Catherine the Great, Instruction (‘Nakaz’) to the Legislative Commission of 1767.

Though the Empire that Catherine II came to rule in 1762 was already vast, and about to grow larger still, the apparatus for running it was comparatively underdeveloped. To strengthen the Russian state -- and in so doing to strengthen her own position as monarch -- Catherine sought to strengthen its laws and institutions according to Enlightenment guidelines borrowed from such authors as Montesquieu and Beccaria. In 1767, she convened a Legislative Commission whose members were drawn from a broad spectrum of the nobility and upper service class. The Commission was directed to review the current state of the law and to generate concrete recommendations for revamping Russia's entire political-legal system. To guide it in its work, Catherine supplied it with a famous Instruction (part of which is excerpted below) expressing her views on a wide variety of matters. No less an Enlightenment hero than Voltaire called Catherine II's Instruction the "finest monument of the century." Though this surely overstates the case, the document still stands as the prime example of a constitutionalist path Russia might have taken. Its 655 articles cover everything from institutional checks and balances to Ben Franklin-like maxims (No. 240: "It is better to prevent crimes than to punish them") to historical examples plucked from Catherine's eclectic reading (No. 281: "Julius Caesar gave premiums to those who had many children"). The excerpt below contains the preamble and the first three chapters, which were heavily influenced by Montesquieu's Spirit of the Laws.

1.  What is the significance of Catherine's assertion in Article 6 that "Russia is a European state"? Why might she have gone out of her way to tell the Legislative Commission this?

2.   How does Catherine describe the relationship between God, the Monarchy, and the institutions of monarchial government?

3.  Most people equate the Enlightenment with the advancement of personal liberty and the curtailment of arbitrary power.  Looking closely at Chapter 2, and in particular Article 16, do you think Catherine truly reflects Enlightenment values?

4.  How does Catherine propose to deal with the problem of unjust or inequitable laws?

INSTRUCTIONS TO THE COMMISSIONERS FOR COMPOSING A NEW CODE OF LAWS

1. Christian Law teaches us to do mutual good to one another, as much as we possibly can.

2. Laying this down as a fundamental rule prescribed by the religion that has taken (or ought to take) root in the hearts of the whole people, We can only suppose that every honest man in the community is (or will be) desirous of seeing his native country at the very summit of happiness, glory, safety, and tranquility.

3. And that every individual citizen in particular must wish to see himself protected by laws, which should not distress him in his circumstances. On the contrary, they should defend him from all attempts by others that are repugnant to this fundamental rule.

4. To come to the speedy execution of what we expect from such a general wish, we should begin with an inquiry into the natural situation of this Empire. Our foundation in this should be the first rule above.

5. For laws whose particular regulations are best adapted to the situation and circumstances of the people for whom they are instituted have the greatest conformity with nature.

This natural situation is described in the following three Chapters.

Chapter 1:

6. Russia is a European State.

7. This is clearly demonstrated by the following observations. The alterations that Peter the Great undertook succeeded all the more easily because the customs prevailing in Russia at that time (which had been introduced among us by our mixture of different peoples, and by our conquest of foreign territories) were quite unsuitable to our climate. Peter I, by introducing the manners and customs of Europe among the European people in his dominions, found at that time such means to work with as even he himself was not optimistic enough to expect. 

Chapter 2:

8. The possessions of the Russian Empire extend upon the globe to 32 degrees of latitude, and to 165 of longitude.

9. The Sovereign is absolute, for no authority but the power centered in his single person can act with the vigor proportionate to the extent of such a vast dominion.

10. The extent of the dominion requires that absolute power be vested in the person who rules over it. This will prove expedient in ensuring that the quick resolution of matters sent in from distant parts makes ample amends for the delay occasioned by the distance of the places.

11. All other forms of government whatsoever would not only have been prejudicial to Russia, but would have proved its entire ruin.

12. Another reason is that it is better to be subject to the laws under one master than to be subservient to many.

13. What is the true goal of monarchy? Not to deprive people of their natural liberty but to correct their actions, in order to attain the supreme good.

14. Therefore the form of government that best attains this goal, and at the same time sets fewer limits than others on natural liberty, is the one coinciding with the views and purposes of rational creatures....

15. The intention and the goal of monarchy is the glory of the citizens, of the State, and of the Sovereign.

16. But, from this glory, a sense of liberty arises in a people governed by a monarch. In these states it may produce as much energy in transacting the most important affairs as liberty itself, and may contribute just as much to the happiness of the subjects.

Chapter 3:

17. On safeguards for the institution of monarchy.

18. Intermediate powers, subordinate to the supreme power and dependent on it, form the essential part of monarchical government.

19. I have said that the intermediate powers, subordinate and depending, proceed from the supreme power. In the very nature of things, the Sovereign is the source of all civil and imperial power.

20. Laws forming the foundation of the State give rise to certain courts of administration. Through them, as if through smaller streams, the power of the Government is poured out and diffused.

21. Laws allow these judicial courts to argue that one or another injunction is unconstitutional, prejudicial, obscure, and impossible to be executed. On a prior basis, they direct which injunctions one ought to pay obedience to and in what manner. These laws undoubtedly constitute the firm and immoveable basis of every State. 

Chapter 4:

22. There must be a political entity in which the care and strict execution of these laws ought to be vested.

23. This care and strict execution of the laws can be nowhere so properly fixed as in certain administrative courts that announce newly made laws to the people and revive those that are forgotten or obsolete.

24. And it is the duty of these judicial bodies to examine carefully the laws they receive from the Sovereign, and to object if they find anything in them repugnant to the fundamental constitution of the State, etc., which has been already noted above in the third Chapter and in the 21st Article.

25. But if they find nothing in them of that nature, they enter them in the Law Code already established in the State, and publish them to the whole body of the people.

26. In Russia the Senate is the political entity in which the care and due execution of the laws is vested.

27. All other administrative courts may and ought to object with the same propriety, to the Senate and even to the Sovereign himself, as already mentioned above.

28. Should anyone inquire what the care and due execution of the laws consists of? I answer that the care and due execution of the laws produce particular Instructions. In consequence of these, the aforementioned administrative courts -- purposefully instituted so that by their care, the will of the Sovereign might be obeyed in a manner conforming to the fundamental laws and Constitution of the State -- are obliged to act in discharging their duty according to the rules prescribed.

29. These instructions will prevent the people from transgressing the injunctions of the Sovereign with impunity, but at the same time will protect them from the insults and ungovernable passions of others.

30. On the one hand, they justify the penalties prepared for those who transgress the law. On the other, they confirm the justice of refusing to enforce laws repugnant to the good order of the State (among those already approved), or acting by such laws in the administration of justice or the general business of the whole body of the people....

Source: Original translation by Michael Tatischeff (London, 1768).  Revised (syntax clarifications, repunctuation, etc.) by Jon Bone.