Sychev, D.A. Prosecutor in the pre-trial criminal judicial proceedings of the Russian Empire

Abstract: The article is devoted to the issues of genesis and development of the functions of the criminal prosecution and supervision in the procedural activities of the prosecutor in the course of pre-trial proceedings in the legislation of the Russian Empire. Through the analysis of the evolution of the legal norms regulating the activities of the prosecutor (from the institution of the Prosecutor-General to the formation of the judicial system based upon the Charter of Criminal Judicial Proceedings of 1864) the author discusses the contents of this system. The author establishes significant features of the institution of prosecutor in the Russian Empire and its efficient activities in the pre-trial judicial proceedings involving simultaneous prosecution and supervision activities. The author substantiates the thesis that correlation and co-dependency of supervision and criminal prosecution functions at this stage mostly depends on introduction of the dispositive elements in the pre-trial proceedings and their correlation with the inquiry elements. The methodological basis for the studies involves the provisions of the dialectic cognition method. In addition the author uses systemic, structural, comparative legal, logical legal and historical scientific research methods. Novelty of the study is due to the complex historical and legal studies of contents and implementation of the functions of prosecution and supervision by the prosecutor at the pre-trial stages of criminal process according to the legislation of the Russian Empire. Taking into account the analysis of the legal sources, comparative studies of the pre-Revolution and modern authors, the author makes a conclusion that in the pre-Revolution Russia the prosecutor as a procedural figure simultaneously implemented criminal prosecution and supervision in the course of pre-trial proceedings.

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