“Interesting Cases”: On the Problem of Embezzlement in the Russian Army of the 18th – Early 19th Century
https://doi.org/10.25205/1818-7919-2024-23-8-21-32
Abstract
The article is written mainly on the materials of military court cases from the Russian State Military Historical Archive, as well as regulatory and legislative sources. The author examines property crimes within the Russian army from a socio-cultural perspective. The author concludes that the tools and practices that served as constraints in plundering money and resources have evolved over several decades. The practice of intimidation and capital punishment, which originated under Peter I, very quickly proved to be uneffective. As a result, by the middle of the 18th century, a system was formed so that, aside from the usual financial liability of the perpetrators, criminal and disciplinary penalties, it was effectively complemented by the principle of the command vertical liability in the matter of compensation for damage, which gave it a special corporate character. A specific attitude towards damage also facilitated this. The claim arose from a specific military unit, not from the treasury. This damage could not be forgiven even by the emperor. Measures such as sequestration of the culprit’s real estate and extending material claims to their heirs further reinforced the corporate identity of the regiment’s property.
Keywords
Russian army,
corporation,
military court cases,
embezzlement,
restriction tools,
norms of laws,
practices of usage
Supporting agencies: The research was funded by the RSF grant no. 23-28-00325 “The Russian army of the 18th – early 20th century as a sociocultural phenomenon” (https://rscf.ru/project/23-28-00325/)
About the Author
T. A. Volodina
Tula State Lev Tolstoy Pedagogical University
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Tatiana A. Volodina, Doctor of Sciences (History), Professor
Scopus Author ID 57219194896; WoS Researcher ID AAV-1582-2020
Tula
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Review
For citations:
Volodina T.A. “Interesting Cases”: On the Problem of Embezzlement in the Russian Army of the 18th – Early 19th Century. Vestnik NSU. Series: History and Philology. 2024;23(8):21-32. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.25205/1818-7919-2024-23-8-21-32
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