Deception and the Genuine Truth in Court Litigations (on the Materials of Interrogations in Russian Provincial Courts in the First Half of the 18th Century)

Kosheleva, Olga

doi:10.18254/S0002505-4-1

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Deception and “the Genuine Truth” in Court Litigations (on the Materials of Interrogations in Russian Provincial Courts in the First Half of the 18th Century)

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Deception and “the Genuine Truth” in Court Litigations (on the Materials of Interrogations in Russian Provincial Courts in the First Half of the 18th Century)

Annotation

PII

S207987840002505-4-1

DOI

10.18254/S0002505-4-1

Publication type

Article

Status

Published

Authors

Olga Kosheleva Send message

Occupation: Senior Research Fellow
Affiliation: Institute of World History RAS
Address: Russian Federation, Moscow

Edition

Volume 9 Issue 9 (73)

Abstract

The article examines the issue of deception in civil and criminal litigations in the provincial judicial-administrative bodies in the eighteenth century. For the accused, deception represented the main tool of defense, even though they had to swear to speak only the truth while signing their testimony. In turn, judges were tasked to unmask instances of deception during interrogations. In addition to calling witnesses, they attempted to elicit the truth through various methods such as torture, swearing on the Gospel, and exhortations by priests. Because of the undeveloped process of inquiry, judges rarely succeeded in exposing a lie. For them, the main point was to obtain a “ruthful” confession from the accused. For a historian studying court litigations, it is often difficult to understand where the accused said the truth or lie. However, the significance of interrogations lies not in their truthfulness but in the fact that they contain various details about the everyday life of ordinary people, details which make them believable.

Keywords

deception, truth, criminal litigation, interrogation, provincial judicial-administrative bodies, 18th century Russia

Received

18.05.2018

Publication date

31.10.2018

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26016

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4708

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GOST	Kosheleva O. Deception and “the Genuine Truth” in Court Litigations (on the Materials of Interrogations in Russian Provincial Courts in the First Half of the 18th Century) // ISTORIYA. – 2018. – V. 9. – Issue 9 (73). URL: https://history.jes.su/s207987840002505-4-1/. DOI: 10.18254/S0002505-4-1
MLA	Kosheleva, Olga "Deception and “the Genuine Truth” in Court Litigations (on the Materials of Interrogations in Russian Provincial Courts in the First Half of the 18th Century)." ISTORIYA. 9.9 (73) (2018). DOI: 10.18254/S0002505-4-1
APA	Kosheleva O. (2018). Deception and “the Genuine Truth” in Court Litigations (on the Materials of Interrogations in Russian Provincial Courts in the First Half of the 18th Century). ISTORIYA. vol. 9, no. 9 (73) DOI: 10.18254/S0002505-4-1

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References

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