Abstract: The subject of this article is the most widespread type of crime against property in cities and counties of the Russian province of the stated period – theft. Based on the extensive circle of sources, the author reveals the following questions: legal assessment of thievery in the official criminal legislation of the Russian Empire; criminal statistics of thefts in Voronezh governorate; criminalistics characteristics of thefts conducted by the persons of lower urban classes. Special attention is given to thefts, which took place in the provincial cities. The main conclusion consists in the fact that the status of the agricultural Voronezh governorate along with the neighboring Black Earth governorates, on the “periphery” of Russian modernization, decrease the number of grand thefts. The incidence of thievery in urban society exceeded the incidence of thievery in rural society. During the period economic instability, which accompanies modernization in the Russian province, small thefts prevailed over the large thefts in the overall crimes. The lower urban classes, primarily peasants and male commoners, were the main actors of similar criminal acts.

Abstract: The article is devoted to one of the categories of crime in the Russian Empire of the post-reform period of the late 19th – the early 20th centuries – crimes against the state and public order, including a wide range of illegal deeds. The article considers the most widespread crimes against the religion, the state and the society, which had taken place in the provincial towns of Tambov region, namely, various official malfeasances, crimes against the public order and morality, coinage offence and crimes against the Orthodox faith and the church. The methodology of the research is based on the synthesis of the main modern history approaches (microhistorical analysis, local context, gender specificity), and is of a multidisciplinary character (sociology of deviant behavior, historical psychology). The author concludes that the level of dissemination of crimes against the state and public order was higher in towns than in villages; the legal culture and the legal conscience of citizens was influenced by the traditional law within the traditional behavioral guidelines.