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# Catherine II’s “Nakaz” as a portrait of the empress and its article on customs duties
- URL: https://theparnassian.com/en/prodolzhaiu-chitat-proekt-ekaterininskogo-ulozheniia-ee-nakaz-iz-22-glav-i-655-statei-to-est-priamoe-rukovodstvo-deputatam-po-razrabotke-glavnogo-svoda-zakonov-rossiiskoi-imperii-novogo/
- Published: 2023-11-18T17:02:40.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-02T18:34:22.000Z
- Author: Alexandr Radayev
- Tags: Archive, Books, Monarchies, Observations, Society

I continue reading the draft of Catherine's Code, her "Instruction" of 22 chapters and 655 articles, that is, the direct guide for the deputies in drawing up the principal body of laws of the Russian Empire, a new Code to replace the "Sobornoye Ulozhenie"

The "Instruction" is interesting in itself, as a kind of philosophical treatise with elements of legal reflection, in which the Empress's views on legislation and, consequently, on the organisation of Russia are genuinely set out. Since this text is not a mere collection of thoughts but a direct instruction to the legislative Commission, we may see in its contents a true portrait of the Empress, unlike her letters and other writings, in which she could deliberately try to present herself as better and cleverer than she was.

One need only take any article to be convinced both of the breadth of Catherine's views and of a certain statesmanlike wisdom.

Here is the text of the article on the punishment for non-payment of customs duties. On the one hand, the sovereign admits that *"Such a representation deserves grave punishments, such as imprisonment and deprivation of rights, suited to the nature of the crime"*. At the same time, however, she draws attention to the fact that *"The prison for one who secretly conveys goods ought not to be the same as that for a murderer or a highwayman who plies his trade on the high roads; and the most fitting punishment appears to be the labour of the guilty man, reckoned and fixed at the sum by which he sought to cheat the customs house"*.