The Basic Principles of 1862 provided the foundation for the subsequent legal reform promulgated as the Judicial Statutes of 1864. On Deputy Secretary of State S. 1. Zarudnyi's suggestion, the Basic Principles were promulgated in the Collection of Ordinances and Decrees of the Government so that they could be openly and thoroughly discussed by the public. The public was given one month and a half to submit zamechaniia (suggestions or comments) for consideration in the final preparation of the Judicial Statutes of 1864. The suggestions, 395 in all. were received from all parts of the Russian Empire and published in six volumes (about 3,500 pages in folio).

This paper will provide insight into the public opinion of two segments of Russian society --Russian legal officials and the Russian reading public-towards the proposed legal reform. First, this paper will provide a case study of the zamechaniia through an examination of volumes three and four (a total of 129 suggestions). This aspect of the paper will present such quantitative data as: the specific geographical areas that the respondents represented, the military and civil service positions of the respondents the military and civil service ranks of the respondents according to the Table of Ranks, and the number of respondents possessing either hereditary or personal nobility. In addition, the paper will present qualitative, data, namely an outline of the points most discussed by the respondents. Secondly, this paper will gauge the opinion of the Russian reading public through an examination of newspaper and journal articles.