Hardly any other army was long regarded as "disciplined" and drilled as the Prussian army in the early 18th century. Articles of war and drastic punishment created the image of a military justice system that could punish individual soldiers at will, in order to protect the military structure. However, the high number of individual offences and the resulting tensions demonstrated a certain "refusal" attitude towards the recognition of norms. The author analyses court records from the infantry regiment of Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Dessau which show in individual cases the soldiers' options for action in court and the scope of interpretation for dealing with crime in the Prussian military. Here, the soldiers showed good knowledge of tried and tested defence strategies, showed understanding of rank, social class and social affiliation.