UDC

94(47).084

DOI

10.37482/2227-6564-V044

Authors

Anna V. Kryzhan
Kursk State University;
ul. Radishcheva 33, Kursk, 305000, Russian Federation;
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4023-5862 e-mail: kryjhan@mail.ru

Abstract

This article dwells on improving the efficiency of people’s courts, which were a fundamental element of the Soviet judicial system, and on establishing control over their activities. The chronological framework of the paper covers the mid-1920s, when the results of the 1922 judicial reform had been put in practice and the key problems of the people’s courts became apparent. The article analyses the notion of the people’s court, which, on the one hand, reflects the essence of the judicial body making excessive use of the institution of elected people’s assessors in its work, and, on the other hand, levels the class essence of the Soviet court. Turning to documentary sources and archival materials, the author dwells on the main tasks of the new state power in organizing the activity of the people’s courts. It is emphasized that these courts were subject to scrutiny by the People’s Commissariat for Justice not just due to the objective need to establish their normal work, but also as a result of the increased confrontation between the Commissariat and the Supreme Court of the Soviet Union, especially over the supervision of the judicial work of provincial courts and people’s courts. Having analysed the Instruction on the Audit Procedure of People’s Courts by Provincial Courts issued in 1924, the author points out that the Commissariat aimed not only to administer the work of the people’s courts, but also to assist them in improving their activities and solving problems. The author concludes that, in addition to formal reasons due to the limited number of judicial institutions, incompetent personnel and inadequate funding, the normalization of the work of the people’s courts was also hindered by a conceptual contradiction. On the one hand, the authorities aimed to create a civilized law that would demonstrate to the whole world the advantages of the Soviet system, and, on the other, to establish the class principle in the work of people’s courts.
For citation: Kryzhan A.V. The Challenges of Organizing the People’s Court as a Part of the Soviet Judicial System. Vestnik Severnogo (Arkticheskogo) federal’nogo universiteta. Ser.: Gumanitarnye i sotsial’nye nauki, 2020, no. 5, pp. 5–15. DOI: 10.37482/2227-6564-V044

Keywords

Soviet judicial system, People’s Court, Provincial Court, class principle in the judicial system, judicial control, revolutionary legality

References

1. Portnov V.P., Slavin M.M. Stanovlenie pravosudiya Sovetskoy Rossii (1917–1922 gg.) [Formation of Justice in Soviet Russia (1917–1922)]. Moscow, 1990. 165 p.
2. Petukhov G.E. Sovetskiy sud i stanovlenie revolyutsionnoy zakonnosti v gosudarstvennom upravlenii (istorikoteoreticheskie issledovaniya) [Soviet Court and the Formation of Revolutionary Legality in State Management (Historical Theoretical Research): Diss.]. Odessa, 1984. 477 p.
3. Babenko V.N. Problemy formirovaniya sovetskoy sistemy pravosudiya (1917–1920) [The October Revolution and the Problems of Shaping the Soviet Justice System (1917–1920)]. Rossiya i sovremennyy mir, 2017, no. 3, pp. 250–259.
4. Kolemasov V.N. Kontseptual’nye osnovy sozdaniya sovetskoy sudebnoy sistemy [Conceptual Fundamentals of Development of Soviet Judicial System]. Pravo i obrazovanie, 2012, no. 9, pp. 145–152.
5. Abdulin R.S. Sudebnoe upravlenie kak strukturno-funktsional’nyy element v sisteme sovetskogo gosudarstvennogo upravleniya [Judicial Administration as a Structural and Functional Element in the System of Soviet State Management]. NB: Istoricheskie issledovaniya, 2014, no. 3, pp. 16–36.
6. Semeno A.V. Stanovlenie sistemy narodnykh sudov RSFSR v 1917–1922 gg. [The Formation of People’s Courts in the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, 1917–1922]. Vestnik Vyatskogo gosudarstvennogo gumanitarnogo universiteta, 2012, no. 4-1, pp. 87–91.
7. Kossov I.A. K voprosu o kadrovom sostave narodnykh sudov RSFSR (1917–1918 gg.) [To the Question of the Personnel of the First People’s Court of the RSFSR (1917–1918)]. Vestnik RGGU. Ser.: Ekonomika. Upravlenie. Pravo, 2013, no. 3, pp. 30–34.
8. Shagin I.A. Osobennosti komplektovaniya kadrov narodnykh sudey v pervoe sovetskoe desyatiletie v Pskovskoy gubernii [Features of Staffing the People’s Courts in the First Soviet Decade in the Pskov Province]. Peterburgskiy istoricheskiy zhurnal: issledovaniya po rossiyskoy i vseobshchey istorii, 2017, no. 2, pp. 97–109.
9. Kamalova G.T. Institut narodnykh zasedateley v sovetskom sude v gody NEPa [Institute of People’s Assessors in the Soviet Court in the Period of New Economic Policy]. Vestnik Yuzhno-Ural’skogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. Ser.: Pravo, 2016, vol. 16, no. 3, pp. 17–21. DOI: 10.14529/law160303
10. Kurskiy D.I. Vystuplenie na zasedanii V-go Vserossiyskogo s”ezda deyateley sovetskoy yustitsii [Speech at a Meeting of the 5th All-Russian Congress of Soviet Justice Workers]. Ezhenedel’nik sovetskoy yustitsii, 1924, no. 11, pp. 18–19.
11. Regulations on the People’s Court of the RSFSR. Decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of the RSFSR Dated October 21, 1920. Library of Legal Documents of the Soviet Union. Available at: http://www.libussr.ru/ doc_ussr/ussr_758.htm (accessed: 20 December 2020) (in Russ.).
12. O revolyutsionnoy zakonnosti. Rezolyutsiya XIV Konferentsii RKP(b) [On Revolutionary Legality. Resolution of the 14th Conference of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks)]. Vsesoyuznaya Kommunisticheskaya Partiya (bol’shevikov) v rezolyutsiyakh i resheniyakh s”ezdov, konferentsiy i plenumov TsK: (1898–1939). Ch. II. 1925–1939 [All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) in Resolutions and Decisions of Central Committee Congresses, Conferences and Plenums: (1898–1939). Part 2. 1925–1939]. Moscow, 1941, p. 25.
13. Tri s”ezda [Three Congresses]. Ezhenedel’nik sovetskoy yustitsii, 1925, no. 21, pp. 2–3.
14. Krylenko N.V. Gubernskiy sud i blizhayshie meropriyatiya v sfere ego deyatel’nosti. Doklad na zasedanii V-go Vserossiyskogo s”ezda deyateley sovetskoy yustitsii [Provincial Court and Upcoming Events Within the Scope of Its Activity. Report at the Meeting of the 5th All-Russian Congress of Soviet Justice Workers]. Ezhenedel’nik sovetskoy yustitsii, 1924, no. 11, pp. 21–23.
15. Regulations on the Supreme Court of the Soviet Union. Resolution of the Presidium of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR Dated November 23, 1923. Library of Legal Documents of the Soviet Union. Available at: http://www.libussr.ru/doc_ussr/ussr_1871.htm (accessed: 20 December 2020) (in Russ.).
16. Stuchka P.I. Voprosy sudebnogo kontrolya. Sodoklad na zasedanii V-go Vserossiyskogo s”ezda deyateley sovetskoy yustitsii [Judicial Control Issues. Supplementary Report at the Meeting of the 5th All-Russian Congress of Soviet Justice Workers]. Ezhenedel’nik sovetskoy yustitsii, 1924, no. 11, p. 24.
17. O proverke i uluchshenii lichnogo sostava narsudey i raboty narsudov. Tsirkulyar Narkomyusta ot 15 aprelya 1924 g. № 52 [On Testing and Improving People’s Judges and the Work of People’s Courts. Circular of the People’s Commissariat for Justice No. 52 Dated April 15, 1924]. Sbornik tsirkulyarov Narkomyusta RSFSR za 1922–1925 gg. (deystvuyushchikh na 15 iyulya 1926 g.) [Collection of Circulars of the People’s Commissariat for Justice of the RSFSR for 1922–1925 (as in Force on July 15, 1926)]. Moscow, 1926, pp. 8–12.
18. Instruktsiya o poryadke proizvodstva reviziy narsudov gubernskimi sudami. Tsirkulyar Narkomyusta ot 9 maya 1924 g. № 68 [Instruction on the Audit Procedure of People’s Courts by Provincial Courts. Circular of the People’s Commissariat for Justice No. 68 Dated May 9, 1924]. Sbornik tsirkulyarov Narkomyusta RSFSR za 1922–1925 gg. (deystvuyushchikh na 15 iyulya 1926 g.) [Collection of Circulars of the People’s Commissariat for Justice of the RSFSR for 1922–1925 (as in Force on July 15, 1926)]. Moscow, 1926, pp. 12–17.
19. Dopolnenie k instruktsii NKYu o poryadke proizvodstva reviziy narsudov gubernskimi i oblastnymi sudami. Tsirkulyar Narkomyusta ot 4 dekabrya 1925 g. № 240 [Supplement to the Instruction of the People’s Commissariat for Justice on the Audit Procedure of People’s Courts by Provincial and Regional Courts. Circular of the People’s Commissariat for Justice No. 240 Dated December 4, 1925]. Sbornik tsirkulyarov Narkomyusta RSFSR za 1922–1925 gg. (deystvuyushchikh na 15 iyulya 1926 g.) [Collection of Circulars of the People’s Commissariat for Justice of the RSFSR for 1922–1925 (as in Force on July 15, 1926)]. Moscow, 1926, p. 18.
20. Polozhenie o sudoustroystve RSFSR. Postanovlenie VTsIK RSFSR ot 11 noyabrya 1922 g. [Regulations on the Court System of the RSFSR. Resolution of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of the RSFSR Dated November 11, 1922]. SU RSFSR, 1922, no. 69. Art. 902.
21. Brandenburgskiy Ya.N. Narodnyy sud RSFSR, ego nuzhdy i ocherednye meropriyatiya dlya nadlezhashchey ego postanovki. Doklad na V-m Vserossiyskom s”ezde deyateley sovetskoy yustitsii [People’s Court of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Its Needs and the Immediate Measures for Its Proper Establishment. Report at the Meeting of the 5th All-Russian Congress of Soviet Justice Workers]. Ezhenedel’nik sovetskoy yustitsii, 1924, no. 11, pp. 19–21.
22. State Archives of the Kursk Region (SAKR). Coll. 325. Inv. 1. Fol. 1112 (in Russ.).
23. Myakishev. Eshche o material’nom polozhenii sudrabotnikov [Expanding on the Economic Conditions of Court Personnel]. Ezhenedel’nik sovetskoy yustitsii, 1924, no. 11, pp. 12–13.
24. SAKR. Coll. R-451. Inv. 1-L. Fol. 55 (in Russ.).
25. State Archives of the Voronezh Region (SAVR). Coll. R-410. Inv. 1. Fol. 45. F. 38 (in Russ.).
26. SAVR. Coll. R-661. Inv. 1. Fol. 46. Ff. 89, 102, 133 (in Russ.).
27. State Archives of the Russian Federation. Coll. A-353. Inv. 3. Fol. 158. F. 15 (in Russ.).
28. Kalinin M.I. Privetstvie V-mu Vserossiyskomu s”ezdu deyateley sovetskoy yustitsii [Welcoming Address to the 5th All-Russian Congress of Soviet Justice Workers]. Ezhenedel’nik sovetskoy yustitsii, 1924, no. 11, pp. 16–18.