Legal maintenance of labour market in special sectors of Russia’s industry in the late XIX – early XX centuries

The paper examines a legal aspect of the hiring of workers in special sectors of Russia’s industry in the late XIX – early XX centuries. The conclusion is that the adopted factory laws put some grounds of contract law in the framework of mutual relations of workers and employers, with many exemptions, however, which excluded the equality of the contracting parties. Unlike Western countries the trend subordination of all categories of workers to general labour legislation was less in Russia. General factory laws originally concerned only enterprises of Ministry of Finance. Railway, construction, shipping workers, workers of military enterprises remained outside the subordination of the Charter of the industry. In other government departments there was its own legal framework regulating the employment relationship. Employment and work conditions were better in the Navy and worse in enterprises of the Ministry of Railways. The Mining department made big progress in the development of labor legislation. It limited the advance recruitment, hired well-organized cooperatives, banned the labor of women and children at night, it limited a working day to eight hours, established direct material plant responsible for the accuracy of the contractor in the payment of workers’ wages, allowed the establishment of special mining and metallurgical associations (partnerships). In general the legal maintenance of labour market in special sectors of Russian industry in the late XIX – early XX centuries was more organized and had better workers’ social protection than the main industry of Russia.