Tagantsev, Nikolai Stepanovich

Tagantsev, Nikolai Stepanovich

 

Born Feb. 19 (Mar. 3), 1843, in Penza; died 1923. Russian jurist and specialist in criminology; representative of the classical trend in criminal law.

Beginning in 1867, Tagantsev taught at the School of Jurisprudence and the University of St. Petersburg, remaining at the latter until 1882. In 1881 he began working in the Ministry of Justice. That same year he was made a senator and subsequently became chairman of the Senate’s criminal-appellate department. In 1906 he became a member of the State Council. For a number of years he was chairman of the criminal branch of the St. Petersburg Juridical Society, and from 1915 to 1917 he was honorary chairman of the Russian Criminalistics Group. Tagantsev held liberal views; he defended one of the accused at the political Trial of the 193 (1877–78), spoke out against capital punishment, and worked on the problem of juvenile crime.

Tagantsev was instrumental in initiating and drafting the Criminal Code of 1903. He also helped revise criminal trial legislation and develop factory legislation and other legislative acts of pre-revolutionary Russia.

WORKS

O povtorenii prestupleniia. St. Petersburg, 1867.
O prestupleniiakh proliv zhizhipo russkomu pravu, vols. 1 and 2. St. Petersburg, 1870–71.
Kurs russkogo ugolovnogo prava, book 1, fascs. 1–3. St. Petersburg, 1874–80.
Lektsii po russkomu ugolovnomu pravu [2nd ed.], general section, fascs. 1–4. St. Petersburg, 1887–92. Specific section: St. Petersburg, 1894.