COMPLAINTS OF POSSESSORY PEASANTS AND SYSTEM OF PUNISHMENTS OF LANDOWNERS IN LEGISLATION OF RUSSIA AT THE END OF THE XVIII - IN THE FIRST HALF OF THE XIX CENTURY: TO THE PROBLEM STATEMENT
The article is devoted to the little-studied in historiography problem of the reaction of the authority of the Russian Empire to the complaints of possessory peasants against their masters. The system of the punishments of cruel landowners in the legal system of the state is considered, the process of its formation is shown, and the main attention is drawn to the legislation at the end of the XVIII - in the first half of the XIX century. On the basis of the use of new, including archival sources, the author makes an attempt to outline tendencies in the development of these phenomena.