Fairness, Justice, and Legitimacy: Experiences of People's Judges in South Russia

Which criteria do Russians use to evaluate the fairness of their judges, and how does perceived fairness of actual trials influence general beliefs about Russian courts? Lay assessors at courts in South Russia were asked about their experience serving on mixed courts. The justice of the verdicts rendered and the fairness of judges partly explain the respondents’ view of national courts. According to the results, the respondents are also using similar criteria for fairness as Americans or Germans. The social and psychological group effects in a Russian court of lay assessors exhibit a striking similarity to other Western tribunals.     

Church,State, and Society in the East

The articles in this issue of Russian Politics and Law examine the role of religion in state-society relations in Russia, with a specific focus on the Russian Orthodox Church. They highlight the role of the Church in modern Russian society and its relationship with the state, showing that as the relationship between Church and state has become closer, hopes that Patriarch Kirill would rejuvenate the Church have proved largely unfounded.     

Russia and the illicit arms trade

Since the disintegration of the Soviet militaryindustrial complex, the prospect of conventional armsand nuclear, chemical and biological weapons of massdestruction and their ingredients finding their wayfrom Russia into other hands has become a matter ofconcern for both the Russian Federation and theinternational community. This article explores thescale, forms and consequences of illicit transfers ofconventional arms and weapons of mass destruction andtheir ingredients from the Russian Federation into theinternational community. Russian military and securityforces seem to have been the main sources of a widerange of illicit conventional arms, whether as aconsequence of the participation of Russian armedforces in regional conflicts or as a consequence ofthe sale of equipment by corrupt officers, the covertcommercial export by Russian arms manufacturers beinglargely confined to small arms and light weapons. Theillegal diversion of nuclear, chemical and biologicalmaterials from the Russian Federation seems to havebeen less than was at one time feared but Westernco-operation with the Russian Federation to reinforceexisting nonproliferation regimes remains a highpriority.     

Inviolability of diplomatic archives: a comparative analysis,Australia and Malaysia

In 2017, the Russian Embassy in Washington DC protested that officials had carried away Russian diplomatic archives from their San Francisco Consulate-General, without supervision of Russian diplomats. The objective of this article is to analyze critically the meaning of the legal doctrine of the inviolability of diplomatic archives. The research question is what distinguishes documents in the form of a diplomatic archives from a solely organic arrangement. The Cardinal Rule of Provenance, applied to diplomatic archives, transforms the status of the documents so that diplomats have a sole right to act on them, so to make reasoned judgments.     

Less Democracy, More Courts: A Puzzle of Judicial Review in Russia

This article explores why, throughout the 1990s, some Russian regions created their own constitutional courts and others did not. Contrary to current theories that assert that politicians create a strong and independent judiciary to protect them from the tyranny of election-winners in the context of political uncertainty, my analysis finds that constitutional courts emerged only in those regions where governors virtually guaranteed their re-election by consolidating their political power vis-à-vis federal and local governments. The article argues that both federal and regional politicians used the process of creating subnational constitutional courts to legitimize their federalism and judicial reforms. The changes in the balance of power between those governors, who aspired to have their own judicial system, and the federal government that insisted on a single federal judicial system, determined the variation in the process of court-building across Russian regions.     

Distribution of HLA DQA1, LDLR,GYPA, HBGG,D7S8, and GC locus alleles in the population of Russia

The distribution of chromosome locus alleles HLA DQA1, LDLR, GYPA, HBGG, D7S8, and GC of PolyMarker molecular genetic individualizing system was studied for the first time in a representative "mean statistical" sampling of Russian population. Typing of these locuses was carried out in 391 donors (no relatives) from 63 regions of the Russian Federation. The incidence of genotypes of all 6 locuses corresponded to the expected values, estimated on the basis of Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium hypothesis. This allows us to use the frequency characteristics of HLA DQA1 locus and the PolyMarker locuses determined in our study as the reference parameters for standard probability estimations in DNA identification. The frequencies of PolyMarker locuses alleles in the Russian sampling (in comparison with other ethnic groups) coincided best of all for allele frequencies in Europeoids living in the USA. For expert evaluation of the efficiency of using these locuses as molecular genetic markers with identification purposes, the discrimination potential was estimated separately for each locus and combinations thereof. HLA DQA1 locus was the most informative of the studied 6 locuses. The main population characteristics of this locus (probability of accidental coincidence, potential of discrimination--PD, polymorphism coefficient--PIC, exclusion potential--Pe, and mean value of parentage index--PI) were estimated for the population of Russia. The frequency distribution of alleles of the studied panel of locuses in the mean statistical Russian population obtained in our study can be used in molecular genetic personality identification and in anthropological studies.     

The Russian Federation Needs a New Criminal Code

The 1996 Criminal Code of the Russian Federation [CC RF] is very incomplete, as is particularly evident in many of its statutes. For instance, Article 2, Part 1, in defining the purpose of the code, cites the social values safeguarded by criminal law in a sequence corresponding to their relative importance in the Constitution of the Russian Federation: human rights and freedoms, property, public order, public safety, the environment, and the constitutional order of the Russian Federation.     

Patrilines,surnames, and family identity:

The Imperial decrees emancipating the serfs of the Russian Baltic provinces (1816–1820) included the requirement that serfs, who would now become free peasants and obtain legal standing, have both a first name and a surname, the latter of their own choosing. The article examines the process through which Baltic peasants obtained surnames and analyzes the choices they made. In the Pinkenhof estate, in the province of Livland, emancipated serfs most often chose surnames that reflected their place of residence, but also frequently chose names from the natural world, occupations, and other similar sources. The acquisition of surnames helped to consolidate family and lineage identity, which had been difficult in the pre-emancipation perion when individuals bore only a first name plus the name of the place in which they were currently residing, the latter changing as they moved.     

俄国现代主义小说的流变

俄国现代主义小说随着俄国现代主义文学思潮兴起于白银时代,成果显著,甚至像高尔基这样的现实主义作家的某些作品也具有现代主义因素.20世纪30至50年代初,现代主义小说的发展受到阻遏,但仍有一些作家写出了现代主义杰作.从60年代末期起,现代主义小说再度出现,同时后现代主义小说也接踵而来,成为现代主义小说在上世纪晚期俄罗斯文学中的变体.     

关于土地归属的初步讨论——以大陆法系传统、罗马法和俄罗斯法为视角

在以罗马法为基础的大陆法系传统中,关于土地归属的法律规定对俄罗斯法产生了一定的影响。分析在罗马法以及中世纪法中土地归属法律规定的复杂性,并且就资产阶级法典化过程中,通过个人所有权和他物权体系的构建,对土地归属问题复杂性的简化需要加以说明。此外,大陆法系传统概念在苏联时期俄罗斯法中所遭受的阻力,而所有权结构在俄罗斯联邦新民法典和土地法典中的扩张也值得重视。     

Mapping the career preferences of Russian law graduates

Interest in studying law has grown dramatically in Russia in the post-Soviet era. We know little about how law graduates distribute themselves among the available legal specialties. This paper begins to fill that gap by analyzing the results of an original survey of 2016 Russian law graduates. The sample is divided between full-time and correspondence students. Respondents were offered ten possible career paths, as well as options for uncertainty and plans to pursue non-law-related jobs. The results show an intriguing distribution and highlight the influence of respondents’ educational choices and their attitudes towards the Russian legal system in their career choices.     

European Writers on Their Meetings with Stalin

The Constitution of the Russian Federation states that citizens are to exercise their rights of local self-government by means of referendums, elections, and other forms of direct expression of their will through electoral and other local self-government bodies. The Law on General Principles of Organization of Local Self-Government in the Russian Federation of 28 August 1995, adopted as an extension of constitutional norms, defines the following: the role of local self-government in establishing democracy; the legal, economic, and financial foundations of local self-government; and the general principles of its organization.     

Patrilines,surnames, and family identity:: A Case Study From the Russian Baltic Provinces in the Nineteenth Century

The Imperial decrees emancipating the serfs of the Russian Baltic provinces (1816–1820) included the requirement that serfs, who would now become free peasants and obtain legal standing, have both a first name and a surname, the latter of their own choosing. The article examines the process through which Baltic peasants obtained surnames and analyzes the choices they made. In the Pinkenhof estate, in the province of Livland, emancipated serfs most often chose surnames that reflected their place of residence, but also frequently chose names from the natural world, occupations, and other similar sources. The acquisition of surnames helped to consolidate family and lineage identity, which had been difficult in the pre-emancipation perion when individuals bore only a first name plus the name of the place in which they were currently residing, the latter changing as they moved.     

Urban infant mortality and religion at the end of the nineteenth and in the early twentieth century: the case of Ekaterinburg,Russia

Modern demographers analyse regional and other infant mortality differentials as important factors behind the current life expectancy of Russian citizens. Historically, however, the Russian Empire is simply displayed as one block with high infant mortality rates. Also with respect to cultural background factors, Russia is often perceived as religiously homogeneous with the Orthodox Church dominating the country. In reality, Russia has a long history of coexisting religious traditions. This includes both provinces with a majority of Catholics, Muslims, Buddhists or shamanistic populations as well as territories characterized by religious diversity and significant minority religions. Our project studies minority religious groups in the Urals, a province by the Ural Mountains stretching into Asia. While no territory can claim to be truly representative of this mega-country, we believe that this centrally located province is well suited to show some of the Russian variety, including differential infant mortality among the followers of minority religions, which is the topic of this article. We employ church record microdata to study Catholics, Jews and Old Believers in the main metal-producing city of Ekaterinburg.     

Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation State Duma: Transcript of Session on April 13, 2012

Russian minister of internal affairs Rashid Nurgaliyev fends off criticism of members of the Russian Parliament and vows to continue to police reform.     

The emergence of the rule of law in Russia

This paper challenges an empirical claim about the commercial courts (arbitrazhnye sudy) made by Kathryn Hendley and her co-authors in their paper “Law, Relationships and Private Enforcement: Transactional Strategies of Russian Enterprise” in Vol. 52, No. 4, Europe-Asia Studies in 2000. Basing their case on a quantitative survey of Russian firms, they conclude that economic actors in the 1990s relied on ‘the law and legal institutions’ because the commercial courts were relatively effective. In order to test this claim about the link between individual behaviour and the judiciary, I ask: What type of belief about corruption was held by Russian economic actors who trusted the commercial courts for conflict resolution at the end of the 1990s? The data set is drawn from a survey of 227 Russian firms made in 1997. I use self-reported data on economic actors’ preference for using or not using the commercial court (in case of a hypothetical conflict about a considerable amount of money) as a proxy for trust. A binary logistic regression model shows that economic actors who accepted corruption as a fact of life at the time of market entry were three times more likely to trust the commercial courts for conflict resolution than economic actors who rejected corruption. This finding contradicts any reasonable definition of the rule of law and suggests that the neo-liberal reformers should have paid more attention to the content – rather than merely to the speed – of reform.     

The Adaptation of Migrants in Russia

This issue of Russian Politics and Law addresses the topic of migration from the point of view of the host country, examining the tensions inherent in accepting large numbers of migrants, and the government policies aimed at immigrant integration at both the national and local levels. The articles in this issue demonstrate that government efforts to push immigrants to integrate into their host communities by learning the Russian language, abandoning traditional customs, and encouraging their children to assimilate have had limited success.     

Code of Administrative Court Proceedings of the Russian Federation of March 8, 2015 No. 21-FZ (as amended on July 3, 2016)

This issue contains the English-language translation of articles 208–365 (chapters 21–39) of the Code of Administrative Court Proceedings of the Russian Federation as amended on July 3, 2016.     

Selected legal aspects concerning the regulation of trusts and private foundations in the Russian federation

The authors are the first contributors from the Russian Federationand introduce the reader to Russian legal concepts which incorporatethe idea of the Anglo-Saxon trust as well as the private foundationand discuss how foreign trusts and foundations are perceivedby the Russian legislator.     

Baptism in rural Russia: Village women speak of their children and their way of life

The disintegration of the Soviet Union made possible the collection of oral history testimony from Russian villagers, with the objective of recording firsthand the experiences of the women who participated in (and, indeed, themselves carried through) the demographic transition in Russia. Informants understood christening as an important aspect of child care and took pride in having held to these practices despite the efforts of the Communist Party/State to eradicate institutionalized religion in the Soviet Union. Baptism as the basic ritual of incorporation was common in Russian villages right through the Soviet era. Despite the assaults of the 1930s and beyond that caused the loss of 90 percent of their places of worship and clergy and despite the risks to their own livelihood and safety, peasants contrived to provide their children, through baptism, with protection againts the spiritual and temporal dangers of this life and to offer them the hope of salvation in the next. Women found ways in these communities to maintain social bonds and to defend familial arenas over which they still had some control.