The drafts for the reform of criminal procedure in the Legislative comission of 1720s

this study is devoted to the analysis of draft reforms for the judicial and investigative system developed by the Legislative сommission of the 1720s. This institution was established to prepare a new law code to replace the outdated Sobornoye Ulozheniye (Council Code) of 1649. The research focuses on the question of the reception of Western European legal experience, examined through the lens of developing the section «On the Process in Criminal, or Inquisitorial and Torture Cases». The study sequentially examines three redactions of this section, including the draft by the German jurist in Russian service, E. Krompein. This draft proposed an innovative concept for Russian practice – that of priznaki (grounds for suspicion) – a system of formal and verifiable justifications for applying torture. The analysis shows that despite the initially critical attitude of the Legislative commission's members towards Western legal experience and their striving to rely on familiar legal sources, the concept of priznaki was ultimately adopted by them. The conclusion is made that the reception of Western legal experience was selective and methodological in nature. Russian officials borrowed not so much specific legal norms but rather the principles of legal drafting and systematization, especially in those areas (such as the regulation of torture) where the need for reform was recognized.

Legislative commission, criminal procedure, judicial reform, inquisitorial procedure, torture, reception of law