Changes in the Staff of the Imperial Justice of the Peace in the Baltic Region, 1889—1913: Russification vs Indigenization, Elitism vs Democratization
Igor I. Verniaev, Candidate of Historical Sciences, Associate Professor
Saint Petersburg University, St Petersburg, Russia, i.verniaev@spbu.ru, https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1540-381X
Abstract
The article examines the dynamics of the personnel of the Imperial Justice of the Peace in the Baltic region of the Russian Empire, its ethno-confessional, educational characteristics. The level of representation of national groups in Justice of the Peace and the wider judicial and legal community (court offices, notaries, advocacy, etc.) is being studied. Professional biographies of judges are being researched. The question is raised about their worldview and identity, about the extent to which the values and interests of the ethnic community, professional corporation, imperial power in the region, etc. were important to them. It is concluded that personnel Russification was combined with German elite-estate influence and gradual Latvian and Estonian indigenization of the institutions of imperial justice — starting from the lower, middle and peripheral official positions. The post-reform institutions, on the one hand, inherited the regional ethno-estate division, on the other hand, opened the way for overcoming it. The formation of a professional state bureaucracy and the development of education created wider opportunities for representatives of previously non-elite groups for career advancement. The study relies on a variety of sources: departmental lists, personal files, data from ministerial audits, memoirs, and periodicals.
Keywords
Russian Empire, Baltic region, judicial reform, Justice of the Peace, personnel, Russification, indigenization, ethno-confessional diversity.
Acknowledgments:The study was financially supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research within the framework of scientific project No. 20-09-00353.
For citation:
Verniaev I. I. Changes in the Staff of the Imperial Justice of the Peace in the Baltic Region, 1889—1913: Russification vs Indigenization, Elitism vs Democratization. Vestnik of Orenburg State Pedagogical University. Electronic Scientific Journal, 2023, no. 1 (45), pp. 61—93. DOI: https://doi.org/10.32516/2303-9922.2023.45.5.
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