Customary law and public order support between the 18th and the early 20th centuries (on materials of the Olonets province)

The article reviews the problems of the customary law functioning in the northern village. Popular ideas about legality and justice were combined with the regular application of Russian laws significantly complementing them. The appearance and the beginning of the active activity in the villages of the Olonets province of the professional police gradually, though not radically, changed the situation. The effect of the norms of state law became more and more stable, and the time-honored peasant legal traditions were a thing of the past. At the same time the formation of personnel and the definition of the main activities of rural police occurred under the significant impact of customary law.