The Anti-Corruption Element of the Legal Status of Civil Servants in the Russian Empire in the Second Half of the 18th Century

The paper examines the evolution of the legal status of civil servants in the Russian Empire during the second half of the eighteenth century and determines the significance of anti-corruption measures in the formation of the system of officials' rights, duties, and liability. The establishment of new public institutions in the provinces under the provincial reform of 1775 resulted in an increase in the number of civil servants and the emergence of a professional bureaucracy. Officials came to be regarded as representatives of the State, acting in its name and on its behalf. Normative legal acts were adopted to define officials' rights, duties, and liability, as well as the restrictions and prohibitions applicable to them. By granting civil servants salaries, extensive rights, and privileges, on the one hand, while imposing various restrictions and prohibitions and prescribing penalties for unlawful conduct, on the other, the State sought to ensure the effective functioning of the bureaucratic apparatus and to deter officials from committing offences in office.