The Institution of Advocacy in the Belarusian-Lithuanian Provinces of the Russian Empire (1772–1840)

Introducion. The purpose of this study is to reveal the main aspects of the advocacy institution functioning in the Belarusian-Lithuanian provinces in 1772–1840. The investigation will make it possible to eliminate appropriate gaps in historiography and provide to take a broader view on the judicial and legal system of the Russian Empire at the time at all. Methods and Materials. The study is based on fundamental theoretical and methodological principles: historicism, objectivity, systemic and value approaches. Analysis. After the territory of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania had become part of the Russian Empire, local regulations in civil proceedings were preserved here. In this regard, lawyers took part in civil trials. This was a distinctive feature of the local judicial system in comparison with the general imperial one. The institution of advocacy was abolished in Belarusian-Lithuanian provinces together with implementation of the Russian model of the judiciary and proceedings here (in 1831 – in Vitebsk and Mogilev provinces, in 1840 – in the Minsk, Grodno and Wilno provinces). Results. The activity of lawyers was regulated by the norms of the Statute of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania of 1588, the orders of the Seimas of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, also by several laws which were issued by the Russian government. The legal profession in the Belarusian-Lithuanian provinces was quite highly paid and prestigious in public perception. Though the Russian authorities’ opinion on the advocacy was generally negative.