unitive Methods for Unfulfilled Taxes in Moldavia (the second half of the 17th and the first half of the 18th century)

• Main Author: Cătălina Chelcu
• Format: Article
• Language: deu
• Published: National Museum of History of Moldova 2018-10-01
• Series: Tyragetia
• Subjects: taxes; loans; debts; offence; punishment; jail; mine
• Online Access: https://www.nationalmuseum.md/ro/press_releases/journal_tyragetia/metode_de_constrangere_pentru_neplata_datoriilor_in_moldova_a_doua_jumatate_a_sec_al_xvii_lea_prima_jumatate_a_sec_al_xviii_lea/

The subject of our research is the application of imprisonment as a constraint method applied to debtors in the second half of the 17th century and the first half of the 18th century, using documentary (published and unpublished) and narrative sources within this interval. Benefiting from legal theorising and classifications, we propose an approach – using our own means and methods – to the application of imprisonment for failing to pay back a debt to the prince, for failing to pay taxes or for not returning debts owned to different persons, for various causes, which were considered offences during that period. The execution of the sentence depended on its gravity; debtors were detained in various confinement places, with different degrees in terms of sentence execution regime “gros” [slammer], “groapa ocnii” [mine pit], “puşcărie” [prison], “temniţă” [gaol], “vartă” [jail], “opreală” [lockup]. The persons convicted belonged to different social categories. The dominant feature of this sentence to prison in the period under investigation here was intimidation, with the possibility of redemption using various means; this punishment had no corrective purposes, such as in modern law. In this stage of the research, it may be stated that imprisonment for debts was an efficient preventative coercion method for obtaining or recuperating the outstanding debts to the State and the loans taken from various creditors. The method was so effective firstly because the princes assumed it; its repression mechanism consisted mainly in the fact that the debtors in default wanted to regain their freedom: they were given a chance to do that by paying the debt.