Judiciary Reforms

• Emancipation also demanded an overhaul of the law  This had formerly been in the hands of a judge examining written evidence usually prepared by the landowner and police.  There had been no jury system no lawyers and no examination of witness.  The accused was considered guilty until proven innocent  The judge's decision was final
• The new system was modelled on the West: Equality before the law was established with a single system of local provincial and national courts (although volost courts dealt with exclusively peasant cases). The accused was innocent until proven guilty and could employ a lawyer to defend himself. Criminal cases were heard before barristers and a jury selected from lists of property owners. Judges were appointed by the Tsar and given improved training and pay. "
• Local Justices of the Peace were elected every 3 years by the Zemstva and were to be independent from political control Courts were opened to the public and proceedings could be freely reported
• Limitations:  Trial by Jury was never established in Poland the western provinces and the Caucasus ecclesiastical and military courts were excluded from the reforms. Peasantry in the volost courts were still treated differently from those of higher class. 
• While the new system was fairer and less corrupt a new opportunity arose for the articulate lawyers of the intelligentsia to criticise the regime becoming 'celebrities' in their own right.  The new juries sometimes acquitted the guilty because they sympathised with their plight.  To counter such behaviour a new decree had to be issued to permit political crimes to be tried by special procedures