The influence of the Bakhmut district council on the formation of judicial institutions of the Donbass in the 19th- early 20th centuries

The studying of the influence on funding, the election of judges and the activities of the lower parts of the judicial system is based on the materials of the Bakhmut Zemstvo and the Bakhmut City Council. The Volost Courts, formed by rural communities, considered minor offenses, minor punishable acts which were fined or were appointed by several days arrests, flogging punishment or community service. The jurisdiction of the Magistrates' Courts covered the economic, property disputes up to 1000 rubles and minor criminal offenses. The chiefs of police, the forensic investigators and bailiffs functioned under the Magistrates' Courts jurisdiction. The Magistrates’ Court judges were elected for three years term by county Zemstvo assemblies from among persons with relatively high property requirement (large landed property, bank capital, high trading or industrial income). The aristocratic landowners, retired military, officials were elected as judges. The Magistrates’ Court was in session not less than four times a year in the district city, had a staff of 3-4 permanent and honorable judges, attendants, chancery, clerks, archive. The budget of the Bakhmut County rural council provided annually funds for the work of the Magistrates’ Court ? the high salaries for judges, bailiffs, court officials, moving, building maintenance, correspondence, postage costs. The Magistrate's Court held Congresses for the consideration of appeals. The Court judges had no special law degree; they were guided by the rules of civil and criminal law of Russia. There was a dispute about the location of the District Magistrate’s Court between Izium, Lugansk and Bakhmut in the early 20th century. The Bahmut city head, V.I. Pershin, and the County rural council had managed to prove to the government that due to the geographical location in the center of the industrial Donbass and 2 lines of the railway the District Magistrate's Court should be located in Bakhmut, where it set on sessions since 1912. The Magistrate's Court was for all estates by its nature. The jury and attorneys-lawyers took part in the Court’s hearings.