court.
Created by the Judicial Reform of 1864 the all-tribal peace courts could consider the
same minor offenses on the part of the peasants using the rules of the local customary law
“according to conscience” as the volost courts but at a higher property level. Priority was
given, as in the county court, to the reconciliation of the parties.
The increase in the number of claims on land issues in the late XIX – early XX centuries
in the conditions of the development of the land market and the increase in real estate
operations was reflected by the increased demand of the peasants for the consideration
of land issues and related property relations by courts on the basis of official legislation.
Keywords: law-making on land issues; communal court; customary law; land relations; customary law; peasant self-government; volost court; world court
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aspirant for the Russian State Pedagogical A. I. Herzen University. Email: e.ignatieva@mail.ru
Ivanchin A. V., Head of the Department of Criminal Law and Criminology of the P.G. Demidov Yaroslavl State University, Dsc. in Law, Associate Professor.
, e-mail e.ignatieva@mail.ru
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– Bulletin of Moscow University. Series 11 : Law. 2015. Iss. 2. Pp. 22–40. (In Russ.).
21. Fojnickij I. YA. Kurs ugolovnogo sudoproizvodstva : v 2 t. [Criminal Justice Course : in 2 vol.]. St. Petersburg, 1912.
Vol. 1. 556 p. (In Russ.).
22. SHarkova I. G. Mirovoj sud’ya v dorevolyucionnoj Rossii [Justice of the Peace in pre-revolutionary Russia]. Gos-vo i
pravo – State and law. 1998. Iss. 9. Pp. 79–85. (In Russ.).
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– Customary law of Russian peasants of the second half of the XIX – early XX century : the diss. … Dsc. in Law]. Rostov-onDon, 2009. 596 p. (In Russ.).
[Ordinary civil law of Russian peasants in the second half of the XIX century : the diss. ... PhD. in Law]. N. Novgorod, 2007.
210 p. (In Russ.).
2. Bezgin V. B. Zemel’nye iski v materialah volostnyh sudov Tambovskoj gubernii [Land claims in the materials of the parish
courts of the Tambov province]. Zemledelie i zemlepol’zovanie v Rossii (social’no-pravovye aspekty) : materialy XXVIII sessii
cimpoziuma po agrarnoj istorii Vostochnoj Evropy – Farming and land use in Russia (social and legal aspects) : materials
of the XXVIII session of the Symposium on Agrarian History of Eastern Europe]. Moscow, 2002. Pp. 116–118. (In Russ.).
3. Bezgin V. B. Pravovye obychai i pravosudie russkih krest’yan vtoroj poloviny XIX – nachala XX veka [Legal customs and
justice of Russian peasants of the second half of the XIX – beginning of the XX century]. Tambov, 2012. 124 p. (In Russ.).
4. Demichev A. A. Sudebnaya reforma 1864 g. v rossijskoj mental’nosti poreformennogo perioda [Judicial reform of 1864 in
the Russian mentality of the post-reform period]. Istoriya gos-va i prava – History of state and law. 2010. Iss. 17. Pp. 21–24.
(In Russ.).
5. Zemcov L. I. Volostnoj sud v Rossii v 60-h – pervoj polovine 70-h godov XIX veka (po materialam Central’nogo
CHernozem’ya) [Parish court in Russia in the 60s – the first half of the 70s of the XIX century (according to the materials of
the Central Chernozem region)]. Voronezh, 2002. 447 p. (In Russ.).
6. Illarionov N. S. K voprosu o razrabotke obychnogo prava [On the question of the development of customary law]. Vestn.
prava – Bulletin of Law. 1899. Iss. 1 (January). Pp. 78–91. (In Russ.).
7. Krest’yanskaya reforma [Peasant Reform]. Available at: https://www.booklot.org/ genre/spravochnaya-literatura/
entsiklopedii/book/bolshaya-sovetskaya-entsiklopediya (In Russ.).
8. Leont’ev A. A. Volostnoj sud i yuridicheskie obychai krest’yan [Parish court and legal customs of peasants]. St. Petersburg,
1895. 140 p. (In Russ.).
9. Leont’ev A. A. Krest’yanskoe pravo: sistematicheskoe izlozhenie osobennostej zakonodatel’stva o krest’yanah [Peasant
law: a systematic presentation of the peculiarities of legislation on peasants]. St. Petersburg, 1914. 364 p. (In Russ.).
10. Leshkov V. N. Russkij narod i gosudarstvo. Istoriya russkogo obshchestvennogo prava do konca XVIII veka / otv. red.
O. A. Platonov [Russian people and the state. The history of Russian public law until the end of the XVIII century : ed. by
O. A. Platonov]. Moscow, 2010. 688 p. (In Russ.).
11. Obshchee polozhenie o krest’yanah, vyshedshih iz krepostnoj zavisimosti, ot 19 fevralya 1861 goda [The general
position about the peasants who left serfdom, from February 19, 1861]. Poln. sobr. zakonov Ros. Imperii – The complete
collection of the laws of the Russian Empire. Iss. 36657. Collection 2. Vol. 36. Part 1. Pp. 141–169. (In Russ.).
12. Orshanskij I. G. Issledovaniya po russkomu pravu, obychnomu i brachnomu [Studies in Russian law, customary and
marital]. St. Petersburg, 1879. 455 p. (In Russ.).
13. Orshanskij I. G. Narodnyj sud i narodnoe pravo (po povodu voprosa o preobrazovanii volostnyh sudov) [People’s Court
and Law of the People (on the question of the conversion of parish courts)]. ZHurn. grazhdan. i ugolov. prava – Journal of
civil and criminal law. St. Petersburg, 1875. Book 3 (May–June). Pp. 60–142; Book 4 (July–August). Pp. 140–223; Book 5
(September–October). P. 1–71. (In Russ.).
14. Pahman S. V. Obychnoe grazhdanskoe pravo v Rossii. YUridicheskie ocherki : v 2 t. [Common Civil Law in Russia. Legal
essays : in 2 vol.]. St. Petersburg, 1877. Vol. 1. 463 p. (In Russ.).
15. Polozhenie o vykupe krest’yanami, vyshedshimi iz krepostnoj zavisimosti, ih usadebnoj osedlosti i o sodejstvii
pravitel’stva k priobreteniyu simi krest’yanami v sobstvennost’ polevyh ugodij. Dokumenty krest’yanskoj reformy [The
provision on the redemption of the peasants who left the serfs, their manor settlements and on the government’s assistance
in the acquisition of field land by these peasants. Documents peasant reform]. Rossijskoe zakonodatel’stvo Х–ХХ vv. :
v 9 t. – Russian legislation of the 10th–20th centuries : in 9 vol. Moscow, 1989. Vol. 7. Pp. 120–158. (In Russ.).
16. Rech’ Aleksandra II v Gosudarstvennom sovete 28 yanvarya 1861 g. [Speech of Alexander II in the Council of State
January 28, 1861]. Konec krepostnichestva v Rossii. Dokumenty, pis’ma, memuary, stat’i / pod red. V. A. Fedorova – The
end of serfdom in Russia. Documents, letters, memoirs, articles : ed. by V. A. Fedorov. Moscow, 1994. Pp. 193–194. (In
Russ.).
17. Sergeevich V. I. Opyty issledovaniya obychnogo prava [Common Law Research Experiments]. Nablyudatel’ – Observer.
1882. Iss. 1. Pp. 80–97; Iss. 2. Pp. 213–240. (In Russ.).
18. Sudebnye ustavy 20 noyabrya 1864 goda: s izlozheniem rassuzhdenij, na koih oni osnovany : v 2 ch. [Judicial statutes
of November 20, 1864: setting forth the reasoning on which they are based : in 2 parts]. St. Petersburg, 1867. Part 1 : The
Charter of Civil Procedure. 763 p. Available at: https://www.prlib.ru/item/372592 (In Russ.).
19. Sudebnye ustavy 20 noyabrya 1864 goda: s izlozheniem rassuzhdenij, na koih oni osnovany : v 2 ch. [Judicial statutes
of November 20, 1864: setting forth the reasoning on which they are based : in 2 parts]. St. Petersburg, 1867. Part 2 : The
Charter of criminal proceedings. 523 p. Available at: https://www.prlib.ru/item/372593 (In Russ.).
20. Tomsinov V. A. Sudebnaya reforma 1864 g. v Rossii i ee vozdejstvie na razvitie otechestvennogo pravovedeniya [Judicial
reform of 1864 in Russia and its impact on the development of domestic jurisprudence]. Vestn. Mos. un-ta. Ser. 11 : Pravo
– Bulletin of Moscow University. Series 11 : Law. 2015. Iss. 2. Pp. 22–40. (In Russ.).
21. Fojnickij I. YA. Kurs ugolovnogo sudoproizvodstva : v 2 t. [Criminal Justice Course : in 2 vol.]. St. Petersburg, 1912.
Vol. 1. 556 p. (In Russ.).
22. SHarkova I. G. Mirovoj sud’ya v dorevolyucionnoj Rossii [Justice of the Peace in pre-revolutionary Russia]. Gos-vo i
pravo – State and law. 1998. Iss. 9. Pp. 79–85. (In Russ.).
23. SHatkovskaya T. V. Obychnoe pravo rossijskih krest’yan vtoroj poloviny XIX – nachala XX veka : dis. … d-ra yurid. nauk
– Customary law of Russian peasants of the second half of the XIX – early XX century : the diss. … Dsc. in Law]. Rostov-onDon, 2009. 596 p. (In Russ.).
