Admonishment as a Substitute for Torture-Based Interrogation in Late Eighteenth-Century Judicial Practice

The practice of admonishing suspects was a significant innovation in the judicial system of Catherine the Great’s reign, yet it has remained largely overlooked by legal historians. This article is the first in historiography to examine the practice of admonishing suspects; to this end, it draws on court records from the voivode’s chancery and the magistrate’s court of Gorokhovets (Central Russia) for the 1760s and 1770s. These materials demonstrate how the consistory (in this case, the Spiritual Directorate of Yaropolk Volost) appointed priests to carry out admonishment, how the process itself unfolded, how the suspects’ statements were legally recorded and what information they contained, and what the results were of involving priests in the investigation. A particular focus is given to the numerous cases of slander (false accusations) against innocent people, which the accused used to take revenge on their enemies. These tactics were effective in confusing and prolonging the investigation. It was at this point that admonishments proved most effective, leading to repentance for the slander. The sources help trace the actions of Father Ioann Ioannov of the Annunciation Cathedral who was constantly engaged in court proceedings and signed his name as an investigator. In addition to priests, ‘deputies’ were also summoned to the Gorokhovets court and were present during the admonitions. Overall, these documents attest to the effectiveness of priests’ work as investigators and to the improvement of judicial proceedings during the reign of Catherine II

Circumstantial evidence · Historiography · Interrogation · Judicial review · Reign · Repentance · Early Modern Women Writers · Medieval and Early Modern Justice · Soviet and Russian History

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