'I thoroughly recommend this exceptional piece of scholarship for those interested in the legal history of early modern Russia, as well as the complex socio-political dynamic at work in matters of crime and punishment. What is more, Kollman's analysis of criminal law in Russia provides a valuable addition to our wider understanding of European state-building.' Robert Collis, European History Quarterly
Introduction; Part I. Judicial Culture: 1. Foundations of the criminal law; 2. The problem of professionalism: judicial staff; 3. Staff and society; 4. Policing of officialdom; 5. Procedure and evidence; 6. Torture; 7. Resolving a case; 8. Petrine reforms and the criminal law; Part II. Punishment: 9. Corporal punishment to 1648; 10. Corporal punishment, 1649–98; 11. To the exile system; 12. Peter I and punishment; 13. Capital punishment: form and ritual; 14. Punishing highest crime in the long sixteenth century; 15. Factions, witchcraft and heresy; 16. Riot and rebellion; 17. Moral economies: spectacle and sacrifice; 18. Peter the Great and spectacles of suffering; Conclusion: Russian legal culture; Appendix: punishment for felonies; Bibliography.