Organizational and legal foundations for the functioning of the Russian Gendarme Corps in the 19th – early 20th centuries

A necessary condition for ensuring stable internal political development of the country is the presence in the state apparatus of effective mechanisms to combat the factors that generate social tension in society. To this end, a constant search is being made for new ways and methods of preventing political crime, which poses the greatest danger to the regime of government operating in one or another historical period. This makes it necessary to study the historical experience of legal regulation of the activities of specialized public authorities engaged in combating various forms of opposition to the current government of political groups and individuals. Particular relevance is the analysis of the organizational and legal mechanism of the functioning of the political police of Russia in the 19th – early 20th centuries (the period of activation of oppositional socio-political movements). The purpose of this study is to analyze the organizational and legal foundations of the functioning of the Russian Gendarme Corps as the highest body of political police in the country in the 19th – early 20th centuries. In the course of work, historical, chronological, logical methods are used, as well as the method of synthesis and analysis, systematization and generalization. We consider the main normative legal acts ensuring the functioning of the system of gendarmerie institutions of the country (for example, the Regulations on the Gendarmes Corps of April 28, 1827, the Regulations on the Gendarmes Corps of September 9, 1867, the Rules on the Procedure for the ranks of the Gendarmes Corps to investigate crimes of May 19, 1871, and some others). The conclusion is made about the effectiveness of work of gendarmerie institutions in Russia during the study period.