Training of Lawyers for the Far Eastern Non-Bolshevik Bodies of Military Justice (1917–1922)

Abstract

The subject of the article is the professional training of military lawyers in Russia. The authors examine and compare in detail the process of the formation of military legal education in the Russian Far East during the Civil War and the existence of the Far Eastern Republic. The choice of the chronological framework is due to the transformation of special legal education in the military justice authorities and is limited to the entry of the territory of the Russian Far East into the RSFSR, with the restructuring of all state bodies, including the structure of military justice. The object of the research is the training of specialists for military justice bodies in the period from 1917 to 1922. The study uses a regional approach, as well as the concept of historical experience through the prism of which conclusions are drawn about the historical features of legal education in the Far Eastern region. Attention is drawn to the fact that during the period of social transformations in the region, it was possible to preserve, albeit in a modified form, the system of special legal training for employees of military justice bodies. A comprehensive study of the process of training military lawyers allows us to highlight not only the positive aspects, but also to assess the scale of the negative consequences. The authors introduced into the scientific circulation the materials of regional archives, revealing the process of forming a system of transferring legal knowledge to military investigators, prosecutors and judges.