Irkutsk Judicial Chamber in the Judicial System of the Russian Empire: Historical and Legal Aspect

The article analyzes the features of the status, personnel and procedural activities of the Irkutsk Judicial Chamber in the judicial system of the Russian Empire in the late XIX – early XX centuries. The Irkutsk Judicial Chamber was endowed with a large number of functions by legislation. The author of the article suggests a classification of these functions, dividing them into two groups depending on the content: 1) judicial and 2) judicial and security measures. The author considers the judicial functions of the Judicial Chamber to be: 1) the function of the court of first instance in a number of the most significant criminal cases of state, official and other crimes; 2) the function of the court of appeal to review criminal verdicts issued by subordinate district courts that have not entered into force; 3) the function of the court of appeal to review decisions of subordinate district courts in civil cases that have not entered into force; 4) the function of the Court of Cassation to review the decisions of subordinate district courts issued by them as world congresses. The judicial and security functions of the Judicial Chamber are: 1) the function of bringing to disciplinary responsibility controlled employees of the judicial department; 2) the function of selecting individual candidates for positions in the judicial department and training the personnel reserve; 3) the function of monitoring the activities of the board of attorneys; 4) the function of monitoring the activities of bailiffs, etc. Due to its legal status in the judicial system of the state, the Irkutsk Judicial Chamber, like other judicial chambers of the country, was a kind of center for the development and implementation of judicial policy within its vast judicial district. The author comes to the conclusion that the procedural activities of the Irkutsk Judicial Chamber for the consideration of criminal and civil cases were marked by the high quality of justice. As a rule, the absolute majority of the Chamber’s judicial decisions were upheld by the Senate and very rarely overturned or amended.