UNINTENTIONAL INSULT OF THE EMPEROR: FEATURES OF CRIME AND PUNISHMENT IN THE SECOND HALF OF THE XIX CENTURY (BASED ON THE MATERIALS FROM THE VOLOGDA PROVINCE)

Sokolova Tatiana Leonidovna

Publicly insulting government officials is now considered a criminal offence. The state has always sought to protect government officials from various illegal encroachments, including encroachments on their honor and dignity. The relevance of the research topic lies in the possibility of identifying general trends in the development of criminal law, assessing the current state of legislation and developing proposals for further improvement of legislation that ensures the protection of government officials. The purpose of the study is to study the features of this type of state crime as an unintentional insult to the emperor in the second half of the 19th - early 20th centuries. Based on the analysis of a wide range of sources, the author considers the most common circumstances of this crime on the example of the Vologda province. The novelty of the research lies in the choice of the subject of research: an insult to the emperor, committed while intoxicated. The author examines the social composition of criminals and comes to the conclusion that this type of crime was committed mainly by representatives of the peasant class. Based on the analysis of archival documents, conclusions are formulated on the application of punishments for unintentional insult to the royal person. The punishment for the type of crime in question was much milder than for insulting the monarch, committed while sober.

Keywords:insult, emperor, state crime, punishment, Criminal and Correctional Code of 1845.