ON THE ROLE OF PROSECUTORS AND SOLICITORS IN THE FIELD OF CRIMINAL PROSECUTION BY THE RUSSIAN LEGISLATION OF THE END OF THE 18th CENTURY

Abstract

To date, the legal status of the prosecutor in criminal proceedings under domestic law at the end of the 18th century has not been sufficiently studied in the legal literature. The prevailing opinion that before the judicial reform of 1864 the Russian prosecutor was only a ‘formal supervisor’ for observing the rule of law in all areas, including criminal law, needs to be rethought. The judicial and legal reforms of Empress Catherine II not only led to the building of a prosecutor’s office and the development of a local provincial prosecutor’s office, but also marked a radical change in the role of the prosecutor and his newly-appointed assistants – solicitors in the field of criminal prosecution of persons having committed a crime. For the first time, the function of criminal prosecution is crystallized as an independent function of the prosecutor's office for supervision of the enforcement of laws, and an institute of official accusation appears in the legal system of the Russian Empire, in which the prosecutor’s office is given the role of not only law enforcers, but also ‘criminal prosecutors’ steps. As a result, criminal and state lawyers acting in provinces under the procedural leadership of prosecutors become prototypes of state prosecutors conducting ex officio prosecutions. An in-depth study of the experience of Catherine’s transformations makes it possible to more objectively assess the evolutionary process of the formation of the role of the prosecutor in criminal proceedings and to reveal the laws that caused it. The article makes an attempt not only to outline the terms of reference of officials of the prosecutor's office related to the initiation and conduct of public criminal prosecution at both the Russian and regional levels, but also with the help of archival sources to assess the effectiveness of their practical implementation.

Keywords: public prosecutor’s authorities; solicitor's authorities; public prosecution of the Russian Empire; the role of the prosecutor in criminal proceedings; Russian legislation of the 18th century; criminal prosecution.

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Author

Georgiy K. Zhukov – Deputy Head of the Criminal Division, Public Prosecutor of Novgorod Region, Veliky Novgorod, Russia; External Doctoral Candidate, Saint Petersburg Law Institute (branch) of the Procuracy University of the Russian Federation, Saint Petersburg, Russia. E-mail: Hagen5@yandex.ru.

For citation:
Zhukov G.K. On the Role of Prosecutors and Solicitors in the Field of Criminal Prosecution by the Russian Legislation of the End of the 18th Century // BENEFICIUM. 2020. No. 2 (35). pp. 77-86. (In Russ.). DOI: http://doi.org/10.34680/BENEFICIUM.2020.2(35).77-86.