Professional Affiliation

Assistant Professor, University of Texas, Austin

Wilson Center Project

Popular Legal Cultures in the Russian Empire: The Justice of the Peace Courts, 1864-1917

Project Summary

Examines the informal civil court of the Justice of the Peace court (Mirovoi sud), that allowed people to present their positions in their own words. Provides an unique source fr studying the evolution of popular legal culture, as well as a myriad of other social, family, ethnic, and class relationships. Argues that legal consciousness, usually thought to have been minimal in Russia, was widespread in Russian cities, but that its amalgamated foundation in custom and statute conflicted with the legal profession’s commitment to statute and the autocracy’s arbitrariness.