Prosecutor’s Legal Standing at Pre-Trial Stages of the Criminal Proceedings of the Russian Empire before the Judicial Reform of 1864

To understand the essence of transformations in the Prosecutor’s Office of the Russian Empire that took place as a result of the Judicial Reform of 1864, it is necessary to clarify the legal situation and the actual role of the Prosecutor’s Office during the pre-reform period. In this regard, the paper analyzes functions of the Prosecutor’s Office that were assigned to the Prosecutor’s Office before the Judicial Reform. The author explains relationships between prosecutors and attorneys-scriveners and the provincial administration and shows their actual dependence (as well as legal dependance for an attorney-scrivener) upon the administration. The author investigates the attempts of the Ministry of Justice at the legislative level to provide for the independence of attorneys-scriveners from governors and provincial boards with their subordination only to provincial prosecutors. The paper elucidates the content of the supervisory function of the prosecutor’s office that was the main function of the Prosecutor’s Office. Activities of the Prosecutor’s Office in the field of criminal procedure constituted an insignificant part of all its activities. At the same time, the powers of the prosecutor in the criminal process were limited. The study shows that at the pre-trial stages of the criminal procedure, prosecutors and solicitors were in charge of crime detection, supervision over investigation and care of detainees. The prosecution function of the prosecutor’s office was not completed and involved initiating criminal prosecution before the provincial administration. The criminal investigation function of the Prosecutor’s Office was limited. To supervise investigation, the Prosecutor’s Office was given certain powers that were carried out in parallel with the supervisory powers of the governors. Moreover, the prosecutor’s supervision was of secondary importance compared to the supervision exercised by governors, who plaid the main leadership and supervisory role in the criminal process. It is shown that during the pre-reform period, due to the large number of general supervisory duties, the supervision over criminal investigation was formal and unsatisfactory.

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