In May 1715, Peter the Great for the first time in the Russian Empire issued a military procedural and criminal code and it is called the Military Code of 1715.
What it is
This article was developed by the emperor to create and manage a regular army. It consisted of 24 chapters, which were divided into 209 articles, or, as they were called, articles. Each article was supplemented with interpretations and clarifications. They were included in the second part of the charter of the Russian warrior.
In fact, the military article of 1715 is criminal law, a set of laws punishing a criminal offense.
This document was valid until the reign of Nicholas I, who created his own laws for military regulation. They were called the Code of Laws.
The main principles of the document
Let us consider in more detail the military article of 1715. Its characterization briefly indicates that the main principles in the content of this body of laws are: criminal liability, goals of punishment, concepts of atrocities, military crimes and their list, as well as the establishment of punishment measures for them. This list included many concepts:
- who is the criminal and what is the crime;
- definition of necessary and extreme defense, as well as provisions on punishment for their use;
- list of aggravating and mitigating circumstances;
- division of crimes into categories;
- the difference in the stages of the crime and a separate punishment for each of them.
How the document was created
When creating the article, the Russian emperor borrowed many provisions from sources of foreign states. For example, he was the first to use the Swedish article of Gustav Adolf 1683. He then applied the German imperial laws, charters of the Danish and Dutch rulers, as well as the ordinances of Louis XIV. As a result, the punishment system was substantially changed.
The military article of 1715 was prepared personally by the tsar and close personalities from his office (including Secretary Makarov), and this document became a compilation from various sources of foreign countries.
Who the law applies to
The military article of 1715, the general characteristic of which indicates that this was the first legislative code of criminal law in history, determined the focus of the law on war crimes. Such a document was to be applied on military courts. In addition to soldiers and officers, persons serving the army could be jurisdictional.
However, the article described in detail the punishments for committing criminal acts of civilians - theft, rape, robbery, murder, therefore it was often used on public courts.
The main provisions of the document
The military article of 1715 defined a crime as a dangerous social act. The document stated that "a dangerous public act causes great harm to the state." The criminals were people who broke the laws.
Crimes were divided into the following types: random, reckless and intentional. Criminal liability was imposed when committing reckless or intentional atrocities. They were divided into stages: intent, attempt, completed crime. The punishment was becoming more severe from stage to stage.
These rules of law were first reflected in a legal document.
Military article 1715 g
His characterization as a legal act indicates that the document contained the following areas:
- For state crimes, such as insulting the monarch, attempt on his life, treason, rebellion and others, a lighter punishment was established by law as intent. For this, they were punished by intimidation, isolation of the offender, compensation for damage caused.
- Crimes committed against faith (chapters 1 and 2). These included: witchcraft, idolatry, blasphemy, church rebellion, violation of church military rites. The punishments were secular. The death penalty was also used.
- Political or state crimes (chapters: 3, 6, 17). This included armed rebellion, treason, the intention to kill the sovereign, indignation against him, the capture of the monarch, the condemnation of the intentions and actions of the king, the opening of a password, negotiations with the enemy, information about strengthening.
Why they punished with death or hard labor
Continuation:
- War crimes (chapters: 4-15). This included desertion and various deviations from service. Punished by sending to the galleys, a whip, gauntlets. If a soldier escaped from the battlefield, he was punished with death. The punishment for surrendering fortresses, fortifications, and for looting was harsh, especially during natural disasters.
- Official crimes. These included: embezzlement, bribery, selfish abuse of power. Punished by hanging.
- Crimes against court, administration, order. These included: the destruction and tearing down of decrees, false oath, perjury. The punishment was penal servitude and the cutting off of two fingers.
- Counterfeiting, illegal coinage, the use of other metals, forgery of seals and documents were punished by burning alive.
- Crimes against calm, public order, deanery. This included fights, maintenance of dens, suspicious gatherings, harboring criminals, misappropriation of false nicknames, obscene remarks, singing obscene songs. The punishment was the death penalty.
- Acts against faith - witchcraft, idolatry, blasphemy were punishable by painful death.
How were crimes against personality and property punished
For insulting a person, they were punished with corporal punishment and given up to six months in prison. For defamation was punished as for the crime that the defendant accused.
By beheading, killing a person was punished. It should be noted that suicide was also classified as homicide. The bodies of suicides dragged along the streets and buried in "dishonest" places.
The Property Crimes Section (Chapter 21) included:
- a simple theft of up to twenty rubles was punished with gauntlets, hard labor, or self-mutilation;
- theft of more than twenty rubles, at the military or from the church was regarded as a qualified theft, for which they were punished by hanging or wheeled;
- robbery without weapons was brutally punished bodily;
- robbery with weapons provided for the execution of the robber;
- for reckless arson awarded damages;
- deliberate arson was punished by death.
Sex crimes
This included male rape by young men, which was called "sodomy." The punishment was a link to the galleys, the death penalty. Corporal punishment was prescribed for bestiality. For rape, women were sent forever to galleys or were punished with death.
Adultery was punishable by temporary hard labor or corporal punishment. It all depended on the circumstances of the case. The punishment was mitigated if the husband forgave the traitor.
Church rules punished bigamy. For incest (incest), they were punished with the death penalty. If an illegitimate child was born , the culprit kept the child and mother. In addition to all of the above, imprisonment and church repentance were provided.
Description of the types of punishment
The main types of punishment, which included the military article of 1715, were the following: fines, unlimited and urgent links, confiscation of property, corporal punishment, hard labor, imprisonment, deprivation of life.
The death penalty, in turn, was skilled and simple. Simple executions included executions, beheadings, hanging. Qualified executions included: burning, casting, quartering, pouring molten metal into the throat.
Corporal punishment was divided into painful and self-harming. Painful sanctions included beating with gauntlets, rods or a whip, and mutilating ones included chopping off various parts of the body and stamping them.
When punished with hard labor, the criminal was sent to the construction of enterprises, fortifications, as well as to galleys.
Separate types of punishment existed for officers. For example, resignation from service, arrest, demotion to privates, deprivation of leave or rank. And civil death was considered the most shameful - a condition in which the accused was deprived of all rights at all.