List of issues > Series «History». 2021. Vol 38
The Role of Trade Customs in the Legal Regulation
of the Fur Trade in the Russian Empire
(Based on Materials from North-Eastern Siberia in the
Second Half of the 19th – Early 20th Centurу)
Author(s)
M. D. Kushnareva
Abstract
The main purpose of the publication is to analyze the role of trade customs in the
process of legal regulation of the organization of the fur trade in the north-east of Siberia in the
second half of the 19th – early 20th centuries. Achieving this goal presupposes an analysis of
the norms of the legislative sources of the trade law of the Russian Empire during the period of
modernization. The analysis of trade customs is based on examples from previously unpublished
and unreported archival sources. Analyzed cash, trade books of firms “N. D. Everstov”, “G. V.
Nikiforov”, ‘G. V. Nikiforov and Co”, “I. P. Antipin and G. V. Nikiforov”, Joint Stock Company
of Match and Fur Factory “N. P. Rylov and F. P. Lesnikov”, containing records of transactions
concluded on the basis of trade customs. The topic is of theoretical and applied relevance. The
article is of an interdisciplinary nature. To solve the set tasks, comparative, problem-chronological
methods, as well as functional and comparative legal methods of jurisprudence were applied
in the work. The author determined that the synthesis of the norms of customary law of the
indigenous population of North-Eastern Siberia with the norms of general imperial laws led to
the formation of a complex of trade customs in the industry. The article analyzes the practice of
implementing such trade customs in the fur trade, such as: accrual of debt to fishers and its
transition to the next fishing season, unequal exchange, fixing commercial information in personal
correspondence. As the main conclusions, it was noted that the trade customs in the fur
trade were superior to the norms of the Trade Charter and other legislative acts of the state. This
was facilitated by the special historical conditions and specificity of the legal consciousness of
society in the outskirts of the Russian Empire. The development of commodity-money relations
and the state policy of legislative convergence of the legal status of the indigenous and Russian
population of the outlying territories of Siberia contributed to a gradual decrease in the role of
trade customs in the fur trade at the beginning of the 20th century.
About the Authors
Kushnareva Margarita Dmitrievna, Doctor of Sciences (History), Associate Professor, Department of Service and Service Technologies, Irkutsk State University, 1, K. Marx st., Irkutsk, 664003, Russian Federation, e-mail: rita270880@mail.ru
For citation
Kushnareva M. D. The Role of Trade Customs in the Legal Regulation of the Fur Trade in the Russian Empire (Based on Materials from North-Eastern Siberia in the Second Half of the 19th – Early 20th Century). The Bulletin of Irkutsk State University. Series History, 2021, vol. 38, pp. 65-71. https://doi.org/10.26516/2222-9124.2021.38.65 (in Russian)
Keywords
rule of law, North-Eastern Siberia, trade, trade custom, law
UDC
339.166(571.5)
DOI
https://doi.org/10.26516/2222-9124.2021.38.65
References
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