The era of Peter I is one of the most important periods in the history of pre-revolutionary Russia; therefore, for more than two centuries it has constantly been and remains a subject of great interest both for researchers - historians and lawyers, and for statesmen and public figures, writers and publicists. In pre-revolutionary historiography, there is a significant number of large and serious studies on the era of Peter I, however, in none of these works were the sources of the legislation of Peter I the subject of special study, the legislation itself was not examined, the methods of lawmaking of that era were not studied, the history of the text of the most important legislative acts, extensive in size and very fundamental in content, was not restored - with a few exceptions and not always complete.