Judicial Reforms in Russia: 1864 to 2014

Abstract

In 2014 we celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Judicial Reform in Russia. The 1860s are known as a time of major reforms in various spheres of life, one of them being the Judicial Reform adopted in 1864. Before 1864 civil procedure was considered to be the classical form of inquisitorial justice1 with active judges and passive parties. Inquisitorial procedure was a written process conducted in secret with no legal representatives in court, and with formal evaluation of evidence (otsenka dokazatel’stv). Instead of an inquisitorial procedure the Judicial Reform introduced an adversarial system with active parties and more or less passive judges, an open, oral (public) process, legal representatives, and free evaluation of evidence. So, for Russian procedure it was a revolution as it happened in other countries of Europe, which turned away from an inquisitorial to an adversarial system of justice.