Volost and magistrate courts in the socio-cultural space of post-reform Russia (on the materials of Samara province in 1861-1889)

The article is devoted to the formation and reform of local justice in 1861-1889 from the perspective of local (regional) history using the methodology of socio-cultural analysis, the concepts of “social trust” and “social capital”. It contains a characteristic of the volost courts in the state and udel villages of the Samara province until the 1861. The author addresses the problems of the formation and development of the magistrate court in the Samara province in the 1860-1870s, its specifics in comparison with the volost courts. She notes such common features of local justice bodies as complete economic dependence on the population and the desire to reconcile the parties. The thesis is postulated about the restrained confidence of the peasants in the newly created institution of the world court, their desire to have the opportunity to choose between the old and new local justice bodies. The author reveals differences in the approaches of peasants to local judicial institutions, depending on the ethno-confessional situation in the volost, contradictions within the peasant community and the influence of the elders on the volost court.