Legal Customs in the Resolution of Land Disputes among Peasants in the Moscow Governorate (Guberniya) in the Second Half of the 19th and Early 20th Centuries

Based on an analysis of archival records of volost courts, the study examines the role of legal custom in regulating the land relations of peasants in Moscow Governorate following the 1861 Reform. It considers the adjudication of disputes concerning property boundaries, inheritance, leases, and the redistribution of communal land. The author finds that customary law, grounded in the principles of labor participation, prescription by possession, and communal justice, not merely supplemented but frequently supplanted formal legislation. Guided by custom, volost courts protected the rights of long-term possessors, ensured the performance of agreements, and safeguarded labor-based inheritance rights; at the same time, they could serve as bastions of communal traditions. The paper concludes that these legal mechanisms have precedential relevance for contemporary systems of land-dispute resolution, particularly with regard to the recognition of good-faith possession and the pursuit of compromise-based solutions.