Fiscals. Fiscal service under Peter the Great Functions of fiscal officials under Peter the Great

V. Klyuchevsky

By decree of March 5, 1711, the Senate was ordered to elect a chief fiscal, an intelligent and kind man, no matter what his rank, who should secretly oversee all matters and inquire about unjust trials, “as well as in collecting the treasury and so on.” The Chief Fiscal brought the accused, “no matter how high,” to justice before the Senate and convicted him there. Having proven his accusation, the fiscal received half the fine from the person convicted; but even an unproven accusation was forbidden to blame the fiscal, even to annoy him for this “under severe punishment and ruin of his entire estate.” The Chief Fiscal acted through a network of subordinate fiscals spread across all regions and departments. Since, according to the decree, each city must be equipped with one or two fiscals, and cities were then counted up to 340, then all such detectives, metropolitan, provincial and city and departmental, could be at least 500. Subsequently, this network became even more complex: in The fleet had its own chief fiscal with special subordinate fiscals. The irresponsibility of fiscal officials led to arbitrariness and abuse, which were not slow to come to light. Chief Fiscal Nesterov himself, a zealous denouncer of all untruths, who did not spare even his direct superiors, senators, the supreme guardians of justice, not excluding Prince Ya.F. Dolgoruky, whose official correctness was a proverb, who brought the Siberian governor Prince Gagarin to the gallows with his denunciations - this same warrior of truth was caught in bribes, convicted and sentenced to death by being thrown on the wheel. Old Russian legal proceedings allowed reporting as a private means of initiating a court case, but the means were double-edged: by bringing the accused under torture, the reporting party could himself be subjected to it. Now denunciation has become a state institution, free from any risk. The establishment of the position of fiscal introduced a morally unsound motive into management and into society. The Great Russian bishops, indifferent and even incapable of moral education of their flock, remained silent as usual; but the Little Russian Metropolitan Stefan Yavorsky, guardian of the patriarchal throne, could not bear it and in 1713, on Tsar’s Day, in the presence of senators, in a sermon he directly called the decree on fiscal taxes a vicious law, adding to this transparent and reproachful allusions to the way of life of Peter himself. The senators forbade Stephen to preach; but Peter did not touch his high-ranking accuser and even, perhaps, remembered his sermon in 1714, giving the fiscal a more cautious and responsible formulation in the new decree and, among other things, assigning to him the prosecutorial duty of searching for “people's cases for which there is no petitioner " However, subsequently another Little Russian, Feofan Prokopovich, covered up the liberal sin of his fellow countryman by inserting into his Spiritual Regulations a bashful instruction that church unrest and superstitious customs should be reported to the bishop by those who commissioned them or by deans specially designated for this purpose, “like spiritual fiscals.” But soon the newly established Synod, abandoning false modesty and referring to the same Spiritual Regulations, introduced into its department not “as if”, but real spiritual fiscals, on the model of secular ones, only gave them something else, taken from Catholic terminology and more intelligible to spiritual ears the title of inquisitors, and ordered the recruitment of “purely conscientious” people for this position, of course from the monastic rank. Hieromonk Paphnutius, builder of the Moscow Danilov Monastery, was appointed proto-inquisitor. Without limiting denunciation to the circle of official relations, Peter's legislation tried to bring it to a wider field of action. Fiscalism was by law an auxiliary instrument of the Senate; but the senators treated the fiscals with contempt and rudeness, because they reported to the king and the Senate; Prince Ya. Dolgoruky in the Senate called them antichrists and rogues. Recognizing the rank of fiscal as difficult and hated and accepting it under his special protection, Peter wanted to create support for it in public morals. A series of publicly announced decrees, taking up arms against robbery and any crafty encroachment on state interests, called on all ranks of people “from the first even to the farmers” to come without fear and report to the tsar himself about the robbers of the people and the saboteurs of state interests; the time for such reports is from October to March; a truthful informer “for such service” will receive movable and immovable property, even the rank of criminal. According to the letter of the law, the peasant of Prince Dolgoruky, who truthfully denounced him, received his estate and the rank of general-kriegsplenipotentiary; and whoever, the decree added, knowing the violators of the decrees, does not notify, he himself “will be executed or punished without mercy.” Denunciation became not only for the fiscal, but also for the common man in the street, a “service”, a kind of duty in kind; Philistine consciences were selected for the treasury, like horses for the army. Encouraged by fines, investigation and denunciation turned into a craft, into earnings and, together with the fine, threatened to become the most active protection of law and order, even decency.

It says: “to arrange for fiscal officers on all sorts of matters, but what to do when news is sent to them”. Three days later, on March 5, a new decree ordered the establishment of the position chief fiscal; he was to have secret supervision over all matters; he had to monitor whether an unjust trial had been carried out anywhere, whether an illegal act had been committed "in collecting the treasury and other things". "Whoever commits a lie", the chief fiscal had to report this to the Senate, and if he really convicted the culprit, then half of the fine went to the treasury, and half to the fiscal.

The Ober-Fiscal was the highest official in secret supervision of affairs; there were in the provinces provincial-fiscals, one for each branch of management; they had “lower”, urban ones “under them”. It was said about them all that they “they have the same strength and freedom in everything as the chief fiscal officers”.

High position by no means guaranteed against secret surveillance and summons to the Senate; everyone was subject to him, "no matter how high the degree is". High-ranking officials could only be involved by the chief fiscal; this was the only difference in the degree of power of the chief fiscal and ordinary fiscals.

The last time fiscal officers attached to the troops were mentioned was in the city, when a special instruction was issued for them, obliging them to report observed violations to the inspectors of the troops.

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An excerpt characterizing the Fiscal

But for some reason no one was offended. Both of them, the old man and his beautiful granddaughter, answered any questions with friendly smiles, and it seemed that for some reason our presence really gave them sincere pleasure...
- My name is Anna, honey. And “really, really” I was completely burned once... But that was a very, very long time ago. Almost five hundred Earth years have already passed...
I looked in complete shock at this amazing girl, unable to take my eyes off her, and tried to imagine what a nightmare this amazingly beautiful and gentle soul had to endure!..
They were burned for their Gift!!! Just because they could see and do more than others! But how could people do this?! And, although I had long ago realized that no animal was able to do what a man sometimes did, it was still so wild that for a moment I completely lost the desire to be called this same “man.” ..
This was the first time in my life when I actually heard about real Sorcerers and Witches, in whose existence I had always believed... And now, having finally seen a real Witch in reality, I, naturally, terribly wanted to “immediately and everything- everything” ask her!!! My restless curiosity was “fidgeting” inside, literally squealing with impatience and begging me to ask now and definitely “about everything”!..
And then, apparently without noticing it myself, I was so deeply immersed in an alien world that had so unexpectedly opened up to me that I didn’t have time to react correctly in time to the suddenly mentally revealed picture... and a fire, terribly real in its eerie sensations, broke out around my body !..
The roaring fire “licked” my defenseless flesh with burning tongues of flame, exploding inside, and almost depriving me of my mind... Wild, unimaginably cruel pain overwhelmed me headlong, penetrating into every cell!.. Soaring “to the ceiling”, it hit me in a flurry unfamiliar suffering, which could not be appeased or stopped. Blinding, the fire twisted my essence, howling with inhuman horror, into a painful lump, not allowing me to breathe!.. I tried to scream, but my voice could not be heard... The world was collapsing, breaking into sharp fragments and it seemed that it could not be put back together ... The body blazed like a terrible festive torch... incinerating my wounded soul, which burned along with it. Suddenly, screaming terribly... I, to my greatest surprise, again found myself in my “earthly” room, still chattering my teeth from the unbearable pain that had so unexpectedly struck from somewhere. Still stunned, I stood, looking around in confusion, unable to understand who and why could do something like that to me...
But, despite the wild fright, I gradually managed to somehow pull myself together and calm down a little. After thinking a little, I finally realized that this, most likely, was just an all too real vision, which in its sensations completely repeated the nightmare that had once happened to the witch girl...
Despite the fear and still too vivid sensations, I immediately tried to return to the fairy-tale “ice palace” to my abandoned, and probably already very nervous, girlfriend. But for some reason nothing worked... I was squeezed like lemon, and there was no strength left to even think, let alone take on such a “journey.” Angry at myself for my “softness,” I again tried to pull myself together, when suddenly someone else’s force literally pulled me into the already familiar “ice” hall, where my faithful friend Stella was rushing about, bouncing excitedly.
- Well, what are you doing?! I was so scared!.. What happened to you? It’s good that she helped, otherwise you’d still be flying “somewhere” right now! – choking with “righteous indignation”, the little girl immediately blurted out.
I myself still didn’t really understand how this could happen to me, but then, to my great surprise, the voice of the unusual mistress of the ice palace sounded affectionately:
- My dear, you are Darina!.. How did you end up here? And you are alive!!! Are you still in pain? – I nodded in surprise. - Well, what are you doing, you can’t watch something like that!..
The girl Anna tenderly took my head, still “boiling” from searing pain, into her cool palms, and soon I felt how the terrible pain began to slowly recede, and after a minute it completely disappeared.
“What was that?..” I asked, stunned.
“You just looked at what happened to me.” But you still don’t know how to defend yourself, so you felt everything. You are very curious, this is your strength, but your trouble is also, dear... What is your name?
“Svetlana...” I said hoarsely, gradually coming to my senses. - And here she is – Stella. Why do you call me Darinya? This is the second time I've been called that, and I would really like to know what it means. If possible, of course.
– Don’t you know?! – the witch girl asked in surprise. – I shook my head negatively. – Darinya is “the one who gives light and protects the world.” And at times, even saving him...
“Well, I wish I could at least save myself for now!” I laughed sincerely. - And what can I give if I myself don’t know anything at all? And so far I’m making only mistakes... I still don’t know how to do anything!.. – and, after thinking, she added sadly. - And no one teaches! Maybe grandma sometimes, and then Stella... And I would so like to study!..
“The teacher comes when the student is READY to learn, dear,” the elder said quietly, smiling. “And you haven’t even figured it out within yourself yet.” Even in things that have been open to you for a long time.
In order not to show how much his words upset me, I tried to immediately change the topic and asked the witch girl a sensitive question that was persistently spinning in my brain.
- Forgive me for my indiscretion, Anna, but how could you forget such terrible pain? And is it even possible to forget this?..
– I haven’t forgotten, my dear. I simply understood and accepted it... Otherwise it would have been impossible to continue to exist,” the girl answered sadly shaking her head.
- How can you understand this?! And what do we understand about pain?.. – I didn’t give up. – Was this supposed to teach you something special?.. Sorry, but I never believed in such a “teaching”! In my opinion, only helpless “teachers” can use pain!
I was seething with indignation, unable to stop my racing thoughts!.. And no matter how hard I tried, I could not calm down.
Sincerely feeling sorry for the witch girl, at the same time I wildly wanted to know everything about her, which meant asking her a lot of questions about what could cause her pain. It was reminiscent of a crocodile, which, devouring its unfortunate victim, shed burning tears over it... But no matter how ashamed I was, I could not help myself... This was the first time in my short life when I almost I didn’t pay attention to the fact that I could hurt a person with my questions... I was very ashamed of this, but I also understood that for some reason it was very important for me to talk to her about all this, and I continued to ask, “closing on “all eyes”... But, to my great happiness and surprise, the witch girl, without being offended at all, calmly continued to answer my naive childish questions, without expressing the slightest displeasure.

With the establishment of the collegiums there appeared college fiscals, one for each board.

In August, N. M. Zotov was appointed state fiscal, that is “as an overseer, so that no one avoids duty or does anything else bad”.

But there were a lot of abuses, and there was a lot of scope for them. Provincial fiscals were independent of local authorities and were subordinate to their superiors, the chief fiscal. Obliged to inform, they were not persecuted for false denunciations; The decree directly states: “if you do not convict (the culprit, before the Senate), then the fiscal should not be blamed below to be annoyed, under cruel punishment and the ruin of his entire estate.”.

Stefan Yavorsky's attack against this institution is well known. On March 17, he made very clear hints about it in his sermon: “The law of the Lord is blameless, but the laws of men are defective; and some kind of law, for example, to appoint an overseer over the courts and give him the will of whomever he wants to expose, let him expose, whoever he wants to dishonor, let him dishonor...” etc. His words did not remain without influence. On March 17, a new order was issued in which the scope of action of the fiscals was defined much more precisely. They had to expose all kinds of crimes of decrees, all kinds of bribes and thefts of the treasury and everything that could lead "to the detriment of state interest", had to initiate cases for which there were no petitioners. For interference in court cases initiated by any of the parties, fiscal officials are punished. They are also persecuted for denunciations made for selfish purposes; if the denunciation turns out to be unfair, the fiscal bears the punishment that the person named by him would have suffered if he had really been guilty; The fiscal is also punished in cases where he did not report for his own selfish reasons.

The power of provincial fiscals was difficult to control; obliged to travel around the cities of the province once a year and check the actions of the lower fiscals, the provincial fiscals were invested with the power to remove them, subject them to penalties, etc., which again gave rise to abuses. In the city, their power was significantly constrained by the establishment of prosecutorial positions in all provinces. Prosecutors - this already open supervision of the court - not only limited their control over court cases, but were also generally an intermediary authority between them and the chief fiscal.

The institution of fiscals, discredited by the actions of its officials, was especially undermined by the abuses of its highest officials, the chief fiscals. The establishment of the position under Catherine I did not help matters either. fiscal general. The Supreme Privy Council under Peter II was busy investigating not only the crimes of the chief fiscals, but also the selfish acts of the fiscal generals.

Under Anna Ioannovna, fiscal taxes were abolished (). An institution aimed at secretly supervising all residents and all institutions could not bring any particular benefit; Fiscals were hated by everyone. The second chief fiscal officer, M.V. Zhelyabuzhsky, and his assistant A.Ya. Nesterov, soon after taking office, turned to the tsar with a complaint about the Senate, saying that they had a very bad time there: Senator G.A. Plemyannikov their otherwise "street judges" and didn’t call it, but Prince Yakov Dolgoruky directly called it antichrists And rogues.

But fiscal taxes undoubtedly brought some benefit. Nesterov's famous revelations (regarding Prince M.P. Gagarin, the same Dolgorukov, etc.) shed light on such abuses and crimes that without fiscal taxes would have completely eluded retribution. Nesterov also drew attention to the exploitation of small traders by wealthy merchants; were appointed merchant fiscals, obliged to secretly oversee the affairs of this class. However, Nesterov, this most active and intelligent of the highest-ranking fiscal officials, ultimately could not resist the temptation and was convicted of bribery and concealment.

Fiscals (military)- following the establishment of fiscals in the civil department, they were introduced into the troops by decree of the city. According to the Military Charter of 1716, regiments and fortresses had to have fiscal officers, divisions had to have chief fiscal officers with the rank of major, and the army had to have general fiscal officers with the rank of lieutenant colonel. According to the definition of the Military Regulations, the fiscal “there is an overseer over every rank, does he serve every position with truth and act in other matters entrusted to him?”. Fiscals were required to investigate and report crimes, support the prosecution in court and monitor the courts' compliance with the deadlines established by law for the consideration of cases; Fiscal officials only had to report violations of government interests to the commissariat. In cases where the accusation raised by the fiscals turned out to be unfounded, they could only be subject to light penalties for imprudence. By decree of February 22, 1723, the general-fiscals and chief-fiscals were raised in rank due to the fact that at first the fiscals were chosen “from the lowest people without certificates” and from among the chief-fiscals some turned out to be guilty "in great crimes and atrocities". Regimental fiscals by state

On February 22, 1711, Peter I established the Governing Senate, replacing the Boyar Duma. “On the establishment of the Governing Senate and two commissioners from the province “for demand” and monetary collections and financial management affairs.”

The Senate, consisting of 9 members, was the highest government institution in the country, but all legislative power belonged to the king. This body of power grew, and by the end of his reign, Peter moved to other forms of control over this body. Instead of the guard staff officers on duty, he appointed a senior official under the Senate - the Prosecutor General.

March 17, 1711 - “On entrusting the Governing Senate with regulations on the organization of state revenues...” with instructions to “collect money as much as possible... and... to carry out fiscals in all sorts of matters.”

The fiscals were subordinate only to a special person who was under the Senate - the Chief Fiscal General.

Fiscals were not entitled to salaries. If they could prove the guilt of the suspect, then the latter would face a large fine. Half of the money went to the fiscal, and the other to the treasury. If the denunciation was not proven, the informer was not punished.

Society did not accept fiscals from the very beginning.

And they took it too harshly - a year later they complained to the tsar about the Senate itself!

The most active among them was Alexey Nesterov, who came from the lower ranks of the people. This former peasant boldly attacked high-born aristocrats, incriminating them of embezzlement and dishonesty.

Nesterov was not afraid to take on Peter’s favorite, Prince Yakov Dolgorukov, who was famous for his incorruptibility. With facts in hand, the fiscal proved that the prince was evading taxes, appropriating state lands, and engaging in dubious commercial scams... Peter set Nesterov as an example to other fiscals and did him every favor. And he tried his best. In the end, Nesterov exposed his boss, Chief Fiscal Zhelyabuzhsky himself, of corruption.

Peter tore and threw. He replaced Zhelyabuzhsky with Nesterov with a decree to carry out a purge among the fiscal officials. Nesterov zealously got down to business. Soon he could report to the king that the new apparatus had been formed and was starting to work.

Since 1714, a special institution of fiscals arose, which were supposed to combat the abuses of officials.

Peter I established the position of fiscal general and his assistant - chief fiscal. Fiscals in provinces and cities were subordinated to them.

In 1715, a special auditor general was appointed to control the Senate itself. Naturally, Peter I appointed his favorites to all these posts. Thus, P.I. Yaguzhinsky became the Prosecutor General, and Nesterov became the Chief Fiscal General.

Revelations poured in one after another. The most high-profile processes of the 10s and early 20s were inspired by fiscal officials. Nesterov's victims were:

brother of Yakov Dolgorukov Grigory,

Senator Prince Volkonsky,

Astrakhan Governor Artemy Volynsky,

Siberian governor Prince Matvey Gagarin... The latter was hanged in March 1721 in front of his closest relatives, the tsar, ministers, and officials...

Nesterov was at the height of his fame. Peter awarded him orders and serfs. But suddenly thunder struck. It turned out that Nesterov alone caused damage in the amount of 300 thousand rubles.

On the morning of January 24, 1724, the executions of Chief Fiscal Nesterov and his three comrades, fiscals, accused of the most terrible bribery, were carried out. The executions were carried out on Vasilyevsky Island, in front of the Collegium building (now the building of St. Petersburg University).

A scaffold was erected in front of the high gallows on which Prince Matvey Gagarin had recently hung; behind him stood four tall poles with wheels, the spokes of which were covered with iron for half an arshin. These poles were intended to mount the heads of criminals when their bodies were tied to the wheels.

When the decorations were ready, the public flocked in, most of them were clerical and administrative officials who had received the strictest orders to be present at the execution...

The sovereign with many nobles looked from the windows of the audit board.

All three elders - fiscals, one after another, courageously laid their heads on the block.

The most painful of all was the execution of Nesterov.

They wheeled him around alive: first they crushed one arm, then a leg, then the other arm and the other leg. After that, one of the priests approached him and began to persuade him to confess his guilt, and Major Mamonov did the same on behalf of the Emperor. In this case, the Emperor promised to show mercy, that is, to immediately cut off the head. But the chief fiscal answered firmly that he had already expressed everything that he knew and then, as before the wheeling, did not utter another word. Finally, still alive, they dragged him to the place where the heads of three others had been cut off, laid him face down in their blood, and also beheaded him. Nine people received fifty lashes each, and four of them had their nostrils torn out with forceps...”

As a result of reforms of the central and local government apparatus, a huge army of officials was formed. And the larger and more numerous this apparatus was, the more it was susceptible to the disease that is characteristic of any bureaucracy - corruption (bribery and embezzlement), which especially grows in conditions of lack of control and impunity. Therefore, Peter I was preoccupied with searching for forms of control over the activities of the state apparatus. These forms were varied: departmental control of the board over the activities of their local commissioners; control of the Senate over the entire apparatus, including the collegiums; The audit board exercised financial control and audited accounts. But this was not enough. Therefore, in 1711 positions were established fiscals led by the fiscal general and his assistant, the chief fiscal (from the Latin fiscus - state treasury). Fiscal officials were called upon to protect the treasury by recruiting agents in government institutions and promptly identifying bribe-takers and embezzlers. In 1715, by a special decree, the tsar established that for denunciation of a bribe-taker and embezzler, as well as of those who are plotting against the state, the informer, if his denunciation is confirmed, will receive half of the property of the culprit, and the slave who denounced his master will also receive will. There was such a wave of denunciations in the country that in 1718 the tsar had to issue a decree that “scratch letters” (denunciations) should be burned in the place where they were found, without being opened or read. The fact is that the informers, fearing torture that was not uncommon in such cases, planted anonymous letters (“anonymous letters”) at the doors of government institutions or churches. Then, in 1722, Peter 1 issued a decree establishing the position of prosecutor general (“eye of the sovereign”). Subordinate to the Prosecutor General were chief prosecutors in the Senate and the Synod, prosecutors in collegiums and in provinces. They were required to attend meetings of those institutions in which they were established and exercise public general supervision over the legality and execution of decrees and commands of the emperor and the Senate. However, since the institution of fiscals was subordinate to the Prosecutor General, the prosecutor's office also supervised secret intelligence surveillance. And all institutions, including the Senate, and the Synod, and prosecutors, and fiscal officials were watched by the “watchful eye” of the Secret Chancellery.

But nothing helped. Bribery and embezzlement flourished. Thus, Chief Fiscal Nesterov himself was caught taking bribes and executed. The Siberian governor, Prince Gagarin, was executed because he managed to steal diamonds bought in China for the wife of Peter I while they were being transported through Siberia. And the tsar’s favorite, Prince Menshikov, was charged (the tsar obliged him to return the stolen goods) in the amount of almost the annual budget of the Russian Empire.

Fiscals. Fiscal service under Peter the Great Functions of fiscal officials under Peter the Great

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An excerpt characterizing the Fiscal