Plekh O.A. Corruption in local administration during the first half of the 19th century (on the material from the Vologda region)

Abstract: The object of this research is the question of corruption within the local administration of the Russian Empire. The author for the first time in historiography attempts to demonstrate on the basis of relevant historical materials the level of corruption in local government agencies during the first half of the 19th century. The research source base consists of documents preserved in the State Archive of the Vologda olblast (protocols and registrars of the Vologda Chamber of the Criminal Court for the years 1802–1855), which up to today has not been subjected to a complex analysis nor has yet been introduced into scientific circulation. The identified material from the judicial-investigative practice has allowed the article’s author to establish the number of corruption-related crimes and to reveal the particularities of their investigations and judicial trials. In the presented study the author used general scientific, as well as specific methods of research. To achieve the set scientific aim the author applied the means of the interdisciplinary approach that allowed to examine corruption in its historical-judicial context. The article’s main conclusion resulting from this research is that the operative conditions of the local administrative apparatus during the first half of the 19th century was a favourable environment for the illegal enrichment of officials. The analysis of the judicial-investigative practice concerning corruption and extortion cases has allowed to establish that the acting legal norms during the studied period could not ensure the eradication of corruption and the lowering of its dissemination within the local administration.

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