The Bar History in
the Russian
Federation
Since 1864 Russian lawyers had
been guided by Judiciary Charters set for the jury and assistant
lawyers’ estate. According to the Decree on judicial system, defenders
on criminal cases and representatives on civil cases had to be
educated people with good qualities and flawless reputation, guided
by their civil rights and obligationû (Article 3). On November 22,
1917, the new
government adopted a new Decree #1, which abolished the Bar in the
judicial system. However, for a long time practicing attorneys
refused to accept new rules and kept working under the old system.
The Instructions of the Justice
Committee (Narkomat yustitsii)
of the revolutionary tribunal approved on December 19, 1917, gave the
right for law defenders to set up universal bars (colleges of
advocates), the members of which were eligible for representation
functions in legal proceedings both as prosecutors and advocates. The
Court Decree #2 adopted on 7 March 1918 allowed for participation of one defender
from the bar of law defenders at the court session. On November
30, 1918, the
All-Russian Central Executive Committee approved regulations on
peoples’ courts at local executive committees. These regulations
facilitated establishment of bars under the guidance of justice
departments of local executive committees. The Third All-Russian
Congress of Soviet justice activists held in June 1920 determined
court defense as a duty, which was lately confirmed by a new
Regulations on peoples’ courts adopted by the All-Russian Central
Executive Committee on October 21, 1920. Since July 5, 1922, bar activities have been regulated by the
bar regulations. A year later the bar regulations have been included
as a separate chapter into the Regulations on the judicial system
adopted by the All-Russian Central Executive Committee on June 7,
1923. On October 29, 1924, the Central Executive Committee of the USSR established a foundation for the judicial
system of the USSR and Soviet republics, where Article 17
stated that the bars shall be founded on the self-replenishment basis
under control of local executive committees. On November
19, 1926, the
Regulations on the judicial system of the Russian republic defined
the status of the bars as being under direct control of local
district courts.
Since June 1928 the collegium of
the Justice Committee of the Russian republic entitled provincial and
district courts to determining membership limits. On February
27, 1932, the
collegium of the Justice Committee adopted a Regulations on
collective defenders, according to which the Bar’s new organizational
order was lately established. On August 16, 1939, the Counsel of Ministers of the USSR approved the Regulations of the Bar, which
at that time consisted of 8,000 attorneys. The Regulations divided
the Bar into regional, territory and republican bars. On October
26, 1939, by order #
98 the Justice Committee gave itself an authority to manage presidium
elections, and by order # 85 dated October 2, 1939 developed tariffs for advocate services.
Order # 65 dated April 22, 1939, controlled admissions to the bars. Under
the Khrushev rule, the structure of the Bar
as a whole began to change. In Khrushev’s
speech on the 6th Session of Supreme Counsel of the USSR in 1957 he applied to lawyers and called
for strengthening socialist legality and justice. In 1958 changes
were made to the Foundations of the criminal procedure legislation
and to several criminal procedure codes of Soviet republics, which
gave lawyers more opportunities for participation in earlier stages
of criminal procedure. In as early as the 50s the defender was able
to represent interests of minors, foreigners and the disabled in
courts even at the stage of preliminary investigation (Article 22 of
the Foundations).
In 1961 Supreme Counsel of the USSR adopted a Decree on court procedures, which
particularly introduced open trial with full court composition and
gave more time to defenders for trial preparations. The legislative
reform required amendments for by-laws of the bars. In 1961 the bars
of Moscow and Leningrad replaced general meetings of the bar
members with conferences. The Bar’s independence and its attempt to
revive was undertaken and reflected in the Regulations on the Bar of
1962, despite the fact that the bars were still kept under control of
justice departments of executive committees, regional and city
counsels of peoples’ deputies. On December 23, 1970, Central
Committee of the Communist Party and Counsel of Ministers of the USSR
issued a Decree “On improving legal work in the national economy”,
which described measures to be undertaken to set up attorneys work at
enterprises, which had no staff lawyers. On December
8, 1972, the Ministry
of Justice of the USSR approved a standard agreement on legal
services at enterprises, institutes and other organizations provided
by law offices of bars. The end of the 70s showed further steps in
developing the rationale of the Bar as a legal institute. In Article
161 of the USSR Constitution of 1977 for the first time the Bar was
recognized as a constitutional body. Almost at the same time, i.e. on
November 30, 1979, the All-union Law and the Law of Russian republic
“On the Bar” was adopted, and soon after, i.e. on November 20, 1980,
a Regulations “On the Bar in the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist
Republic was enacted. These documents defined new rights and
obligations of advocates. The laws of that period lacked definitions
of “the Bar” and “bar activity”. Such omissions led to different
interpretations of liberal reforms in Russia of 1991-1993. In 1996-1998 due to cardinal
changes taking place in business and economics, the Bar demanded a
law, which would give it full independence and release from
government control. As a result of the struggle between the bar
community and the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation on
May 31, 2002, legislators passed a Federal Law # 63 “On the Bar and
bar activities in the Russian Federation”.
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