Legal status of judicial institutions in the Kuban region in the post-reform period (1869–1920): based on the law enforcement practice materials

On the basis of normative legal acts and archival materials, the features of the genesis of the judicial system in the Kuban region in the post-reform period are investigated. The socio-economic reasons explaining why the Judicial Statutes of 1864 were introduced in the region under consideration somewhat later than in the central provinces of the Russian Empire are revealed. With the help of historical-legal, comparative-legal, historical-archival and statistical methods of scientific cognition, the distinctive features of the formation of the post-reform judicial system in the Kuban region are identified. In particular, it is shown that, despite the all-religious principle of the work of judicial institutions, originally provided for in the relevant legislation of 1864, the features of class justice still continued to be preserved in the Kuban. The materials of judicial practice demonstrating the real specifics of criminal and civil proceedings in the Kuban region in the second half of the 19th century are analyzed. It is concluded that the current system of judicial system and judicial proceedings in the Kuban was a compilation of state and customary legal regulation. Along with the All-Russian legislation, it was based both on the religious norms of the mountain population and on Cossack customs, which were used in resolving civil disputes in the village courts.