The Gendarme supervision" of a private gold mining in Siberia (1870-1880-ies): his essence, forms and problems of realization

The article was completed as an intermediate result on the research project "The gendarme supervision on the private gold mining. 1841-1893". The article was done as an interdisciplinary historical and legal research. The article examines the question of the existence and maintenance of the "gendarme supervision" on private gold mining industry during the period of active reformation of the system of imperial political police in the late 1870s - the first half of 1880s. The author had formulated the problem field of the following questions: whether the "supervision" was a particular initiative of the territorial authority of Special Corps of Gendarmes? If the "supervision" had normative regulation, what forms of gendarme supervision on private gold mining took place in period under review? The main sources of research were unpublished documents of local regional archives, acts of central and local authorities, aimed at establishing a surveillance system over private gold mining in Siberia, materials of Siberian periodical press of XIX century. In the present study it was shown that thanks to two imperial edicts of 1841 about special gendarme posts in the mines, the Mining Charter marked three types of "supervision" on private gold mining: "mining supervision", carried out by the Ministry of Finance of its departments; "police supervision", carried out by the provincial administration through its subordinate staff; and "gendarme supervision". However, the entity, forms of "supervision", the powers of the territorial gendarme officers were not revealed. On the basis of the identified materials of gendarme practice as a form of performing a "supervision" were identified: data collection and preparation of the final annual report; carrying out inspections in the field of gold mining; receiving petitions (applications). It was determined that the factors weakening the activity of officers of Special Corps of Gendarmes were irregularity and minority of "supervision"; lack of regulatory control; lack of administrative and procedural powers; the high degree of corruption in the industry. The question about the essence of "supervision" was formulated. As a result of the historical and legal research, it was concluded that the supervision activity carried out by gendarmes on private gold mining in Siberia took place, but it was not a separate function, but a part of the overall gendarme "overseeing" of the territory.

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