Magistrate (Russia)

In the judiciary of Russia an office of the magistrate or justice of the peace (мировой судья), is a judge that handles minor civil and criminal cases.

The concept of magistrates' courts was introduced in Russian Empire in 1864 as part of the judicial reform of Alexander II.

It was replaced by other offices after the Russian Revolution but reintroduced formally in Russia by the 1996 Constitutional Law on the Judicial System.

[1] The regulations in the Russian Empire provided for establishment of local courts with justices of the peace to deal with minor offences, who could not impose sentence more than one year of imprisonment.

They were individually elected from the ranks of local self-government bodies, zemstvos in the rural areas and municipal dumas in the towns.

From there, another appeal could be made on points of law or disputed procedure to the Governing Senate, which could send the case back for a retrial by an assize of the peace in another district.