Judicial reform of Alexander II

The main results were the introduction of a unified judicial system instead of a cumbersome set of estates of the realm courts, and fundamental changes in criminal trials.

The latter included the establishment of the principle of equality of the parties involved, the introduction of public hearings, the jury trial, and a professional advocate that had never existed in Russia.

Also, the reform was hindered by extrajudicial punishment, introduced on a widespread scale during the reigns of his successors – Alexander III and Nicholas II.

The court system of Imperial Russia had remained intact since the reign of Catherine II.

A judge had to meet certain requirements, which included a length of service, an immaculate reputation, and a property qualification.

The law provided that different cases depending on the gravity of the offence and on the difficulty of investigation were heard by different boards of judges.

The introduction of representatives of the estates, who enjoyed the same rights as judges, was heavily criticized as inconsistent with unification of court system.

Two examples of such critics can be seen in Leo Tolstoy's Resurrection and Fyodor Dostoyevsky's The Brothers Karamazov.

In 1878, the revolutionary Vera Zasulich failed to assassinate St. Petersburg Governor-General Fyodor Trepov, who had ordered a political prisoner to be flogged.

It was convened if a serious crime was committed by highest officials or for an assassination attempt on the tsar or his relatives.

The Regulations provided for establishment of local courts with justices of the peace, who were supposed to deal with minor offences and could not impose a sentence over one year of imprisonment.

The sentence rendered by an upper rural court had to be supervised either by the justice of the peace or (if none) by local authorities.

The judicial reform instituted the modern criminal trial based on the principle of equality of the parties.

The aim of the bar (Russian: Корпорация присяжных поверенных; barrister: присяжный поверенный) was to guarantee that each defendant would have access to qualified legal assistance.

The bar was an independent corporation which had its own administration in each guberniya (Council of Barristers – Совет присяжных поверенных), which dealt with various organizational matters, imposed various disciplinary penalties on its members (expulsion was common).

The new regulations enumerated the requirements for barristers, and the association could refuse entry into the bar without reason.