e: Ilia Chavchavadze

Abstract

Mediation is an alternative method to resolve a dispute legally, when two or more opposing parties try to end a conflict by mutual agreement with the assistance of a mediator.

Georgian legal succession has both empirical and scientific precondition of mediation. Today mediation is increasingly establishing itself in modern law.

In the 19th century the legislation of Russian Empire acted on the territory of Georgia, which established an institute of conciliatory judges as one of the methods to resolve a dispute. Here it is worth noting for us that Ilia Chavchavadze was appointed to the position of a conciliatory judge.

In that period, it was necessary to resolve those conflicts and tension between the gentlefolk and peasants caused by carrying out „The Peasant Reform”. It was a must to set boundaries of the lands and draw up the transaction deeds for which Ilia Chavchavadze had to go to the villages of Dusheti district and study the reasons for the dispute with an office worker
from the date of his appointment.

Maybe it was the practical activity, which made the author see, that the effort of mediation between a master and a servant was doomed at that stage, because relying on only the existing law was quite insufficient to restore a broken bridge between them. That’s why he turned to fiction, which became a kind of scientific research for Ilia Chavchavadze, to reveal those reasons, which were the basis of acute social confrontation in society.

However, what kind of relationship does mediation have with literature, what is its role in ending an artistic conflict, when does an author turn to mediation and is it possible to define a wide circle of mediators in a gallery of the characters of Georgian literature.

In order to answer these questions, we intend to do a systemic research of Georgian literature from its ancient texts to the present. This time we stopped at Ilia Chavchavadze’s works only because that the author tried to accommodate different ranks with his congenital talent, determination and calling throughout his life. In this case his artistic texts are really a creative laboratory and the best example to assess the role of mediation in peaceful resolution of a conflict.

By studying them, we can define the role of mediation in fiction as a kind of effort to prevent tragic results of a conflict. Such effort enriches literature and represents a character’s nature and his moral side in a positive context.

In the article we will discuss Ilia Chavchavadze’s works, his prose
compositions and the poems as well in detail in which it is clear to see the author’s life experience and the trace of his observation, which is based on his judicial practice while working as a conciliatory judge.