, in the first
years of his reign. In his accession manifesto a prominent place was
given to his desire that justice and mercy should reign in the courts
of law. Referring to these words in a later manifesto, he explained his
wishes more fully as "the desire to establish in Russia expeditious,
just, merciful, impartial courts of justice for all our subjects; to
raise the judicial authority; to give it the proper independence, and in
general to implant in the people that respect for the law which ought
to be the constant guide of all and every one from the highest to the
lowest." These were not mere vain words. Peremptory orders had been
given that the great work should be undertaken without delay, and
when the Emancipation question was being discussed in the Provincial
Committees, the Council of State examined the question of judicial
reform "from the historical, the theoretical, and the practical point of
view," and came to the conclusion that the existing organisation must be
completely transformed.

The commission appointed to consider this important matter filed a
lengthy indictment against the existing system, and pointed out no less
than twenty-five radical defects. To remove these it proposed that the
judicial organisation should be completely separated from all other
branches of the Administration; that the most ample publicity,
with trial by jury in criminal cases, should be introduced into the
tribunals; that Justice of Peace Courts should be created for petty
affairs; and that the procedure in the ordinary courts should be greatly
simplified.

These fundamental principles were published by Imperial command on
September 29th, 1862--a year and a half after the publication of the
Emancipation Manifesto--and on November 20th, 1864, the new legislation
founded on these principles received the Imperial sanction.

Like most institutions erected on a tabula rasa, the new system is at
once simple and symmetrical. As a whole, the architecture of the edifice
is decidedly French, but here and there we may detect unmistakable
symptoms of English influence. It is not, however, a servile copy of any
older edifice; and it may be fairly said that, though every individual
part has been fashioned according to a foreign model, the whole has a
certain originality.

The lower part of the building in its original form was composed of two
great sections, distinct from, and independent of, each other--on the
one hand the Justice