Historical and Legal Development of Lay Justice in Mordovia Territory From the Second Half of the 19th to the Early 20th Century

The article reviews special aspects of historical and legal development of lay justice in Mordovia Territory from the second half of the 19th to the early 20th century. The paper describes the specific character of the institution of proceedings before justices of the peace, its structure, arrangement system, legislative support, staffing, content of specific cases, cooperation with government authorities outside of metropolitan areas. In describing the essence of lay justice, the article pays attention to staffing, as justices of the peace were, as a rule, representatives of the most famous and high-born noble families including Russian writer, opinion columnist, active state councilor, landlord I.V. Selivanov, guard captain P.A. Durnovo, professor of history of Russian law, active member of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences, senator, privy councilor N.V. Kalachev, active state councilor V.N. Glebov. The form of the Russian regional lay justice model in the pre-revolutionary and subsequent periods of its development had a great impact on the contemporary state of the judicial system.