Viešųjų bausmių taikymas Kauno pilies teisme XVIII a. antrojoje pusėje ir jų vykdymas

ASSIGNMENT AND ADMINISTRATION OF PUBLIC PUNISHMENTS BY KAUNAS CASTLE COURT IN THE LATE EIGHTEENTH CENTURYThe article deals with the issue of assignment and administration of publicpunishments by Kaunas Castle Court in the late eighteenth century. In theperiod under investigation, this court imposed capital and corporal punishments,punishments by imprisonment, removal from office and banishmentfrom the city. Death penalty was imposed on those offenders who were accusedof homicide, robbery and theft, although the court did not impose qualifiedmethods of capital punishment. Out of corporal punishments, only flagellation(as the principal and ancillary punishment for crimes against life, health andproperty, never administered to the nobility) and branding (as an ancillarypunishment for thieves) were inflicted. The number of imposed strokes rangedfrom 50 to 400, with the most common number being 100 strokes. Duringthe analysed period, the main place of confinement continued to the so-calledTower (Upper and Lower) Prison. The Upper Tower Prison registry was dominatedby relatively short sentences of 3, 6 and 12 weeks, mostly for violentacts (slaps in the face, forfeiture of real estate, assault with a combat weapon,assault on a nobleman’s house and estate). The Lower Tower Prison was usedless frequently (as a punishment for beating a nobleman with a non-combatweapon, unlawful incarceration, and unproven criminal charge offence), butthe sentences delivered were longer: from 12, 24 weeks to half a year. From 1782onwards, instead of imposing the death penalty in cases like theft, robbery andhomicide, the court began to give imprisonment sentences (fixed or indefinite)which were non-existent under the GDL law and thus had to be carried outin the Kamianets-Podilskyi prison.Keywords: Kaunas Castle Court, public punishments, criminal law of the GrandDuchy of Lithuania.