Pre-print, Working paper: This study deals with history of important state institution in late Russian Empire – factory inspection. Such aspects of institutional development as evolution of legislative regulations, growth of staff, and complication of functions (and particularly, mediation in labour conflicts) are scrutinized. This paper presents some results on Russian experience of labour law implementation seeking to determine and evaluate the role and efficiency of Russian factory inspectors in conflicting triangle of relations among state, industrialists and workers.