The Sun.
London, England, 1862-11-13 00:00:00

THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE.

The fact that Count Panin, the Russian Minister
of Justice, has been not " allowed to retire on ac-
count of ill health," but simply dismissed, has much
significance when taken in connexion with the op-
position he is known to have recently made to the
Emperor's projected law reforms. These reforms
are of such immense importance that, if they had
not been preceded in the same reign by the emanci-
pation of 23,000,000 serfs, they would have attracted
the attention of all Europe. When Alexander 11.
came to the throne the whole scheme of Govern-
ment in Russia seemed based on three great evils
—serfdom, the knout, and a system of administra-
tion which, from its very completeness, enabled
hungry and ill paid functionaries to feed upon the
people.
Every one knows that serfdom has been put an
end to, though the difficult question of the future
relations between peasants and proprietors is by no
means settled. As to the "knout"—viewing it as
the general symbol of stick-law, for the instrument
called the knout has long fallen into disuse—all
peasants who performed certain public duties, such
as those of elder of the commune, village justice,
&c., were exempted from corporal punishment by
the Act of Emancipation ; and it is said that the
Emperor has now determined to abolish that mode
of correction altogether—indeed, that he has already
signed an order to that effect, and that it was in
reference to its promulgation that Count Panin made
the objections which have at last led to his compul-
sory retirement from the Ministry of Justice.
For the future all judges are to be irremovable,
and completely independent of the Administration ;
all criminal cases of importance are to be tried by
jury ; all judicial proceedings are to take place in
public, and the press is to possess the right of re•
porting and commenting upon them ; finally, there
is an end to the system by means of which a rich
plaintiff or defendant could, to the ruin of a poor
opponent, carry an action from court to court till
it reached the Senate, and from the Senate to
the Council of the Empire, where, in law proceed-
ings, the voice of the Minister of Justice was gene-
rally all-powerful.
Without wishing to detract from the merit of the
Sovereign to whom the honour of introducing these
beneficial changes justly belongs, we may at the
same time remark that there is scarcely one that
was not recommended to his Majesty's attention
last winter by the Assemblies of the Nobility.
Toula urged the necessity of separating judicial
from administrative functions ; Moscow asked
plainly and directly for the establishment of trial by
jury ; St. Petersburg, without asking for anything,
discussed in a very suggestive manner the advan-
tages of an independent, irremovable, and unpaid
=gist' acy, the substitution of spoken for written
evidence, the extent to which barristers and judges
ought to be held responsible to the public for their
arguments and decisions, and a number of other
abstract legal propositions which it did not seem
very probable at that time would soon take the form
of concrete laws. The fact that the reforms now
authorised had already been earnestly solicited is
only a reason for concluding that they will be pro-
ductive of more real good than could have been ex-
pected from them, had not the classes whom they
chiefly affect already given proofs of their ability
to appreciate them.

Under the new judicial system, town and country
magistrates, or justices of the peace, paid and. un-
paid, are to be elected from among the landed pro-
prietors by all classes of the population. The paid
magistrates receive a fixed stipend together with
their travelling and office expenses, including the
salary of a clerk. The unpaid receive no emolu-
ments of any kind, but are otherwise on an exact
equality with the paid magistrates, for whom
they act as substitutes in case of absence or
ness.

They may also perform the functions of
stipendiary magistrates whenever complainant
and defendant both desire it; and magistrates
of both classes sit together and elect their own
chairman at divisional and district sessions.
The qualifications deemed indispensable in candi-
dates for the magistracy are the possession of a
certain amount of landed property, residence in
the district, and a course of study completed at
one of the Universities or special schools, or, failing
that, at least three years' service in a Government
office, and for the greater part of the time in the
Ministry of Justice. The new magistrates will have
authority to decide in civil as well as criminal cases.
In the former, their competency extends to debts of
500 rubles, subject to appeal, or 30 roubles without
appeal ; in the latter to offences punishable by a
fine of 300 roubles, or imprisonment for three
months, subject to appeal, or by a fine of 5 roubles,
or imprisonment for three days, without appeal.
The appeals are heard by the assembled justices at
sessions, and their decision is final.
The superior courts, civil and criminal, are
divided into " district tribunals," and courts of
justice." In the latter appeal cases are tried. The
Senate becomes a final court of appeal, but only
takes cognisance of cases in which there is alleged
to have been a violation of legal forms.
The judges, who are irremovable, are appointed
by the Emperor on the recommendation of the
Minister of Justice.
Advocates must have taken a University degree,
and have made a special study of law. They will
form a class which hitherto has had no existence in
Russia. The profession of the law is naturally looked
upon with contempt, when the chief functions of
the lawyer consist in stealing a percentage of the
bribes offered by the litigants to the judges,
as law
itself is despised when it is known that all the

judges can be bought, and that no honourable man
can accept the place of judge. The experiment of
rendering a new class of judges completely inde-
pendent of the Administration was, it may be re-
membered, first tried in immediate connexion with
the emancipation of the serfs, and was found to
answer admirably. The richest and best educated
proprietors in the country came forward to accept
pnitaces from which they derived no pecuniary pro-
s accountable
n t otfiwhich they would never have dreamt of
occupying had they by doing so rendered them-
elves
•
table for their decisions to any Go-
vernment eiai.
Onenme of t
he
moat
interesting portions of the three
"judicial books "
s
Which set forth in great detail
• the principles, and here and there the precise condi-
tions on which the new y
em of law proceedings is
to be based, is that which relates h
ited to the formation
t for
1 of juries. Trial by jury is instituted
cases only; and all proprietors, criminal
and artisans are liable to serve merchants, artists,
or, rather, have the
privilege of serving, in rotation on juries. This
privilege, as the Government evidently desires that