The Judicial Reform of 1864 and the Procuracy in Russia

In post-Soviet Russia, when the place and the role of the procurator’s office in the system of state power in Russia is once again the subject of controversy, it is worthwhile examining the origins of this institution. In particular, the experience of the Judicial Reform of 1864 may provide today’s statesmen with answers to some of the questions under dispute. In the present debate, in both legal scholarship and government circles, there are two concepts of procuracy supervision: one conservative and the other liberal in orientation. The first concept is reflected in the Law on the Procuracy of 1992; the second in the “Conception of Judicial Reform,” approved in 1991 by the Russian Supreme Soviet, and in the Russian constitution of 1993. The conservatives consider that the role and the functions of the procurator’s office in the “law-based state” should remain virtually unchanged from their Soviet form and include the supervision of legality in public life. The liberals, who prevail in the Presidential administration, argue that in the law-based state the role of the procurator’s office should be limited to handling criminal prosecutions. ¹