The article on the analysis of the Charter of Criminal Proceedings of 1864 shows the variety of procedures of the legal process, as well as the limits of the judicial investigation. The differentiation of the court proceedings, the judicial investigation by the degree of complexity of the procedural forms was based on the nature and the gravity of the offence and also the category of cases, which consideration is possible by the magistrate, as well as by the court with participation of the social class representatives and by the court with participation of the jury. The analysis of the judicial reform of 1864 shows that it included some significant changes of the judicial system in Russia through the creation of a new judicial system, the change of the principles and procedures of judicial proceedings. An important direction of the judicial reform of 1864 in the criminal proceedings was the introduction of the judicial investigation where the data of the preliminary investigation were examined. The Charter of the Criminal Proceedings of 1864 fixes the procedure of changing of the accusation in the court session. The historical experience of changing the accusation in the trial seems to be taken into account in the process of the improving of the modern criminal procedure legislation.