?
Трансформация судебно-следственного процесса в России 1760-е годы
In the middle of the 18th century Russia was developing state and institutional practices that were aimed at the centralization and consolidation of power. A single bureaucratic system was functioning, established in the 18th century and later transformed by the reforms of Peter the Great – the ideas of Western absolutism were introduced into it, which gradually contributed to the integration of legal culture. An important milestone was the reign of Catherine the Great – the reliance on the ideals of the Enlightenment, which the Empress took as a basis (but did not directly borrow) the new stages of the development of the administrative system. In particular, the reforms of State bodies that affected the judicial system are highlighted. Even though much attention is paid to this issue in historiography, the study of the transformation of the judicial and investigative process requires consideration in a broader perspective-involving both the history of state institutions and grass-roots practice as the implementation of reforms of the hierarchy and structure of bodies.
Main purpose of the paper is reconstruction of the main stages of the judicial and investigative process (criminal proceedings), conducted in the 50s-60s of the 18th century with identification of the nature of the transformation of judicial and investigative actions in connection with government measures of the 1760s (Decree of February 10, 1763 "On the procedure for the production of criminal cases for theft, robbery and pristonderzhestvo"). The main part of the sources included in the study relates to the functioning of the judicial and investigative bodies in Moscow. The materials are stored in the Russian State Archive of Ancient Documents in the funds of the Sysknoy Prikaz (fund 372) and the Moscow Investigation Expedition (fund 373).
Researching practice of the search process in Russia in the 1750s and 1760s allows us to conclude that the Decree of February 10, 1763 was implemented in practice and had a significant impact on changing the principles of the organization of the investigation in criminal cases. At the initial stage, in 1764, its introduction led to the replacement of the whip as an instrument of torture with whips. Subsequently, by 1768, torture fell out of use; the prevailing investigative methods also changed.