The state policy against counterfeiting in the Russian Empire in the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries

Abstract

The purpose of the article is the analysis of the main parts of the state protecting politics over the process of the coins and banknotes counterfeiting in Russian Empire. Research methods: analytical, synthetic, logical, retrospective, mathematical and illustrative. Main results. The article reveals the processes of coins and banknote counterfeiting in the Russian Empire referred to the material from state historical archives, official government laws and pre-Soviet periodicals (newspapers). The authors paid main attention to the question of state policy against money counterfeiting that includes legislative analyses of that time, in particular Conclusion of Criminal Punishment and Penitentiary, issues of 1845s and 1866s, Monetary Statute, issue of 1857 as well as nominal imperial edicts, regulations and manifestos of Senate as to forgery counteractions and coins protection, published in Complete Edition of Collected Laws in the Russian Empire. Practical significance. The material presented in the article will allow a thorough analysis of the aspect of counterfeiting money in Ukraine in the imperial period. Originality. The corpus of analyzed sources allowed us to form conclusions as to efficiency state in fighting politics against money forgery in Russian Empire in the 19th and the beginning of 20th century. The perspective of the further research we see in the widening of sources base that will help us to conduct deeper aspect analyses on money forgery in Ukraine as part of Russian Empire. Scientific novelty. The basic constituents of public policy are considered in relation to a fight against forgery counteractions, which is population informing of imitations appearance with the list of their signs; implementation of investigation features based upon population encouragement to the malefactors’ exposure; state expert assessment implementation of suspicious and forged money extracted during the investigation; legal procedure and punishment for committed crimes in money and banknotes counterfeiting; in investigation cases of State Archives Fund some unknown before facts within state fight against money counterfeiting have been found and a new stamp on physical evidence has been implemented into the scientific circulation, the absence reasons for money and loan-bills forgery in the Fund of State Museums have been estimated. The research is based upon unknown sources, most of which have been implemented into the scientific circulation for the first time. Analyses of legislative system of that time against money forgery, peculiarities of investigation, trial and sentence helped us to find out some misconceptions in factual decisions from those, fixed in laws and layouts. Article type: analytical.