“I want - i judge, i want - no!": On the problem of drunkenness at the volost court in the 1860-1880s

Abstract

© 2020, Rossiiskaya Akademiya Nauk, Institut Istorii (Russian Academy of Sciences, Institute of General Hist. All rights reserved. The article presents the results of an analysis of peasant complaints about decisions of volost courts in the Shadrinsky and Irbitsky districts of the Perm province at the end of the 19th century. From 10% to 50% of all examined applications concerned “inebriety” of volost judges. Despite this, their decisions were not subjected to appeal. Thus, the authorities tried to shift all responsibility for the announced sentences to the peasant community, which itself chose people prone to alcoholism as judges.