Enforcement of the Decree “On the Form of the Trial” of November 5, 1723 by Regional Authorities in Russia in 1725 – early 1740s

Abstract

The article deals with the practice of applying the norms of procedural law in the Russian Empire in the second half of the 1720s — early 1740s. The author drew attention to the decree “On the form of the trial” of November 5, 1723, which, as is traditionally believed in historiography, abolished the investigative forms of legal proceedings in the court, establishing the adversarial nature. The analysis of legislative acts and materials of regional legal proceedings showed that in the 1720s — early 1740s, the search continued to be applied in cases of such offenses as robbery, theft, murder and several other serious crimes. The decree “On the form of the trial” contained important norms establishing the rules of judicial proceedings. In this regard, the law applied both to “courts” for private disputes and more serious legal proceedings related to official crimes, robbery and murder. All petitions initiating legal proceedings had to be drawn up in accordance with the model contained in the decree of November 5, 1723. Despite this, in the judicial practice of regional authorities, deviations from the rules of execution declared by law are often encountered. For example, notebooks with recordings of the testimony of plaintiffs and defendants are rarely found in the materials of legal proceedings. Their responses were written down sequentially, without large gaps.