Civil death in the legislation of Empress Elisabeth Petrovna

Résumé 0

The concept of political or civil death first emerged in Russian legislation during the Petrine era – even though similar punitive practices already existed in the seventeenth century. However, the legal nature of, and procedure leading to, political death remained unclear until the mid-eighteenth century. The issue called for an immediate legal resolution, particularly following Empress Elizabeth Petrovna’s declaration that crimes subject to the death penalty should be punished “not by natural death, but by political death.” Drawing on new archival sources, the article examines the stance of the empress and her entourage regarding the practice and semiotics of criminal punishment. The formal recognition of civil death within Russian law and penal practice allowed the sovereign, by depriving criminals of their “civil life,” to preserve their biological existence. Consequently, the establishment of “political death” effectively led to the de facto abolition of the death penalty.