Relative pronoun kotoryj is in the language of legislative acts of the era of Peter the Great and the new language standard

The article deals with attributive clauses with relative pronoun kotoryj, replacing the defined name of the main clause in the Russian literary language of the 18th century. The idea is introduced that activation of such constructions in book Russian and in business language differs in time. According to the analysis of the language of legislative documents the specified process was first reflected in business language. It allows to add information on the ways of entry of this type of relative subordination into the Russian literary language of the new type.