In analyzing the experience and evaluating domestic practices in the formation and development of Russia's defense capabilities and army units, it is important to emphasize that, for centuries since the emergence of regular army formations, not only has discipline and law and order been strengthened among service personnel, but also the adoption of special legal norms that have codified the legislative foundations of these activities. Studying the historical experience of legislative countermeasures to illegal activity in the military will allow for a more objective consideration of this experience in modern legislative work. For this reason, the author has continued his earlier study of the legislative foundations of the Russian Empire governing the liability of military personnel for criminal offenses, focusing on the period from the second half of the 18th to the first quarter of the 19th centuries. In this study, the author concludes that the period under consideration is a special one in both the legal and political history of our country. This circumstance is due to the fact that during this period, not only were public administration systems modernized, but processes related to the tightening and liberalization of punitive and repressive state policies in the military were also actively underway, ultimately reflected in the development of military criminal legislation. The conclusions and proposals drawn during the study of this period of the genesis of Russian military legal frameworks for combating criminal activity can be taken into account in the process of improving current government policies aimed at strengthening law and order in the military.