Springfield globe-republic. (Springfield, Ohio) 1884-1887, 1885-05-01
JUSTICE IN RUSSIA.
collisions Between Juries aud the tmper-
tal Authorities--The Blood Fine.


iai Authorities Blood Fine.
Twenty years ago, writes st,
Petersburg correspondent to the New
York sun, the czar reformer substs.
tuted trial by jury for the system OF
crown judges. II is the general opin-
ion here that. next to the abolition OF
serfdom, the introduction OF trial by
jury has served for the moral elevation
of the people far more than any other
reform. The jury system, however,
has not been introduced in all the prov
inces of European Russia. A part OF
the Caucasus all of Siberia and Central
Asia are still under the jurisdiction of the
crown Judges. Trial by the crown judges
is usually called trial byJudgc Shemiaka.
Instead of listening to the testimony.
that worthy Judge used to keep his eye
on the caps OF the plaintiff and defend
ant in which was kept tangible and un-
disputed evidence in the shape OF cop
per and silver coins. The balance OF
Justice turned in favor of him whose
cap contained the larger bundle. AS
the cap evidence cannot be convenient
ly presented before the public, the
crown judges to this day hold court
behind closed doors And yet there are
many Russians, Mr.. Katkotf, of the
Moscow Tedomosti, included, who give
preference to the crown judges. In
| Justice to the Russians, it must be said
that the jury system is not quite com
patible with the autocratic regime. Ihe
czar, being the sole legislator issues
his laws regardless of the views OF his
people. Then the jurors, the peoples
representatives, are called upon to pass
verdict according to their own con-
victions But the trouble is that there
are many things which, forbidden by
the imperial law. are justified by popu-
lar opinion. Hence come collisions
between the Russian jury and the i'm
perial authorities.
In village stricken with famine the
imperial tax-collectors undertook to
empty the village granary and drive
away the domestic animals. Starvation
stared the villagers in the face, and a
peasant shouted to them:
brothers! Let us take sticks and
drive away the tax-collectors. who
have come to rob us of our last crust
of bread. The treasury may safely
wait for our taxes, and at any rate the
car would not starve us. To the
sticks!"
And to the stick they bctook them
selves and drove off the tax collectors.
But the next day the leader OF the riot
ers was put in chains and carried away.
On the trial the crown attorney de-
manded that, according to the law, the
defendant should be sent to the Siber-
ian mines for twenty years. But the
jury brought in verdict of not guilty.
The acquitted peasant, however. was
kidnapped by gendarmes and disappear
ed forever.
This is one of thousand cases of col
lision between juries and the imperial
authorities. 1t seems to me that the
Jury system, though far from being
what it ought to be in the interests OF
Justice, is one of the most powerful
factors which are undermining the au-
tocracy.
There are some special courts here.
such as the merchants court. the
craftsmen's court, the church court, the
military courts, the land surveying
| courts, and others, in which specific Of
fenses are tried.
But there are many subjects of the
czar who quite ignore the law. Over
fifty millions of peasants dispose oi
all their civil suits in their own way, by
their own courts. If a peasant is
a caught stealing, if he drinks too much,
r or beats his wife for no cause, if he in
I dulgcs in idling while taxes are unpaid,
, if he does not pay his debts. if he of
fends priest or somebody else-in al
such and the like cases the villagers sil
as a court of justice. Their verdicts
are exceedingly plain and sensible. In
y all cases where damage or loss of prop
= erty is involved the guilty party i.
!. bound to make good the damage o
loss. In the cases of some persona
. oflense they usually resort to "th'
birch porrdge,' as they call the whip
ping with rods. The verdicts of tn,
village court are explicitly obeyed, To-
u the villagers have the power not only
q to exclude obnoxious members from
= the village, but even to send them t,
e Siberia for life.
r Among the mountain tribes of eau
casus, if a murderer does not pay tn
blood fine he is sure to pay with hi
= life, for the relatives of the victim deem
it their sacred duty to take blood,
3 revenge II he undertakes to pay tn
e fine the murderer takes the best hors
|. he can purchase and loads it with sucl
!, goods as costly arms, clothes. an,
:. money. Then placing rope on hi
' own neck he leads the horse to tn
. family of his victim. If the mother o
e wife of the dead man takes off the rop
y from the neck of the murderer, he j
ir safe. Having surrendered the horse
e money, and other presents, he return
, home. II, however, nobody takes tn
rope from his neck, that means that h
is under the penalty of death, unless h
10 can appease the wrath of the family b
g. costlier presents.
y In Turkestan, according to tn
sr Kirghize notions of justice, murdere
re may expiate his crime by paying
blood fine, which consists of numbe
of camels. horses, sheep, and goats.
- some cases, however, the family of tn
70 victim refuse to accept any presents
b. and then a judicial duel is arranged
al The murderer armed to the teeth, ar
y pears on his best horse. Two or thre
,r ma relatives of the victim, also arme
70 and on horseback. meet their foe. The
begins wild and awful scene. Tn
murderer tries to escape, or at least
meet his foes separately in combat.
the murderer remains alive until sur
set he is safe. but that rarely happens
and sometimes one of the avengel
loses his life too.
Some of the Mohammedans living
Russia, in case of murder, resort |
what they call Gods judgment. Tt
nearest and strongest of the relative
victim, with dagger in hand, meets IL
murderer. II he kills his man, II
'e avenger exclaims, "Now my soul sha