RUSSIAN INVESTIGATION AS VIEWED BY A HISTORIAN

The article is dedicated to the famous Russian historian and legal expert Doctor of History Dmitriy O. Serov and a brief analysis of his studies concerning the establishment and development of the Russian law enforcement authorities in the first third of the 18th century: courts, prosecutor’s office, fiscal service, investigative authorities. Having started his scientific activities from studies of history of the spiritual life of the Russian society from the 17th to the 18th century, D.O. Serov then moved on to the legal aspects of history of the 18th to the 20th century, history of the personnel of the national government machine focusing on investigative authorities and was recognized in our country and abroad as one of the best experts of the Peter the Great’s epoch, specialist in history of the Russian law enforcement and judicial systems, leading scientist studying history of the Russian investigative authorities. D.O. Serov developed new areas of historical and legal research; identified, researched and introduced into scientific discourse many earlier unknown or briefly mentioned archive files including the Instruction to Major’s Investigative Chancelleries of December 9, 1717. The educational course History of the Russian Investigative Authorities was launched based on his research; a new professional holiday, the Day of an Investigation Officer of the Russian Federation, was introduced by Resolution of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 741 of August 27, 2013 (July 25, the day of establishment of the first M.I. Volkonskiy investigative chancellery); some memorable dates of history of the national pre-trial investigation were introduced (including December 9, the Day of Establishment of Major’s Investigative Chancelleries). D.O. Serov justified that the Russian investigative authorities originated in the form of investigative chancelleries. The basis for acknowledgment of such chancelleries as investigative authorities is their characteristics as an independent permanent government authority, designated to investigate criminal cases on the pre-trial stage, being the only function of this authority. D.O. Serov’s research showed that the reason for a short life of such authorities was not their low efficiency. Quite the opposite, major’s investigative chancelleries were in advance of their time and turned out to be misfitting even for the reformed state mechanism of Russia.