Wednesday, November 8, 2017

Hushchynski on the Bar and the Russian Annexation of Belarus

We’re assuming your Belarusian is no better than ours; still we want to note the posting (in that language) of Legislative Support for the Bar on the Territory of Belarus at the End of the 18th – the First Third of the 19th Century, by Ihar Hushchynski, Belarusian State Pedagogical University.  Here is the English abstract:
At the end of the 18th century the territory of Belarus was annexed by the Russian Empire, but local judicial system and court proceedings remained different from Russian domestic provinces until 1840. Participation of professional advocates in judicial proceeding was one of main features. The activities of the bar of Western provinces of the Russian Empire was based on the rules of the Statute of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania of 1588 and Sejm constitutions of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, which remained in force. At the end of the 18th – the first third of the 19th century, this legislative base was complemented and to some extent adjusted by a number of laws issued by Russian Government. This adapted the activities of the bar of the Western provinces to the new administrative and judicial order, which combined local law traditions with Russian governance practices.