Dueling in the Russian Empire: Law and Punishment
Abstract
The first anti-dueling norms, setting forth draconian penalties for offenders, appeared in Russian law at the beginning of the 18th century. In particular, according to the “Patent on Dueling and Starting Quarrels” (1716), participation in a duel was punished by death. This approach proved to be quite effective – only three duels were recorded in the Petrine era. The increase in their frequency in the days of Catherine II led to further regulatory efforts, which resulted in the publication of a “Manifesto on Duels” (1787). It mostly retained harsh penalties for engaging in duels. The reign of Alexander I was generally characterized by a rather lenient attitude towards this practice on the part of the emperor, although there were cases of prosecution. In the era of Nicholas I, the punishment for participating in a duel usually depended on the sovereign’s decision, because of the precedence of legal authority (which belonged to the ruler) over legal norm in the Russian Empire. Various sources confirm that the emperor generally sought to clarify the circumstances of each particular conflict and to mete out sanction according to the fault of each participant. That is why it was often not even the duelists, but the seconds who were treated with more severity. Church penitence also became a common form of punishment at this time, which was in complete agreement with the modern-era trend of aiming the criminal procedure “not at the body, but at the soul” of the offender. The section “On Duels” in the “Regulation on Punishments” (1845) reflected the general tendency towards the liberalization of criminal law in the empire. During the reign of Alexander II, neither the incidence of duels nor the monarch’s attitude to their participants changed significantly. In 1871, only one official document barely hinted at the possibility of radical change in dueling legislation. However, this view soon found expression in the law of 1894, which legalized duels in officer circles. In conclusion, the author discusses the precedent-based nature of dueling legislation in the Russian Empire.
Downloads
References
Bekkaria, Ch. O prestupleniiakh i nakazaniiakh. Sankt-Peterburg, 1806. (In Russian)
Burskii, I. D. Istoriia 8-go Gusarskogo Lubenskogo polka. Odessa, 1912. (In Russian)
Butovskii, I. G. Feldmarshal kniaz' Kutuzov pri kontse i nachale svoego boevogo poprishcha: Pervaia voina imperatora Aleksandra I s Napoleonom I v 1805 g. Sankt-Peterburg, 1858. (In Russian)
Derzhavin, G. R. Ob'iasneniia na sochineniia Derzhavina, im samim diktovannye rodnoi ego plemiannitse, Elisavete Nikolaevne L'vovoi, v 1809 g., izdannye F. P. L'vovym v chetyrekh chastiakh. Sankt-Peterburg, 1834. (In Russian)
Derzhavin, G. R. Zapiski. Sochineniia Derzhavina s ob''iasnitelnymi primechaniiami Ia. Grota. T. 6. Sankt-Peterburg, 1871. (In Russian)
Dolgorukov, I. M. Kapishche moego serdtsa. Moskva, 1997. (In Russian)
Duel Erasi s Mellerom-Zakomel'skim (Iz vospominanii starogo gusara). Russkaia starina, no. 134, 1908, s. 598-603. (In Russian)
Ekaterina II i G. A. Potemkin. Lichnaia perepiska (1769–1791). Moskva, 1997. (In Russian)
Fokkerodt, I. G. Rossiia pri Petre Velikom. Moskva, 1874. (In Russian)
Fuko, M. Nadzirat' i nakazyvat': Rozhdenie tiur'my. Moskva, 2016. (In Russian)
Golikov, I. I. Deianiia Petra Velikogo, mudrogo preobrazitelia Rossii. T. 3. Moskva, 1837. (In Russian)
Golodolinskii, P. Istoriia 3-go dragunskogo Sumskogo polka. Ch. 2. Moskva, 1902. (In Russian)
Gosudarstvennyii arkhiv Rossiiskoi Federatsii (GARF), f. 109, op. 200, d. 229. Delo o dueli mezhdu kornetom baronom Biel'skim i poruchikom Pevtsovym, 36 l. (In Russian)
GARF, f. 109, op. 183, d. 159. Delo o dueli mezhdu kurlyandskimi dvoryanami: Kleystom i Sakenom, 52 l. (In Russian)
GARF, f. 109, op. 197, d. 150. Delo o dueli mezhdu poruchikami Korsakovym i Kozlovym pri uchastii poruchika Zagriazhskogo i praporschika kniazia Viazemskogo, 15 l. (In Russian)
GARF, f. 109, op. 190, d. 219. Delo o dueli pomeschikov Orenburgskoi gubernii Shelashnikova i Shishkova, 15 l. (In Russian)
GARF, f. 109, op. 211, d. 105. Delo o preduprezhdenii dueli mezhdu polkovnikami Kosichem i Shafronskim. Tut zhe rasporiazhenie o nepresledovanii poedinkov v sluchayah lichnoi obidy, ssor, oskorbleniia chesti i t. p., 27 l. (In Russian)
GARF, f. 109, op. 196, d. 168. Delo о studentakh Moskovskogo universiteta barone Khovene i Ékse, imevshikh mezhdu soboi duél v Mitave, 27 l. (In Russian)
GARF, f. 109, op. 9, d. 96. O buinykh postupkakh otstavnogo poruchika Ivana Nelidova i o vyzove im na duél praporshchika Malorossiiskogo Kirasirskogo polka Gvozdeva, 35 l. (In Russian)
GARF, f. 1165, op. 2, d. 261. Perepiska ministra vnutrennikh del s ministrom inostrannykh del i Peterburgskim voennym gubernatorom ob otkaze v vydache zagranichnogo pasporta Lifliandskomu landmarshalu general-leitenantu Levizu za namerenie vyzvat’ na duél markiza Pauluchchi, 5 l. (In Russian)
GARF, f. 109, op. 80, d. 89. Po prosbe pomeschika Adama Przhigodskogo, prigovorennogo za ubivstvo na duéli pomeshchika Lanevskogo-Volka k vyderzhaniiu tri goda kreposti o zhelanii ego prosluzhit’ onoe vremia riadovym v deistvuiushchei armii, 5 l. (In Russian)
GARF, f. 109, op. 3a, d. 2760. Vypiska iz pisma Nabokova N. iz s. Niknian, Pskovskoi gubernii Nabokovu D. N. v Peterburg s prosboi soobschit’ o rezul’tatakh duéli ego syna Nabokova F. s baronom Korfom, zhenivshimsia na ego docheri i rasprostraniavshim komprometiruiushchie eё slukhi, i vypiska iz pis’ma Nabokova D. N. Glebovu v Parizh ob étom zhe, 7 l. (In Russian)
GARF, f. 109, op. 3a, d. 2783. Zapiska i otnoshenie peterburgskomu ober-politsmeisteru o komandirovanii zhandarmov na mesto sbora lits, namerevavshihsia uchastvovat’ v duéli mezhdu grafom Buksgevdenom V. P. i grafom Tsukatto E. M. i o peredache etogo dela v sudebnye instantsii, 11 l. (In Russian)
GARF, f. 678, op. 1, d. 1115. Zapiska neustanovlennogo litsa i predpisanie velikogo kniazia Aleksandra Nikolaevicha komandiru gvardeiskogo kavaleriiskogo rezervnogo korpusa po delu barona Rozena, ubivshego na duéli grafa Gendrikova, 32 l. (In Russian)
Ivinskii, A. Iz épistoliarnogo naslediia M. N. Murav’eva: Pis’ma 1778 goda k ottsu (po materialam OPI GIM). Novoe literaturnoe obozrenie [New Literary Observer], no. 154, 2018, s. 171-191. (In Russian)
Kliuchevskii, V. O. Kurs russkoi istorii. Ch. 5. V: Sochineniia v 9 t. T. 5. Moskva, 1989. (In Russian)
Kutuzov M. I. Sbornik dokumentov i materialov, t. 1. Moskva, 1950. (In Russian)
Livenson. Poedinok v zakonodatel’stve i nauke. Sankt-Peterburg, 1900. (In Russian)
Lotman, Yu. M. Besedy o russkoi kul’ture: Byt i traditsii russkogo dvorianstva (XVIII – nachalo XIX veka). Sankt-Peterburg, 2011. (In Russian)
Manifest o poedinkakh. V: Polnoe sobranie zakonov Rossiiskoi imperii. Sobr. 1-e. T. 22. Sankt-Peterburg, 1830, s. 839-846. (In Russian)
Marienko, N. Yu. Pravila o razbiratelstve ssor, sluchaiushchikhsia v ofitserskoi srede: znachenie i posledstviia izmeneniia duél’nogo zakonodatel’stva. Visnyk Kharkivs’koho natsional’noho universytetu imeni V. N. Karazina. Seriia “Istoriia” [The Journal of V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University. Series: History], vyp. 56, 2019, s. 78-88. (In Russian)
Marin, S. N. Polnoe sobranie sochinenii. Moskva, 1948. (In Russian)
Markov, A. L. Poedinki v russkoi armii. V: Novyi chasovoi. Russkii voenno-istoricheskii zhurnal, 1999, s. 231-239. (In Russian)
Nakaz ee imperatorskogo velichestva Ekateriny Vtoroi, samoderzhitsy vserossiiskoi, dannyi Komissii o sochinenii proekta Novogo ulozheniia, s prinadlezhashchimi k tomu prilozheniiami. Sankt-Peterburg, 1770. (In Russian)
Ogarkov, V. V. Vorontsovy, ikh zhizn i obshchestvennaia deiatel’nost’. Sankt-Peterburg, 1892. (In Russian)
Omelchenko, O. A. «Zakonnaia monarhiia» Ekateriny Vtoroi: Prosveshchennyi absoliutizm v Rossii. Moskva, 1993. (In Russian)
Opisanie del Arhiva Morskogo Ministerstva. Za vremia s poloviny XVII do nachala XIX stoletiia, t. 1. Sankt-Peterburg, 1877. (In Russian)
Patent o poedinkakh i nachinanii ssor. V: Polnoe sobranie zakonov Rossiiskoi imperii. Sobr. 1-e. T. 5. Sankt-Peterburg, 1830, s. 260-264. (In Russian)
Pisma i bumagi imperatora Petra Velikogo, t. 2. Sankt-Peterburg, 1889. (In Russian)
Po povodu zapisok I. D. Iakushkina i stat’i o nikh P. N. Svistunova: v) Otpoved’ P. N. Svistunova. Russkii arhiv, no. 2, 1871, s. 345. (In Russian)
Pravila o razbiratelstve ssor, sluchaiushchihsia v ofitserskoi srede. V: Polnoe sobranie zakonov Rossiiskoi imperii. Sobr. 3-e. T. 14. Sankt-Peterburg, 1898, s. 258-260. (In Russian)
Pushkin, A. S. Pisma. T. 2. 1826-1830. Moskva-Leningrad, 1928. (In Russian)
Réi, M.-P. 1814. Tsar’ v Parizhe. Moskva, 2017. (In Russian)
Reifman, I. Ritualizovannaia agressiia: Duél v russkoi kul’ture i literature. Moskva, 2002. (In Russian)
Rozen, A. E. Ocherk famil’noi istorii baronov fon Rozen. Sankt-Peterburg, 1876. (In Russian)
Rummel’, V. V. Rodoslovnyi sbornik russkikh dvorianskikh familii, t. 2. Sankt-Peterburg, 1887. (In Russian)
Russkie ugolovnye protsessy, t. 1. Sankt-Peterburg, 1866. (In Russian)
Russkie ugolovnye protsessy, t. 2. Sankt-Peterburg, 1867. (In Russian)
Russkie ugolovnye protsessy, t. 4. Sankt-Peterburg, 1868. (In Russian)
Ruzhitskaia, I. V. Zakonodatel’naia deiatel’nost’ v tsarstvovanie imperatora Nikolaia I. Moskva-Sankt-Peterburg, 2015. (In Russian)
Sbornik biografii kavalergardov, kn. 3 (1801-1826). Sankt-Peterburg, 1906. (In Russian)
Sbornik biografii kavalergardov, kn. 4 (1826-1908). Sankt-Peterburg, 1908. (In Russian)
Suvorov, N. S. O tserkovnykh nakazaniiah. Sankt-Peterburg, 1876. (In Russian)
Tagantsev, N. S. Karatel’naia deiatel’nost’ gosudarstva i ee granitsy. Sankt-Peterburg, 1882. (In Russian)
Tsekhanovetskii, V. P. Istoriya 18-go Dragunskogo Klyastitskogo polka. Varshava, 1886. (In Russian)
Viazemskii, P. A. Zapisnyie knizhki. Moskva, 1963. (In Russian)
Vostrikov, A. Kniga o russkoy dueli. Sankt-Peterburg, 2004. (In Russian)
Zapiski Sergeia Grigor’evicha Volkonskogo (dekabrista). Sankt-Peterburg, 1901. (In Russian)
Copyright (c) 2021 Mykyta Marienko
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).