The formation of the Cossack troops of the Urals in ensuring the protection of law and order in the Russian Empire

The article examines the role of the Cossacks of the Urals in ensuring law enforcement in the border and interior regions of the country at the end of the XVIII-XIX centuries. In the area of direct deployment, the irregular army performed the duties of the garrison, cordon, and linear border protection service, but as the need to repel the raids of steppe nomads decreased, functional responsibilities expanded. Cossack police teams, as temporary formations within the military organization, were focused on ensuring the personal and property security of the population of a number of provinces, guarded fairs, mines, industrial enterprises and other facilities, and performed military-police functions. The internal military administration assumed the assignment of administrative and police functions to the structure of the military and village administration. During the reorganization of military service, administrative and public administration in the second half of the XIX century, the legal regulation of these processes reflects the need for legal support for the organization of such activities of the Cossacks and the state’s interest in preserving the service class.