Bankrupts and Usurers of Imperial Russia: Debt, Property, and the Law in the Age of Dostoevsky and Tolstoy

400 Pages·2016·2.812 MB·English

by  Sergei Antonov

s
Harvard Historical Studies 187
Published under the auspices
of the Department of History
from the income of the
Paul Revere Frothingham Bequest
Robert Louis Stroock Fund
Henry Warren Torrey Fund

Bankrupts and usurers
of ImperIal russIa
Debt, Property, and the Law
in the Age of Dostoevsky and Tolstoy
sergeI a ntonov
cambridge, massachusetts, & london, england • 2016
Copyright © 2016 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
First printing
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Antonov, Sergei, 1977– author.
Title: Bankrupts and usurers of imperial Russia : debt, property, and the law
in the age of Dostoevsky and Tolstoy / Sergei Antonov.
Description: Cambridge, Massachusetts : Harvard University Press, 2016. |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016017879 | ISBN 9780674971486
Subjects: LCSH: Debtor and creditor—Russia—History—19th century. |
Credit—Law and legislation—Russia—History—19th century. |
Debt—Russia—History—19th century. | Credit—Russia—History—19th century. |
Usury—Russia—History—19th century. | Russia—Social conditions—1801-1917.
Classification: LCC KLA1946 .A96 2016 | DDC 346.4707/709034—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016017879
For Katya, Anya, Marina, and Nadya

Contents
Introduction 1
PART I: THe CULTURe oF DeBT
1 Usurers’ Tales 35
2 Nobles and Merchants 74
3 The Boundaries of Risk 105
4 Fraud, Property, and Respectability 133
5 Kinship and Family 159
PART II: DeBT AND THe LAw
6 Debtors and Bureaucrats 193
7 In the Pit with Debtors 228
8 Intermediaries, Lawyers, and Scriveners 261
9 Creditors and Debtors in Pre-Reform Courts 284
Conclusion 311
Appendix A: Glossary 317
Appendix B: The Table of Ranks (as of 1850) 319
Appendix C: St. Petersburg Pawnbrokers, 1866 321
viii Contents
Appendix D.1: Objectives of Legal Representation, Based on the Powers of Attorney
Registered at the Moscow Chamber of Civil Justice 323
Appendix D.2: Legal Representatives Registered at the Moscow Chamber
of Civil Justice 325
Appendix E: Agreement to Provide Legal Services, 1865 327
Abbreviations 329
Notes 329
Acknowledgments 373
Index 377
Bankrupts and usurers of ImperIal russIa