CHAPTER 21. -- Robbery and Theft Cases. In It Are 104 Articles.

1. Concerning robbers who rob and kill people and thieves who steal in Moscow province, in the provincial towns, in the urban taxpaying districts, and in the provinces: such robbery, and homicide, and theft cases shall be resolved in the Felony Chancellery.

2. Concerning felons who steal and commit various homicide offenses in Moscow: those cases shall be resolved in the Moscow Administrative Chancellery, and in no event in the Felony Chancellery.

3. Senior officials and sworn men of the felony control administration shall resolve robbery, and homicide, and theft cases in the provincial towns according to directives from the Felony Chancellery. Governors in no event shall resolve such cases in the provincial towns. But where there are no senior officials of the felony control administration, in those towns governors and chancellery officials shall resolve cases [in the jurisdiction] of the felony control administration.

4. Worthy and prosperous dvoriane, who have been discharged from service because of superannuation or because of wounds, or whose children and kinsmen are serving for them, and who are literate, shall serve as senior officials of the felony control administration [with jurisdiction] over such cases in the provincial towns. Those who are illiterate shall not be elected as senior officials of the felony control administration.

In the towns where there are no dvoriane, elect in those towns similarly worthy and prosperous people from the deti boiarskie as senior officials of the felony control administration as written above in this article.

Senior officials of the felony control administration shall serve in the provincial towns upon election by dvoriane, and deti boiarskie, and townsmen, and residents of all ranks, and provincial taxpayers.

Conduct the elections for those senior officials of the felony control administration among the dvoriane, and among deti boiarskie, and among townsmen and residents of all ranks, and provincial taxpayers over their signatures.

Those election documents, and the dvoriane and deti boiarskie who have been elected senior officials of the felony control administration, shall be sent from the provincial towns to the Felony Chancellery in Moscow. In the Felony Chancellery bring the senior officials to the cross [to take the oath of service] according to a text, a text on that matter which is in the Felony Chancellery.

Once they have been brought to the cross, dismiss them to the provincial towns with directive memoranda. Issue the directive memoranda over the state secretary's signature: how they are to conduct robbery, and homicide, and theft cases.

[Serving] under oath with the senior officials of the felony control administration in the provincial towns in robbery and theft cases shall be sworn assistants and scribes of the felony control administration, and prison guards at the prisons, after election by the taxpayers. They shall be brought to the cross [to swear the oath] by the governors in the presence of the senior officials of the felony control administration in the provincial towns.

Send the texts according to which those sworn assistants of the felony control administration, and the scribes, and the guards shall take the oath in the provincial towns from the Felony Chancellery to the provincial towns over the signature of a state secretary.

Do not send the sworn assistants, and scribes, and guards of the felony control administration from the provincial towns to Moscow to take the oath.

5. Issue orders to the senior officials of the felony control administration sternly, and write to them in the directives with great emphasis that they are to investigate thieves and robbers, to review the situation, and to be on constant guard so that there will be no robbers' camps and refuges for thieves and robbers anywhere.

6. Try plaintiffs' suits against senior officials, and sworn assistants of the felony control administration, and scribes of felony control administration affairs, in the Felony Chancellery.

7. If plaintiffs proceed to petition against a senior official of the felony control administration [accusing him of] enmity, or favoritism: order a senior official of the felony control administration of another town to resolve that case with that senior official of the felony control administration against whom the petition is filed.

8. Concerning people who bring a thief or robber into the felony control administration office; and those robbers or thieves proceed to accuse those people, and their slaves and peasants who have brought them into the felony control administration office, of robbery, or theft, or any other felony: do not believe that so that all people, apprehending felons, fearlessly will bring them for arraignment to the felony control administration office.

9. If a thief is brought in, and one theft is attributed to him: torture that thief about other thefts and homicide. If he does not confess under torture to other thefts and homicide, but testifies that he stole for the first time, and did not commit a homicide: beat that thief with the knout for the first theft, cut off his left ear, and imprison him for two years, and give out his properly in shares to the plaintiffs. Having taken him out of prison, send him in chains to work as a slave of various forced labor projects wherever the sovereign decrees.

When he has sat out the two years in prison, send him to the southern frontier towns, wherever the sovereign decrees. Order him to remain in the southern frontier towns, in the rank befitting him.

Issue him a letter over the signature of a state secretary [stating] that he sat out the sentence in prison for his felony and has been released from prison.

10. If that same thief is apprehended in a second theft: torture him about other thefts accordingly. If he confesses only to two thefts, and [says] that he did not commit a homicide: after the torturing, beat him with the knout and, having cut off his right ear, imprison him for four years. Having taken him out of prison, send him to [work] on the sovereign's various forced labor projects, accordingly in chains.

When he has sat out the sentence in prison: exile him to the frontier towns, wherever the sovereign decrees.

Issue him a letter [stating] that he sat out the sentence in prison for the second theft and has been released from prison.

11. For swindlers compile that same decree which has been decreed shall be compiled for thieves for a first theft.

12. If a thief is brought in, and three, or four, or more thefts are attributed to him: having tortured that thief, punish him with death, even though he did not commit a homicide. Distribute his movable property to the plaintiffs in shares.

13. If a thief commits a homicide at the first theft, punish him with death.

14. Punish church thieves also with death without the slightest mercy. Give back their movable property [to compensate for] the church thefts.

15. Concerning felons who commit felonies in Moscow and in the provincial towns; they play cards and dice, and having lost, they commit felonies: walking along the streets, they slash and rob people, and tear off caps: compile a solemn decree about such felons in Moscow, in the provincial towns, and in the provinces, and the criers shall cry it out for many days.

If such felons appear somewhere: people of various ranks, having apprehended them, shall bring them to the [Felony or the Moscow Administrative] Chancellery.

And when someone, having apprehended such felons, brings them to the [Felony or the Moscow Administrative] Chancellery: after interrogating such felons in the [Felony or the Moscow Administrative] Chancellery, conduct a rigorous investigation about them employing all methods of inquiry.

If it is established conclusively about their felony that they are playing dice and cards; and walking about the streets, they are committing felonies, they slash and rob people, and they tear off caps: compile for those felons that same decree as is written above this for thieves.

If someone, seeing such felons somewhere, does not apprehend [them], and does not bring them to the [Felony or the Moscow Administrative] Chancellery; and it would have been possible to apprehend them; and that is also established conclusively: collect a fine from those people of .50 ruble per person.

16. If a robber is brought in, torture him. If he confesses under torture that he robbed for the first time, but did not commit a homicide: after the torturing, cut off the right ear of that robber for his first robbery, imprison him for three years, and hand out his movable property in shares to the plaintiffs.

Having taken him out of prison, send him in chains to perform slave labor wherever the sovereign decrees.

When he has sat out three years in prison, send him to the southern frontier towns, wherever the sovereign decrees. Order him to remain in the southern frontier towns, in whatever rank befits [him]. Issue him a letter over the state secretary's signature [stating] that he has sat out the sentence in prison for his felony, and has been released from prison accordingly.

17. If a robber is apprehended in a robbery a second time: torture him accordingly, and [also] about other robberies. If he confesses only to two robberies, and even though he did not commit a homicide: punish him with death for the second robbery. Hand out his movable property in shares to the plaintiffs.

18. Concerning robbers who testify against themselves in an interrogation and under torture that they were at one robbery, and at that same robbery committed a homicide, or set fire to houses or grain: punish those robbers with death for a first robbery.

19. Send the sovereign's charters about thieves and robbers to the provincial towns. Order the criers to cry it out in the urban taxpaying districts, and settlements, and in the provinces, in the villages and in hamlets, and around the market places, and compile a stern decree that if such people who have their ears cut off turn up somewhere, and they do not have in their possession letters stating that they were released from prison: having arrested such people, bring them to the governors, and to chancellery officials and senior officials of the felony control administration in the provincial towns. The governors and chancellery officials shall interrogate those people. Write to the sovereign in Moscow for a decree after the interrogation, and hold those people in prison until the sovereign's decree [arrives].

20. If someone proceeds to conceal and harbor such people at his house, and does not bring them to the governors, and to chancellery officials, and to senior officials of the felony control administration, and someone else denounces him: collect a fine of 10 rubles from him for that so that others looking on will learn not to do that, and so that there will be no refuge for thieves and robbers anywhere.

21. If robbers are arrested during robberies, or at their camps, and under interrogation and under torture they proceed to testify against themselves and their accomplices about many robberies, and murder, and arson of houses, and for that felonious behavior of theirs it becomes necessary to punish them with death; and their accomplices, against whom they proceed to testify, are not present at the investigation at the time: detain such felons for the investigation of their accomplices in prison for half a year.

If their accomplices are not found in half a year: punish those felons with death after half a year.

Do not detain such felons for more than half a year in prison so that such felons, sitting in prison for a long while, will not be freed from the death penalty, and so that innocent people will not be slandered.

22. Having appraised the movable property of robbers and thieves, give it as payment to the plaintiffs. If the robbers' and thieves' movable property is insufficient to pay the claims: exact those claims in shares from those shown during investigation [to have been accomplices].

23. Concerning robbers who testify in plaintiffs' suits against themselves and against their accomplices under torturings that they committed robberies, and what they took in the robberies, and they testify about that explicitly, and they testify that they took no more than that: the plaintiffs shall exact in their suits [the amount] which the robber testified [that he took in the robbery].

24. Concerning the robber who testifies under torture that he robbed someone, and that he took his movable property; but he testifies that he does not remember what movable property he and his accomplices took: award those plaintiffs one-quarter of their claims in response to their petition.

25. Concerning robbers who testify under torturings that they robbed someone, and they took his movable property, and they testify explicitly about what movable properly they and their accomplices took; but concerning the rest of the plaintiffs' movable property they testify that they do not remember who took what: in accord with that testimony of the robbers, order the plaintiffs to exact in their suits [the amount] which the robbers explicitly testified [they took in the robbery]. Collect one-quarter of the remainder of their claims which the robbers say that they do not remember.

26. Concerning the movable property of robbers which remains after the plaintiff's share [has been satisfied]: having appraised that remaining property, sell it for the sovereign.

27. If the robbers' movable property is insufficient to satisfy the share due the plaintiff: do not give that to the plaintiff from the property of other robbers. Do not make good that shortfall at the expense of the shares [collected from] other robberies.

28. If some people are apprehended in a robbery, and those robbers do not proceed to testify against themselves about the robbery under torturings: conduct an investigation about those people around their place of habitation.

If many of the people being interrogated testify in the investigation that they know those robbers, and those people being interrogated in the investigation accuse them of robberies and other wicked deeds: after the investigation, torture those people a second time.

If they do not proceed to testify against themselves under a second torturing: cast them in prison on the basis of the evidence gathered in the investigation.

29. But if they testify about them in the investigation that they are worthy people, and do not know of any evidence against them: on the basis of the testimonies obtained under torture and of the investigations, release those [people] on cash bonds to those same people who commended their character [and guaranteed] that they would not commit any felony.

30. Concerning people who bring in for arraignment someone caught red-handed with stolen property; and they allege that the stolen property is theirs; and, having brought him in for arraignment, they do not proceed to petition for a decree for two weeks: on the basis of the sovereign's decree, reject those people for that.

If someone, having brought in for arraignment someone caught red-handed with stolen property, alleges that that stolen property [in the possession of the accused] belongs to their relatives or friends; and their relatives and friends are not in Moscow or in the provincial town where the stolen property was seized; and that they cannot the a suit promptly without contacting those people to whom the stolen property belongs; and they proceed to petition for a continuance: grant such people, whoever seizes stolen property belonging to someone else, a continuance based on the distance to the primary plaintiffs, according to the sovereign's decree. Order them to present the plaintiffs [to sue] for that stolen property apprehended with the accused on specified dates, calculated on the basis of the distance. If someone who has been granted a continuance based on the distance fails to present the plaintiff [to sue] for the property apprehended with the accused on the specified date: reject them in that matter after the specified date based on the distance, and set free those people brought in for arraignment [who were apprehended] red-handed with stolen property.

31. Concerning plaintiffs who, not awaiting a decree, proceed to settle [out of court] with robbers or with people brought in for arraignment [who were apprehended] red-handed with stolen property, and proceed to bring reconciliation petitions to the [Felony] Chancellery: that settlement of theirs is null and void. Compile for the robbers the decree that is necessary for each person, according to the sovereign's decree.

Levy a fine, depending on the case, on the plaintiffs for that [because of the rule]: do not settle with robbers [out of court].

32. Concerning robbers and thieves who are brought to torture: torture those robbers and thieves even on those days when it is a holiday of the sovereign or any other holiday because robbers and thieves assault, torture, burn with fire, and kill Orthodox Christians on holidays too.

33. Concerning felons, thieves and robbers, who proceed to sit in prison for up to half a year, and, conniving feloniously, proceed to bring an oral accusation of theft and robbery against other people for their own gain, although at first in the interrogation and under torturings they did not speak against them about this: do not believe those oral accusations of theirs so that harassment and financial losses will not be inflicted on innocent people this way.

34. Concerning thieves and robbers whom it becomes necessary to punish with death: imprison them in a special hut for six weeks of penance, and when the specified days have expired for them: execute such thieves and robbers.

35. Concerning people about whom it is testified in an investigation that they are felons, thieves or robbers: arrest those people on the basis of the investigation, and seal their houses and their movable properly and threshed grain in the houses. Also inventory their standing grain and sown grain. Order the local and neighboring people there to guard it under bonds until the case is resolved.

Torture those felons on the basis of the investigations for robberies and thefts. If they proceed to testify against themselves and their accomplices, arrest the accused people on the basis of their oral accusations. Having accordingly made an inventory, seal their houses, and the movable property and grain in the houses. Arrange an eye-to-eye confrontation of those accused people with the informers and interrogate them.

If the informer recognizes any person at the visual confrontation, and proceeds to say those same things against him that he testified against him in his absence in the interrogation and under torture, and that accused man proceeds to petition for an investigation: place that person in custody of a bailiff. Inquire about him by a grand general investigation.

If in the general investigation they call him a felon: torture him on the basis of the oral accusation and the general investigation which indicates that he is a felon. Only if he proceeds to testify against himself and his accomplices about a robbery: compile for him a decree according to the [present] Law Code. [Apply] that same statute as is written about that above this to that person who spoke against him.

Sell their property in shares [to satisfy] the plaintiffs' suits.

36. If they find someone blameless in investigations: after the investigations give him on a registered cash bond to those people who testified and found him blameless in the investigation, so that in the future he will not steal, and will not rob, and will not offer refuge at his house to felons, thieves and robbers, and will not trade in movables acquired by thieves and robbers, and will not commit any other felony.

If and when a [new] case is brought against him: the guarantors shall present him. On the basis of an informer's oral accusation collect the shares for the plaintiffs' claims from him, and, having unsealed his property, give it back to him.

If there is any accusation of robbery against him, but the people being interrogated conceal [information about] him in that investigation: torture him, and compile for him the decree that is necessary.

Compile a decree for the people who were interrogated for their false testimony like that written about that above this in the chapter [10] on the judicial process.

37. Concerning an accused person who is put on a cash bond: and while on bail proceeds to commit any felony: arrest such a person, and compile for him the necessary decree accordingly. Exact from his guarantors the shares [to pay off the plaintiffs] because he committed a felony under their bond.

38. If an informer accuses someone of robbery or theft in an interrogation and under torture, and recognizes him in a visual confrontation; and he proceeds to testify the same thing against him during the eye-to-eye [confrontation]; and if that man is a vagrant and does not proceed to petition for an investigation, but testifies that they know him nowhere: torture that person on the basis of the informer's denunciation.

If under torture for robbery and theft he proceeds to testify against himself about a homicide during that robbery, or that home arson was [committed]: punish him with death.

If he does not proceed to testify against himself, release him on a written cash bond. If there is no bond, imprison him until there is bond for him.

39. If felon-robbers, three or four men, or more, are arrested in a single robbery; and under torturings they proceed to accuse distinguished people, dvoriane, of deti boiarskie, or merchants who prior to this were never in an arraignment, were not implicated in any felony, and were never under any suspicion, and those accused people proceed to petition for an investigation, that an investigation be conducted about them [to prove] that they have not committed any felony, and were never implicated in any felony: in response to their petition, conduct an investigation about such people.

If they are found blameless in the investigation: release them on a written cash bond, return [their] movable property to them, and do not collect shares from them.

If they say about them in the investigation that they are felons: torture them on the basis of those investigations.

If under torture they confess to robbery and homicide: punish them with death, and sell their property in shares [to satisfy plaintiffs' claims]. Rigorously torture people accused of robbery the first time, and a second time, and a third time.

40. If two or three robbers under torturings proceed to accuse people of being accessories in a robbery: torture those accessories on the basis of the informers' accusations without an investigation. Compile for them the decree that is necessary.

41. Concerning people accused of robbery by informers under torture, but who do not testify under tortures against themselves, but in investigations many people call them felons: on the basis of the informers' accusations and the bad character references given in the investigations, punish those people with death. Sell their movable property in shares [to satisfy plaintiffs' claims].

42. Concerning someone accused of a robbery by an informer, and in the investigation half of the people call him a law-abiding person, and the other half call him a felon: torture that man. If under torture he does not proceed to testify against himself about the robbery: release that person on a cash bond to the people who were interrogated who commended his character in the investigation. Because of the informer's denunciation, collect from him [the accused] a share [of the compensation due the plaintiff].

If there are more people being interrogated in that half who call him a felon, fifteen of twenty people: believe that half [i.e., the majority]. Torture that person rigorously. If the person being tortured does not proceed to testify against himself: on the basis of the informer's denunciation and the investigations imprison that person until the sovereign [issues] a decree. Distribute his movable property in shares [to the plaintiffs].

If subsequently he is accused of another felony in a robbery case: punish that person with death.

Compile a decree for the people who were interrogated who falsely commended his character like that written about that above this in the chapter [10] on the judicial process.

43. Concerning the person who is accused of a robbery by two of three informers, and while being tortured he does not testify against himself, but proceeds to petition for an investigation, and in the investigation [the people being interrogated] testify about him that they do not know him: imprison him until the sovereign [issues a] decree.

If in the investigation they testify about him that they know him, but they do not know whether he is a worthy man or a felon: similarly imprison that person until the sovereign [issues a] decree. Sell his movable property in shares [to satisfy plaintiffs' claims].

44. Concerning people whom informers accuse of robbery in absentia, but proceed not to testify against them [when they are in an] eye-to-eye [confrontation], and cannot recognize them among many people; or, recognizing them, they proceed to retract the accusation against them: torture those informers rigorously, [to learn] whether it was by secret agreement that they did not recognize them or, having recognized them, are [now] retracting the accusation.

If they testify under torture that they slandered them: place those people in custody of the bailiffs, and conduct an investigation about them. If they say about them in the investigation that they are felons: torture those people.

If they proceed to testify against themselves about a robbery, punish them with death. If they do not proceed to testify against themselves under torturings, imprison them after the investigations until the sovereign [issues a] decree.

If the informers testify that they retracted the accusation against them by secret agreement: arrest those people who have approached [the informers to obtain that agreement], arrange an eye-to-eye confrontation with them and interrogate them, and conduct an investigation by all methods of inquiry. If they did approach the informers so that they would retract the accusation against the accused people: beat them with the knout and collect [the plaintiffs'] shares from them.

If they are found blameless in investigation: set them free without [forcing them to pay] the shares [to satisfy plaintiffs' claims]

45. If an informer denounces someone's slaves or custodians for a robbery or a theft: and those people whose slaves and custodians the informer denounced testify that they have such slaves and custodians in their houses, but do not present them: collect the shares [to satisfy plaintiffs’ claims] from them for those slaves and custodians. Put them on solid written bonds with a deadline when they will present those slaves and custodians of theirs for a visual confrontation with the informers. When they present them, arrange an eye-to-eye confrontation of those slaves with the informers. Interrogate them and compile the decree that is necessary for each person accordingly.

46. If those people whose slaves or custodians have been denounced by an informer testify that they never had such slaves or custodians in their house; and they proceed to petition for an investigation: investigate this matter [by asking] many people [living] around their domicile whether or not they had such slaves or custodians in their houses.

If they testify in the investigation that such slaves or custodians were in their houses: collect the shares in the plaintiffs' suits from them for those slaves and custodians. Release them on written bond with a deadline when they will present such slaves for a visual confrontation with the informers accordingly. When they present them, arrange an eye-to-eye confrontation of them and the informers in the presence of many people, interrogate them, and compile for them the decree that is necessary for each person.

If they testify in the investigations that they never had such slaves and custodians in their houses: do not take shares from them for those slaves and custodians.

47. Concerning dvoriane, and chancellery officials, and deti boiarskie, and their slaves, or custodians, or peasants who are accused of robbery by informers: on the basis of the informers' accusations, arrest those dvoriane, and chancellery officials, and deti boiarskie, and their slaves, and custodians, and peasants. Having accordingly made an inventory of their houses and movable property and grain in response to the informers' accusations: seal them. Also arrange an eye-to-eye confrontation of them with the informers accordingly. Interrogate them and conduct a rigorous investigation using all methods of inquiry.

If it becomes necessary to use torture, first torture their slaves, or custodians, or peasants. If their slaves, or custodians, or peasants proceed to testify against [their masters] themselves in the robbery: torture those dvoriane, or chancellery officials, and deti boiarskie themselves, and compile for them, as for other felons, the decree that is necessary for each person accordingly.

48. Concerning dvoriane, and chancellery officials, and deti boiarskie who arraign their own slaves, or peasants, or custodians, and accuse them explicitly of robbery, or theft, or conspiracy, but informers have not testified against them: interrogate those slaves after arraignment. Torture them without conducting an investigation, and compile the decree that is necessary for each person.

49. Concerning plaintiffs who [accuse] people by name in petitions of thefts and robberies in which no one was apprehended red-handed with the goods, and there have been no denunciations by informers and no claims of felonious character in an investigation: send those petitioners to the Judicial Chancellery to which they are subordinate.

If it is determined in the Judicial Chancellery that those robbery cases should go to torture: send those plaintiffs and defendants from the Judicial Chancellery to the Felony Chancellery.

50. If they arraign a person [caught] red-handed with stolen property; and they take the stolen property away from him with the cooperation of the bailiffs and witnesses, and that person fails to exonerate himself for having possession of that stolen property and he does not show that he obtained [it] legally: on the basis of the stolen property in his possession, torture that arraigned person and compile the decree that is necessary.

51. If felons steal movable property from someone, or take [it] in a robbery: those people [the victims] shall submit written declarations about that [stolen] movable property of theirs in the chancelleries and to the governors and senior officials of the felony control administration in the provincial towns. They shall describe explicitly that movable property of theirs in the declarations.

If subsequently they claim that movable property of theirs in someone's possession; and those people from whom they claim the stolen properly cannot show that they obtained it legally: on the basis of that stolen property, torture those people from whom they claimed any of the other movable property they have, movable property of theirs which is written down in their declarations. Conduct an investigation by all methods of inquiry, as becomes necessary.

If someone claims something in someone's possession and testifies that felons stole that stolen property from his house, or took it in a robbery with other movable property of his: but he does not produce declarations on that stolen property and on the other movable property of his which was taken from him with that stolen property: on the basis of that stolen property do not torture those people from whom it was claimed because there are no declarations on that stolen property.

Grant a trial to the plaintiffs in that case against those people [from whom] something in their possession has been claimed. At trial administer an oath, a kissing of the cross, so that deliberate losses will not be inflicted on anyone in such cases.

52. If someone buys a horse in Moscow, in the provincial towns, or in the provinces: the buyers shall register those horses in the customs books by their color, and age, and markings. If someone buying a horse does not register it in the books, and that is established conclusively: collect from him a fine for evading customs for that, according to the sovereign's decree.

If someone claims such an unregistered horse and sues for something else along with the horse: having taken that horse from him, return it to the plaintiff. Grant a trial for the rest of the suit against him. After trial, compile the decree that is necessary.

53. If someone [who is] in the sovereign's service in the regiments buys a horse, a serviceman from another serviceman; and someone else claims that horse from him, and that person, from whom he purchased the horse, denies ever having the horse and testifies that he did not sell that horse to him: grant him [the buyer] a trial in that case against that seller. After trial and investigation compile for them the decree that is necessary. Do not give a verdict without trial against anyone in the matter of such horses which are purchased in the regiments because in the service servicemen [regularly] buy such horses without registering them.

54. Concerning a person caught red-handed with stolen property whom plaintiffs arraign without a bailiff; and that arraigned person, who was arraigned with that stolen property, proceeds to petition that the plaintiffs illegally planted that stolen property on him: investigate that matter rigorously by all methods of inquiry [at the place] where they caught him red-handed with the stolen property: compile the decree that is necessary for each person on the basis of what they say in the investigation.

If there is no one to interrogate in an investigation: grant them a trial in that [matter]. After trial compile the decree that is necessary accordingly.

55. If they testify in the investigation that the plaintiffs illegally incriminated that arraigned man: inflict a severe punishment for that on those people who illegally incriminated him, beat them mercilessly with the knout in the presence of many people. Those people whom they illegally incriminated shall exact their dishonor compensation two-fold from them so that others looking on will learn not to do that.

56. If someone in a similar felonious plot deliberately plants something by stealth on someone; and it is accordingly established conclusively about that plant of his that he falsely planted [something] on someone out of a deliberate desire to ruin him: after investigation, inflict a severe punishment for such a felonious plant on those people who deliberately planted [something] on someone accordingly, beat them mercilessly with the knout in the presence of many people. Those people on whom they plant something shall exact their dishonor compensation two-fold from them so that others looking on will learn not to do that and so that no one will suffer deliberate expenses and losses at anyone's hands in such cases.

57. Concerning the person who refuses to surrender stolen property in his possession to bailiffs and witnesses: or they take the stolen property from him, but he takes that stolen property back from them: conduct an investigation about that among the witnesses and people of the vicinity. If they also testify against him that he did not allow that stolen property to be removed from his house, or if he took back the stolen property: torture that person and compile the decree that is necessary.

58. Concerning the person who is arraigned for a robbery or a theft with stolen property, or after an informer's denunciation, or after an investigation in which his good character was questioned; and he testifies against himself in the inquiry without being tortured: torture that person about other robberies and thefts and compile for him the decree that is necessary.

59. If a robbery is committed somewhere, and people of the vicinity hear the cry and the yell of the people being assaulted when the robbers are robbing them, and those people do not come running at the cry and the yell and do not rescue them, or after a robbery the people who have been robbed proceed to summon people to chase and track the robbers; and those people do not chase the robbers or track them; and plaintiffs proceed to sue them: conduct an investigation about that among the neighbors who did chase and track them at that time.

If in the investigation they testify against them that, hearing the cry of the assaulted people, they did not come to their aid, and did not chase the robbers or follow their track: collect the shares [due plaintiffs for their losses] from those people for not offering them protection and for disobedience, and inflict a severe punishment, beat [them] mercilessly with the knout.

60. Concerning people whom robbers rob, or thieves steal from, and the plaintiffs, having assembled, follow the track of those robbers and thieves to a village, or to a hamlet; and those people to whom they are led by the track do not lead the track away from themselves: hold an investigation of that, and interrogate the people engaged in the chase. If in the investigations the people engaged in the chase testify against them that they did not lead the track away: on the basis of the investigation and the testimony of the people engaged in the chase, torture those people and compile for them the decree that is necessary.

61. Concerning people investigated in urban taxpaying districts in the provincial towns and in villages and hamlets in the provinces who testify in an investigation that there are no robbers and thieves among them: but subsequently thieves and robbers are discovered among them, and it is discovered that they concealed them in the investigations: compile a decree for those people who were interrogated for their he like that written about investigated people for perjured investigations in chapter [10] of the judicial process above.

62. If a felon, a thief, or a robber is apprehended in Moscow in any hundred, or on any street: or in the urban taxpaying districts in the provincial towns or in the villages and hamlets in the provinces by people in the vicinity without [the assistance of] those people among whom he lived: torture that felon [to find out] who knew him in that place where he is apprehended.

If that felon testifies under torture that the local people, where he was arrested, all knew him, and concealed him: exact from all those people who concealed that felon a fine for the sovereign according to statute and shares for the plaintiffs, so that all people will learn not to keep felons and thieves and robbers among themselves, and so that there will be no refuge anywhere for felons, thieves, and robbers.

If that felon testifies under torture that [only] a few people knew him in that place where he was arrested: on the basis of that felon's testimony under torture exact a fine for the sovereign, and shares for the plaintiffs, only from those people who knew and concealed that felon, and not from all of the local people.

63. Concerning people [who provide] permanent havens and temporary shelters [to felons] whom informers denounce under torturings: on the basis of the informers' denunciations, arrest those people. After making an inventory of their movable property, seal it. Arrange an eye-to-eye confrontation of those people with the informers and interrogate them. Compile the same decree for them as for robbers.

Concerning people involved in conspiracies and those who aid and abet [criminals] whom informers denounce under torturings: on the basis of the informers' denunciations, arrest those people and seal their movable property. Arrange an eye-to-eye confrontation of those people with the informers and interrogate them. Compile the same decree for them as for robbers and ringleaders.

64. Concerning people whom informers under torturings proceed to denounce for storing movables gained in robbery and theft; and they testify that they stored [movables] with them which were gained in a robbery or theft or for cash; or the informers proceed to denounce someone for selling movables obtained in robberies on the basis of the informers' denunciation, investigate those accused people. Having investigated, arrange an eye-to-eye confrontation [of the accused] with the informers and interrogate them. If they do not deny storing or selling the movables acquired in robberies: torture them about storing and selling other goods acquired in robberies.

If they confess to something under torture: having exacted from them everything that they did not deny prior to the torture, and all that they confessed to under torture, distribute it in shares to satisfy the plaintiffs' claims, and release them on a written cash bond. If there is no bond, imprison them until bonds are posted for them.

If they deny storing or selling goods gained in a robbery: torture them in the matter accordingly, and after the torture compile the decree that is necessary.

65. If an informer denounces some people under torturings and testifies that he sold him movables acquired in a robbery for cash without a surety bond: collect the share [due the plaintiff] from that person [according to the rule]: do not buy [anything] without a surety bond.

Concerning those to whom [movables] were sold for cash with a surety bond: do not collect the share [due the plaintiff] from those people.

66. Concerning informers who denounce someone's slaves, and it becomes necessary to collect shares [due plaintiffs] from them: collect the shares for those slaves from those people whom they serve.

67. If such accused slaves die prior to the resolution of the case, and the case is resolved after their death, and it has become necessary to collect shares [due plaintiffs] from them: collect shares for those slaves who died prior to the resolution of a case from those people whom they served accordingly.

68. Concerning slaves who have lived outside someone's household, and while living there have committed felonies: collect the shares [due plaintiffs] from those slaves living outside the household themselves.

Concerning slaves living outside the household who die: sell the movable property of such slaves [to satisfy] the shares [of litigants] .

69. Concerning a homicide [in which] one master's slave kills [another] master's slave somewhere in the provincial towns, and in the urban taxpaying districts and in the settlements, and in the provinces ‑‑ in rural districts, in villages and in hamlets: torture that killer [to learn] in what manner the homicide happened, whether it was intentional, or an act of drunkenness, and unintentional.

If the killer proceeds to testify under torture that he killed unintentionally, in a fight, while drunk: after beating that killer with the knout, release him on a written cash bond [guaranteeing] that in the future he will not commit any felony. Having taken a bond on him, hand him over as a slave with his wife and children to that person whose slave he killed. Do not take away the wife and children of the killed slave from that master whose slave was killed.

If a plaintiff proceeds to petition about a debt of the killed slave, which he [the deceased] owed: reject [the petition] for the debt.

70. If that person to whom they proceed to hand over the killer, in the stead of his killed slave, proceeds to testify that that killer is a felon, and that he is unable to take him into his household: he shall exact 50 rubles for his killed slave from that person whom the killer is serving.

71. If a syn boiarskii, or his son, or kinsman, or steward kills someone's peasant; and that killer proceeds to testify about that homicide under torture that he killed in a fight, unintentionally, or while drunk: take a wealthy peasant with his wife and children (those children who are living together with him, and not separately) with all his movable property from that syn boiarskii, from his service landholding, and give them as peasants to that service landholder whose peasant was killed.

Do not take away the wife of the killed peasant, the children and movable property, from that service landholder whose peasant was killed.

Exact the registered debts of such killed peasants from such killers and imprison them until the sovereign [issues] a decree. Do not punish them with death. Reject [all claims] for unregistered debts.

72. If someone kills someone with intent, and it is established about that conclusively that he killed with intent: punish such a killer with death.

73. If someone's peasant kills someone else's peasant; and that killer testifies against himself under torture that he killed him while drunk, and not with intent: beat that killer with the knout and, putting him on a cash bond, give him to that service landholder whose peasant was killed with [his] wife, and with [his] children, and with [his] movable property, in the stead of that peasant who was killed.

Do not take away the wife, children, and property of the killed peasant front the previous service landholder accordingly.

If the plaintiff proceeds to petition that the killer is a known felon and does not want to accept him as one of his peasants; and he proceeds to petition that service landholder or hereditary estate owner for another peasant by name: give him that [peasant] of his choice, and in the place of that killer grant the plaintiff that peasant about whom he petitions, with the wife, and with the children, and with all the movable property, standing grain, and grain sown in the ground.

Having beaten the killer with the knout, return [him] to that [person] whose peasant he is.

74. Concerning the case in which robbers rob people, and the robbers are not found; but the plaintiffs claim stolen property ‑‑ any kind of thing ‑‑ from those robberies, and they write down large claims in petitions; and that person in whose possession [the allegedly stolen property] is claimed proceeds under torture to speak against someone that he purchased that stolen property from or traded [it] with someone; and someone posts a surety bond on himself or on a slave for that accused person [promising] that he will present that accused person on a specified date for a visual confrontation with the informer, but fails to present that person: exact all of the plaintiff's claim from that [person] in full, and put him on a written bond so that he will find that accused person and present him for a visual confrontation with the informer.

If he does not post such a bond on himself: if the accused is a house slave, a wealthy slave in the place of that accused slave; and if he is a peasant, seize a wealthy peasant for a visual confrontation with the informer, and torture [him] on the basis of the informer's denunciation [to learn] where that accused person is, whether he is being concealed, or whether he fled without [anyone's] foreknowledge.

75. If a plaintiff claims as his own property stolen in a robbery [which is] in someone's possession, a horse, or anything else; and the robbers are not personally present; and that person from whom [the property] is claimed proceeds to testify under interrogation against someone that he purchased that stolen property from him, or exchanged it with him; and at the visual confrontation that accused person denies it, [and] testifies that he did not sell that stolen property to him, but the stolen property was purchased, but it has not been registered in the books, and there is no purchase document or surety bond: torture that person in whose possession that stolen property was claimed.

If under torture he does not retract his accusation against that person from whom he says he purchased that stolen property: on the basis of the informer's denunciation, torture the seller as well.

If the seller confesses under torture that he sold him that stolen property: torture him [the seller] [to find out] from whom he got that stolen property, and after investigation compile a decree in that case.

If he does not confess: collect the share [claimed by the plaintiffs] from him and release him on a cash bond.

In response to the petition, exact the claim from that person at whose house the stolen property was claimed.

76. Concerning people who in an investigation are said by nearby neighbors to be felons, [are accused of] theft, or of robbery, or of homicide, or of receiving and harboring robbers, or of storing [stolen property], and of conspiracy; and those people whom the nearby neighbors call felons in investigations petition the sovereign for a second general investigation, and say about the first investigation that the nearby neighbors called them felons out of enmity: do not torture such accused people on the basis of the first investigation that indicated that they are felons, but send out [officials] to conduct a second investigation about them.

If in the second investigation many people call them law‑abiding people and do not accuse them of any felony, and in those second investigations in which they were called law‑abiding there are fifteen or twenty more people than in the investigations which called them felons: resolve that case on the basis of the [second] investigation.

Collect from the people who were interrogated in the first investigation and who unjustly called them felons a fine for the sovereign. Moreover, inflict a punishment on them for that according to the sovereign's decree, as is written about that above this in the chapter [10] on the judicial process.

77. Concerning people accused by informers of robbery, and of thefts, and of harboring [felons], and of participating with them in conspiracies, and of selling and storing goods acquired in thefts and robberies, and of various robbery and theft felonies; and those accused people are living on service landholdings and on hereditary estates belonging to the patriarch, and to metropolitans, and to archbishops, and bishops, and monasteries, and boyars, and okol'nichie, and stol'niki, and Moscow dvoriane, and state secretaries, and provincial dvoriane, and deti boiarskie, and servicemen of all ranks; and, having learned of the accusation, they flee because of that; and other people conceal the accused people in their houses, and [later] send them away from their houses, and they rescue others from the bailiffs: rigorously investigate that by [interrogating] many neighbors and [obtaining] many declarations.

If the investigation and declarations [establish] conclusively that the accused people fled prior to the informer's denunciation: do not collect the shares [due plaintiffs] from those people.

Concerning the case when the accused people flee [after learning of] the informer's denunciation: collect the shares [due plaintiffs] from those people under whom the accused people were living, and put them on surety bonds so that they will hunt down those accused people.

78. Concerning people who shelter accused people from an informer's denunciation, or send them away from their houses: collect from those people the shares [due plaintiffs] and a fine of 50 rubles for the sovereign.

Put them on surety bonds so that they, having hunted down the accused people, will present [them for trial].

79. If a service landholder, having discovered robbers on his holding, beats his own slaves or peasants; and not wishing to deliver them to the felony control administration for an investigation, he conceals the felons on his property; and that is established conclusively: confiscate the service landholding from such a service landholder for such a felony and hand it out in a distribution. Order the plaintiffs' claims exacted from them.

If a person who does not have a service landholding commits such a deed: inflict a severe punishment on him for such a felony, order him beaten with the knout around the market places. Exact the plaintiffs' claims from them accordingly.

80. If someone's slaves, or peasants, commit such a murderous deed without the knowledge of their masters: punish them themselves with death for such a deed, without any mercy.

81. Concerning people who rescue accused people from emissaries [of the court]: beat those people with the knout. Exact from them a fine of 50 rubles for the sovereign and the shares [due] plaintiffs. Put them on surety bonds [to] hunt down the accused people.

82. Concerning felons who steal or rob, and having committed the felonies, flee from that felony control administrative district to another felony control administrative district: the senior officials of that felony control administrative district to which they come to live shall interrogate them [about] where they formerly lived, and why they departed to live in another felony control administrative district.

If according to the testimony at the interrogation no case concerns them, and there are no plaintiffs against them: order those accused new comers to live with whomever they settled. Without interrogating those people about where they lived [previously], do not keep them in felony control administrative districts.

If they arrest criminals at someone's house in an urban taxpaying district in a town, or in a rural taxpaying district, and there are plaintiffs against them, and they accuse them of theft, or they arrested them for robbery at their houses: collect half the shares of plaintiffs' claims from those people with whom those criminals lived because they allowed those people to live with them and did not declare them to the senior officials of the felony control administration.

83. When they send out a bailiff to arrest thieves and robbers: he shall arrest thieves and robbers without any deception, and shall not favor anyone. Having arrested thieves and robbers, he shall not release them and shall not take bribes from them.

Concerning the bailiff who favors a thief or robber because of a bribe and releases him, and that is established conclusively: exact the plaintiff’s claim from that bailiff, and beat him with the knout, and cast him in prison.

84. Concerning the sworn assistant of the felony control administration who releases a robber or thief, or, having stolen the movable property [in the possession] of a robber or a thief, flees: distribute the movable property of that sworn assistant in shares [to satisfy] a plaintiff’s claim, half of what was sought in the suit. [If] his property is insufficient [to satisfy] half the plaintiff's claim, collect that remaining part of the claim from those people who elected that sworn assistant as one of the sworn assistants of the felony control administration.

Place those people who elected that sworn assistant on bond so that they, having hunted down that sworn assistant of the felony control administration who fled after stealing, will present [him for trial].

When those people who elected that sworn assistant of the felony control administration have found him: beat that sworn assistant of the felony control administration with the knout. Having beaten [him] with the knout, expel [him] from the ranks of the sworn assistants.

85. If in response to a petition of a plaintiff or a defendant it becomes necessary to conduct a general investigation about a robbery or theft case: how to investigate that by means of a general Investigation is written in the statute above this in the chapter [10] about the judicial process.

86. If thieves are in the custody of bailiffs at a bailiff’s house: that bailiff shall not put thieves on bond without an order.

Concerning the bailiff who, without reporting to a boyar and without the knowledge of a state secretary, puts thieves on bond, and that is established conclusively: exact the plaintiff's claim two‑fold from that bailiff. Moreover, beat him with the knout for that and cast him in prison until the sovereign [issues] a decree.

87. If someone learns that someone has stolen property at home, and wishes to remove that stolen property: he shall get a bailiff from the [Felony or the Moscow Administrative] Chancellery [to go after] that stolen property. The bailiff shall take with him witnesses, worthy people of the vicinity, who can be trusted and with those people he shall remove the stolen property from the place where he is sent to find it. After removing that stolen property he shall take it away to the [Felony or the Moscow Administrative] Chancellery with those same people in whose presence he removed that stolen property.

If no one is found in that house where the stolen property [is found]: take that stolen property to the [Felony or the Moscow Administrative] Chancellery with the witnesses accordingly. Investigate that stolen property in the [Felony or the Moscow Administrative] Chancellery and give the just verdict that is necessary according to statute. Without witnesses, the bailiff shall not remove the stolen property.

If someone does not allow a search for stolen property in his house and will not unlock his barn and other outbuildings; or takes away the stolen property and the thief from a bailiff and the witnesses, and that is established conclusively: after investigation, the plaintiff shall exact all of his losses in full from that person who did so.

88. If someone kills a thief caught red‑handed in his house: that very hour he shall exhibit that corpse to the neighbors. Having exhibited it, he shall bring it for registration in the [Felony or the Moscow Administrative] Chancellery.

If someone with people in the vicinity is chasing a thief; and that thief refuses to surrender on the road, or in a field, or in a forest, and proceeds to fight; and someone in the chase kills that thief, or wounds him: bring that dead or wounded thief with the stolen property which he stole to the [Felony or the Moscow Administrative] Chancellery together with the pursuers accordingly.

If someone, after apprehending a thief, and without bringing him to the [Felony or the Moscow Administrative] Chancellery, proceeds to torture him in his own home: the thief shall exact from him his dishonor compensation and maiming fee.

Concerning that for which he tortured him: he shall sue that thief for the theft at a trial. Order that that thief shall not be tortured outside of the [Felony or the Moscow Administrative] Chancellery.

If they removed stolen property in someone's house, and the wife and children knew about that stolen movable property: collect from them the share [due the plaintiff] according to statute.

If they are impoverished and have no means to pay anything: give them to the plaintiff as slaves until they work off the debt. Calculate for them the value of slave labor at the rate of 2.50 rubles per year for the female gender.

89. If someone steals harvested grain in the field, or hay, from someone, or proceeds by stealth to harvest the grain, and cart that grain from the field to his house; and after arresting him on the road with that stolen grain or hay, they bring him to the [Felony or the Moscow Administrative] Chancellery; and it is established about that conclusively that he stole the grain or hay: beat that thief with the knout for that theft, and order that which was stolen, having been exacted from him, returned to the plaintiff.

If those thieves do not allow themselves to be arrested, and they [other people] kill or wound one of those thieves: exhibit that killed or wounded [thief] to the neighbors promptly, bring [him] to the [Felony or the Moscow Administrative] Chancellery, and register [the event]. This will free [all concerned] from [any accusation concerning] that homicide.

If the thieves kill or wound that person whose grain it is, or his slave or peasant, when they are apprehending them in the grain or hay, and that is established conclusively: punish those thieves with death for that. Take that which they stole from their movable properly [to compensate the plaintiff].

90. If someone in a thievish manner catches fish from someone's pond or nurse pond, and they arrest that thief red‑handed; and about that it is justly established that he stole for the first time: beat such [a person] with bastinadoes.

If that same [person] is arrested red‑handed [with stolen fish] a second time, beat such [a person] with the knout for such an offense.

If that same [person] is arrested red‑handed [with stolen fish] a third time, and albeit the value of the stolen property is less than .10 ruble: punish such [a person] by cutting off his ear.

91. If anything belonging to someone disappears at the time of a fire or any other time; and subsequently he recognizes those lost items of his at someone's house, and he claims them: he shall sue that person from whom he is claiming [the property] at trial, as for theft.

If that [person] from whose possession that stolen property was removed testifies that he took that stolen property at a fire, or fished it out of water, but he did not loot it; and he declared and registered [it] in the [Felony or the Moscow Administrative] Chancellery; and it is established about that conclusively that the stolen property was not taken by looting: order that person who is claiming that stolen property to redeem that stolen property from him. He shall pay a redemption equal to one‑half the market price.

92. Concerning people who are sitting in prison because of plaintiffs' suits; and the plaintiffs' claims are being exacted from them [in the righter] while in prison; and the plaintiffs are not at the righter; and they have been sitting in prison for five years and more: place those people on written appearance bonds, so that when they are requested, the guarantors will present them. Do not exact [in the righter] the plaintiffs' claims from them without [the presence of the] petitioners [who request that it be done].

93. Concerning people against whom informers proceed to testify under a first and second torturing; and after the third torturing it becomes necessary to execute those informers; and those informers, going to the execution, proceed to retract their denunciations against those people against whom they testified [earlier]: do not believe that retraction of theirs.

94. Prisons in Moscow shall be built by the Felony Chancellery at the expense of the sovereign's treasury.

95. Taxpayers of the Moscow taxpaying hundreds and settlements shall serve as sworn assistants and guards at Moscow prisons on a salary. Annually collect the money for the salary for those sworn assistants and guards from those same hundreds and settlements. Hold elections for those posts among the taxpayers living in the hundreds, over their signatures.

96. Fill the ranks of the executioners in Moscow from the free people, and they shall serve as executioners under bond. Grant them the sovereign's salary out of the sovereign's treasury, from the Felony Chancellery.

97. Build prisons in the provincial towns and elect sworn assistants, and scribes, and prison guards, and executioners from the urban taxpaying districts and from the taxpaying provinces, from the court villages, from the rural taxpaying districts, and fro, the various rural taxpayers, and from the lands belonging to the patriarch, and metropolitans, and archbishops, and bishops, and monasteries, and from all service lands and hereditary estate lands.

Those sworn assistants and the guards shall also be paid a salary. Collect money for the salary of those sworn assistants and guards, and for the various expenses in the offices of the felony control administration from those same townsmen and rural taxpayers, according to their agreement. Do not collect excess monies and do not cause those taxpayers any losses.

Conduct the elections for the sworn assistants and the prison guards among the electors and over the signatures of the electors.

98. If an hereditary estate owner or a service landholder has fewer than twenty peasants on the service landholding or on the hereditary estate: do not elect sworn assistants, and guards, and scribes for the felony control administration business from those service landholdings and hereditary estates. Take the sworn assistants for felony control administration business from the large service landholdings and hereditary estates.

99. Concerning plaintiffs who bring petitions to the Felony Chancellery against robbers; and in their petitions they write that robbers are confessing under torture to [having committed] homicide during a robbery at their houses; and subsequently, after a long time has passed, the plaintiffs bring loan notes on those people who were killed by the robbers to add to the case; and those people of theirs who were killed are written down in those notes as borrowers without guarantors, and there are no signatures of their borrowers on those loan notes; and others [other notes] have signatures of other people in their stead; and the year and date in those loan notes were written two, and three, and more years prior to the killing of such people: on the basis of those loan notes do not exact the debts from the accused people for the killed debtors because they are bringing those loan notes to the case after a very long time, and there is no reason to believe those loan notes.

100. If informers proceed to testify against people under interrogation prior to torture: but under the first, and second, and third tortures they retract [their denunciations] against them: believe that retraction.

101. Concerning robbers who, having dug their way out of the prisons in the provincial towns, escape; and the prison sworn assistants and guards proceed to testify under torturings about those escapees that they fled from prison without their evil intents; and plaintiffs proceed to petition against them for shares [to satisfy their claims], and that an order be issued for them to exact [the sums due them] from those people who elected those sworn assistants of the felony control administration and the guards: in response to that petition exact the shares from the prison sworn assistants and the guards themselves.

If some amount cannot be exacted from them for some reason: exact that from the senior officials of the felony control administration and from the provincial residents who elected those sworn assistants and guards.

For such offenses the plaintiffs shall exact as their shares from the senior officials of the felony control administration twice what [they exact from] the sworn assistants of the felony control administration because the senior officials of the felony control administration run the prisons in the provincial towns. It is the responsibility of the senior officials of the felony control administration to examine the prisons and prison inmates frequently to ensure that the prisons are secure and that the prison inmates have in prisons nothing with which they can dig their way out of prison.

[If] in the provincial towns felons are escaping from prison because of the negligence and inattentiveness of the senior officials of the felony control administration: for that [reason] plaintiffs shall exact [their] shares from the senior officials of the felony control administration in an amount double that [which they exact] from the sworn assistants of the felony control administration.

102. Concerning robbers who participated in robberies, and half of them are discovered; and the plaintiffs' claims are exacted from them in full; and subsequently their accomplices are discovered; and they proceed to testify against someone [who participated] in those robberies and in the selling of items acquired in robberies, and there are no plaintiffs against them: on the basis of that informer's denunciation exact for the sovereign's treasury from the accused people money shares equal to the first shares taken from the accused people because there are no petitioners for those money shares.

103. Concerning the felon, thief, or robber whom they arrest and bring for arraignment to the Felony Chancellery in Moscow, or to the felony control administration headquarters in a provincial town: and it becomes necessary to torture that felon; and that felon, trying to avoid torture, announces that he knows of some serious matter concerning the sovereign: do not believe him, and torture him for the robbery or the theft promptly.

Concerning the fact that he announced that he knew of some matter concerning the sovereign: interrogate him about that after he has been tortured for the theft or robbery.

104. Concerning felons, thieves, or robbers, or killers, who proceed to sit in prisons in the provincial towns for up to half a year: the governors, and chancellery officials, and senior officials of the felony control administration shall not discharge those felons from prison in the provincial towns without the sovereign's decree. They shall not take them for themselves as slaves and peasants, and shall not give away such felons to anyone else as slaves and peasants.

If in the provincial towns any governors, and chancellery officials, or senior officials of the felony control administration discharge such felons from prisons without the sovereign's decree, and enslave them to themselves or to anyone else as slaves, or as peasants, and that is established conclusively: inflict a severe punishment for that on those governors, and chancellery officials, and senior officials of the felony control administration, beat them mercilessly with the knout, and order plaintiffs to exact shares from them for those felons.

If it turns out that any prisoners have not been involved in a robbery, and theft, and murder case, and it becomes necessary to release them from prison: release such [people] from prison without writing to the sovereign in Moscow for a decree.

The governors, and chancellery officials, and senior officials of the felony control administration shall not take them for themselves as slaves and peasants, and shall not turn them over as slaves or as peasants to anyone else, because of kinship or friendship.

If a governor and a chancellery official, or a senior official of the felony control administration enslaves for himself such people whom it becomes necessary to discharge from prison, or turns them over to someone else as slaves or as peasants: inflict a severe punishment on them for that accordingly, as is written in this article about this.