Our Notes & References

First German translation of the first printed Russian legal code, “the most important single written monument to survive from Russia prior to the nineteenth century [and] an important milestone in world legal history” (Hellie).

This first systematised Russian legal code, known as Sobornoe Ulozhenie, was first published in 1649 under the rule of Tsar Aleksei Mikhailovich (1629–76). It governed nearly every aspect of life at the time and remained the “fundamental law of Russia for nearly two centuries, and even, in a lesser sense, the law of the Russian Empire until its fall in 1917” (Hellie).

This first German edition was prepared by Burkhard Gotthelf Struve (1671–1738), a polymath and lifelong professor at the University of Jena. He based his translation on the Latin version of the code included by Baron Augustin Mayerberg in his Iter in Moschoviam (c. 1666–79). In the preface, Struve argues: “One finds various very good regulations in church, military, civil, and police matters in this code, and in the tenth chapter, there is even a procedural code. However, it cannot be denied that some punishments remain somewhat too harsh—something that, like the Code itself, reflects the nature of the Muscovite Empire. Still, if there is anything good in it, such foreign legal systems can, to some extent, contribute to improving our own. Since nothing has been known about Russian laws, this book will provide valuable insight into them. The interested reader should make use of this work” (our translation).

Allgemeines Russisches Land-Recht, intended “so that all classes of the Muscovite Empire, from the highest to the lowest, may enjoy equal law and justice in all matters,” as stated in the title, includes all 25 chapters of the Sobornoe Ulozhenie and is followed by a useful alphabetical index. “In its procedural norms and concepts of personal inviolability, security of property, and equal justice, Muscovite legislation was advanced for its time, even in comparison with Western Europe” (Weickhardt).

Published just two years before Peter the Great’s death, this translation proved to be highly valuable, as Germano-Russian relations strengthened significantly and the influx of German visitors and residents rapidly increased during the Petrine era, reaching its peak in the following decades.

Provenance

Unidentified Russian shelf label to upper pastedown (oval white paper label KSh”, with number 21); Franciscan cloister library in Hall, Tirol (two ink stamps to title, including a “withdrawn” one).

Bibliography

Hellie, Richard, “Early Modern Russian Law: The Ulozhenie of 1649”, Russian History, vol. 15, no. 2/4, 1988, pp. 155–79; Weickhardt, George G. “Due Process and Equal Justice in the Muscovite Codes”, The Russian Review, vol. 51, no. 4, 1992, pp. 463–80.