Social Norms of Proper and Improper Behaviour of Russian Noblemen as Reflected in Court and Police Documents of 1801–1825

In the course of the 18th century, Russian noblemen were legally conjoined into one noble estate (dvorianskoe soslovie). However in the first quarter of the 19th century, we can observe an increasing divergence of social norms among the members of the noble estate. This emergence of different ideas about proper and improper behaviour can be traced in divers kinds of sources and crucial social events such as the formation of secret societies and probably also the Decembrist uprising of 1825.
With my research I would like to answer the following question: What ideas about social norms of the proper and improper behavior of Russian noblemen are reflected in court and police documents of between 1801 and 1825 and how do they match with or differ from comparable norms in other parts of Europe?
So far, sources used by scholars for researching the field were mostly created by the intellectual elite. In my research, I want to pay attention to criminal records from the police and courts. An analysis of these sources will allow me to reconstruct and understand different ideas among “average” noblemen. The qualitative analysis of police and court documentation in the early 19th century will shed light particularly on questions such as:
Who initiated cases against noblemen? Did police officers, nobles themselves, put much effort into the investigation of such cases? What values did the different participants of the processes appeal to: Christian values, Enlightenment values, interests of the state, right of property or others? Are contradictions of norms evident in the positions declared by the different participants of the processes?