Legal Association of the Republic of Belarus is 100 Years Old

The Hall of Legal Information (room 207b) will host the thematic exhibition "Legal Association of the Republic of Belarus Celebrates 100 Years", dedicated to the anniversary of the Institute of Attorneyship in our country to last from May 31st to August 29th.

The exhibition features more than 90 documents: monographs, dissertation abstracts, textbooks, articles from collections and periodicals.

The exhibition can be useful in scientific, educational and practical activities for teachers, researchers, students and postgraduates of law schools, lawyers, and law enforcement officials.

The exhibition consists of the following sections:

• Legal profession: features of the profession
• History of the development of the Institute of Attorneyship from a prosperous period to the present
• Legal status of a lawyer in the Republic of Belarus
• Legal profession in the judicial system of the Republic of Belarus
• Constitutional rights of Belarusian citizens to legal aid
• Lawyer in civil and criminal proceedings
• Legal analysis of the principles of organization and activity of the legal profession in Belarus and the CIS countries
• Court speeches, as well as materials prepared by the Republican Legal Association

In the Belarusian lands, the institute of Attorneyship received legislative regulation in the XVI century. The first rules on lawyers, then called "procurators", and their activities were enshrined in the Statutes of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The right to legal aid was provided for "poor people who could not and did not know how to speak for themselves and conduct their business in court..."

The attorneyship in the North-Western Region of the Russian Empire (as the Belarusian lands that became part of it were called) was established by judicial charters in 1864 and became a progressive institution in the justice system of that time. The public specially came to the trials to listen to the speeches of well-known lawyers F.N. Plevako, A.I. Urusov, N.P. Karabchevsky, etc. Our fellow countryman Vladimir Danilovich Spasovich, who gained European fame, turned ordinary cases into textbook cases with just a touch of his talent.

The legal profession has come a long way: from the rank of sworn attorneys, to the creation of the first legal consultations in the history of Belarus in 1922. On June 26th celebrates the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the Attorneyship in Belarus. It was on this day in 1922 that the third session of the Central Executive Committee of the BSSR adopted the first Regulation on the Attorneyship. This event was a significant milestone in the life of the country and in the history of the Belarusian justice system. A month later, on July 26th, 1922, the People's Commissariat of Justice of the BSSR approved the Regulations on the board of Defenders, regulating in detail the organization of this association.

The current stage in the development of the Belarusian legal profession began with the adoption of the Law by the Supreme Council of the Republic of Belarus on June 15, 1993 "On the Attorneyship", which took into account the domestic and international experience of the organization and operation of this legal institution. Belarus is the first country in the Commonwealth of Independent States to adopt a new law on the Legal Profession. However, the legislation does not stand still, and in 2011 a new Law was adopted "On the Attorneyship and Legal Activity in the Republic of Belarus", and in 2021 the latest amendments are being made to it.

A lawyer today is a representative of the elite legal profession, its foundation and core. The profession of a lawyer is complex and multifaceted, as it requires not only high professionalism, but also entails great moral responsibility. And this is not a job, but a vocation, because the price of the result is too high the – fate of a particular person.

Useful links:

Legal activity: licensing of legal activity; register of lawyers, legal consultations; regulatory legal acts.

The opening hours of the exhibition corresponds to the library’s opening hours.
Entrance to the exhibition is available by the library ticket or ticket of the library's social and cultural center.

For more info: (+375 17) 293 27 28.