Judges of provincial general jurisdiction courts in Western Siberia in the first half of the 19th century: Formal qualitative characteristics

Abstract

The article is aimed at analyzing the results of civil service personnel management in provincial general jurisdiction courts and changes in the panel of judges in Western Siberia in the first half of the 19th century. In the course of the study, the author uses the following methods: analysis and synthesis, classification, descriptive, historical-typological, and historical-genetic methods. The subject of the study is the official lists of judicial establishment. To reach the aim, the author uses a variety of documents for personnel accounting for the period from 1807 to 1851, which makes it possible to assess the nature of changes in the panel of provincial judges and to make conclusions about the development of the pre-reform judicial bureaucracy representatives. The analysis of the official lists shows that in the first half of the 19th century the state policy in Western Siberia ensured maintaining and improving the quality of the personnel of provincial courts. Direct appointments partly compensated the shortage of local qualified officials: according to the lists of 1825, 5 out of 10 provincial judges came from the European part of Russia; in 1850, 7 out of 11. Half of the assessors and legal assistants, i.e. junior and senior members of the judiciary board from the lists of 18071814 began their service being in the army and only 7 out of 18 officials previously gained experience of participating in the administration of justice. However, 7 out of 8 former white-collars had a substantial background in crime proceeding. In the course of the local government system reform in 1822, only legal assistants were left in the provincial courts, which increased the number of position's person specifications. Officials who had demonstrated remarkable career achievements were appointed to the bench, 5 out of 8 had previous experience of participating in the administration of justice. In the first quarter of the 19th century, civil servants whose outstanding achievements served as a guarantee of the quality of justice were selected for the positions of chairmen of provincial courts; the significance of their previous experience in the field of justice was irrelevant. In the second quarter of the 19th century, the evolution of the judiciary panel accelerated. In the lists of 1850, only 1 out of 11 judges was a former military man with 15 years' civil service experience. All officials had official awards and commendations. The level of judges' general education in the second quarter of the 19th century objectively grew. Three officials gained experience in administering justice before being appointed to the provincial court. However, the terms of participating in the administration of justice were different: for deputies and presidents of provincial courts it was 2 and 8 years, for legal assistants from 4 to 6.5, in 4 cases more than 14 years and in 2 cases more than 21 years. Those born into families of nobles, civil servants and clergy predominated among provincial judges, making up more than 80% of the lists of 1807-1825 and 1850-1851. The property status of the majority of provincial judges depended on their wage rate.