The article is devoted to the history of anti-corruption and bribery as one of its kinds in the Russian Empire. Corruption as a complex social phenomenon that occurs in the process of socio-economic, political and social relations has become one of the most pressing political, social and economic problems of modern Russia. The corruption in the state apparatus not only cause serious, sometimes unsolvable problems for the citizens, but also hinder the normal functioning of the administrative bodies and authorities. The legal component, the development and adoption of relevant laws perform a special role in combating corruption. For many centuries government has repeatedly attempted if not to eliminate or at least to curb corruption in numerous managerial and administrative apparatus. The greatest interest in this regard is the imperial period of Russian history. The authors study the history of the development of criminal and civil law in the Code of the Russian Empire Publishing Laws 1832 of the penal Code and criminal Corrections 1845 judicial statutes in 1864 and subsequent legislation late XIX - The beginning of the XX century, the history of the development of appropriate laws, trace the change in order to prosecute and the degree of responsibility of the officials on the basis of unpublished material of the State Council, the State Duma and the Ministry of Justice, are stored in the Russian State Historical Archive, as well as the published acts of the Russian legislation, the verbatim records of the State Duma and the Council of State. During the XIX and early XX centuries Russian legislation has been streamlined and systematized: work was carried out on the codification of laws, created new codes of substantive and procedural law, a significant development has been and anti-corruption legislation. The appeal to the legislative materials, to the works of pre-revolutionary Russian lawyers and statesmen and the Ministry of Justice, are stored in the Russian State Historical Archive is of great interest to the modern lawyer and historian.