Everyday Law in Russia

Kathryn Hendley is William Voss-Bascom Professor of Law and Political Science at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. She is the author of Trying to Make Law Matter: Legal Reform and Labor Law in the Soviet Union and more than fifty scholarly articles addressing various aspects of how law works in contemporary Russia.

• Introduction: Lawlessness in Russia? Rethinking the Narratives of Law1. Legal Consciousness(es) in Russia2. Dealing with Damage from Home Water Leaks3. Dealing with Auto Accidents4. The View from the Benches of the Justice-of-the-Peace Courts5. The View from the Trenches of the Justice-of-the-Peace CourtsConclusion: Rethinking the Role of Law in Russia

Hendley's case studies are absolutely fascinating and take us right into the lives of ordinary Russians."(SCRSS Digest) In this truly excellent book, Kathyrn Hendley seeks to understand how the everyday legal system works in contemporary Russia. [...] In this valuable book, Hendley manages to construct a deeper analytical narrative that gives life to the presence of conflict resolution in Russia, without denying the reality of politicized justice and the various obstacles to judicial independence and efficiency.- Emma Gilligan, Indiana University (Bloomington) (The Russian Review) This book challenges the prevailing common wisdom that Russians cannot rely on their law and that Russian courts are hopelessly politicized and corrupt. Drawing on extensive observational research in Russia's new justice of the peace courts as well as on focus groups and interviews, Hendley finds that any reluctance on the part of ordinary Russian citizens to use the courts is driven primarily by their fear of the time and cost—measured in both financial and emotional terms—of the judicial process.(Law & Social Inquiry) Using a wide range of western sociology of law and society literature, she helps us understand that Russian lawyers are working in a context that shares features common with our system. Her well-written book will be accessible and useful not just to specialists of Russia and Russian law, but to a larger community of research specialists. Its nuanced understanding of Russia today is a much-needed antidote to a lot of what we are exposed to in the contemporary popular press.(Slavic Review)