Revolutions of 1917 in Russia and the history of the advocacy

Introduction. The aim of this article is the analy­sis of the reforming of the Bar association, which arose after the February and October revolutions in Russia. The fact that both the Interim Government and the Government of Bolsheviks attended to the issue of the Bar’s future immediately after the take-over highlights the importance of the Bar association for the state. The Interim Government formed a sub-commission on re­vision of the Statute of the Bar association, and a draft law on developing independent legal profession was prepared. The Council of People’s Commissars of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR) passed a decree “On the Law” № 1 on 24 November 1917 which abolished the Bar association without any substitution. Different provisions and decrees con­cerning the legal profession, which were adopted up until 1922, is evidence of chaos of law in the country. Finally, the All-Russia Central Executive Committee of the RSFSR passed “The Statute on Advocacy” in 1922 which lasted until 1939. With the guidelines of this Statute the Bar association was subordinated to the state. In the time of repressive measures the as­sociation was not able to exercise its main function, it was not allowed to participate in either investigation or in trials regarding repressed people.  Only in 1939 with the guideline of “the Statute on Advocacy of the USSR” the colleges of advocates became relatively self-regulative, they were given the rights of legal entities, the word “advocate” came back to practice. Time passed. The state regulation of the Bar association loosened gradually. “The Statute on Advocacy of the RSFSR” of 1962 considerably ex­panded the rights of an advocate, colleges of advocates were recognized as a voluntary association of individ­uals who practice advocacy.  In 1970-1980 improvements the institution of le­gal profession weres sought for, Article 161 on col­leges of advocates was included in the Constitution of the USSR in 1977. “The Statute on Advocacy of the RSFSR” of 1980 contained principles of international acts.  After the breakup of the USSR the so-called paral­leled colleges of advocates functioned along with the traditional Bar association, and energetic efforts were made to develop a new line in advocacy. It resulted in the Federal Law “On Legal Practice and Advocacy in the Russian Federation” adopted by the State Duma of Russia on 26 April 2002. The advocate was rec­ognized as an independent professional legal counsel. Interference in the legal practice, carried out in com­pliance with the law, and impediment to this practice were prohibited.  

Materials and methods. The materials for the research are the works of national and foreign re­searchers in the field of the Russian Law, legislative acts of the 20th century of Russia and the USSR. The methodological background of the research is based on the general philosophical and specific juridical meth­ods of development of knowledge in the sphere of es­tablishing the national advocacy, method of compara­tive analysis and method of legal history analysis.  

Results of the research. The results of the scien­tific research allows making the following conclusion: in the world where the rule of law is infringed upon and the rule of arbitrariness prevails, where there is no lawyer there is no justice.  

Discussion and conclusions. The indispensabil­ity of independence of a lawyer and the Bar associa­tion is proved, advocacy can only function in a stable society; advocacy cannot act as a legal institution in the conditions of a legal chaos. Advocacy is a means of salvation of a state from the internal decay. The state should take care of advocacy and guarantee the inde­pendence of a advocate.

Advocacy, Interim Government, decrees of the Soviet government, repressive measures, advocacy and independence of a lawyer

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