Zemsky elder - an original position that has become known in Russia since the 16th century. The emergence of this type of officials is directly related to the reform of local self-government. The further development of these institutions secured the rights and obligations of zemstvo elders, who continued to operate until 1917. Despite all attempts to liberalize the local authorities, they continued to work as before. Why did it happen? Let's try to figure it out.
Ancient Russia
This position has been known since the time of Kievan Rus. At that time, the Zemsky elders, who were also princely slaves and faithful servants, were appointed by the prince or his closest supporters to guide the lower classes. The laws of Yaroslav the Wise mention rural and military elders. The first engaged in the rural population of the princely estates, sorted out quarrels, litigations, collected taxes. The second ones were in charge of land problems, disputes about communal and patrimonial lands, sorted out property troubles. Later, the institute of seniors moved to the territory of the northeastern principalities.
Reform of Ivan the Terrible
For a long time labial and zemstvo elders were appointed by princely decree. In essence, they did not exert any influence on the local population, but ran into them according to the method of Tatar raids: they rode, gathered, and drove away. Although it was they who were entrusted with following the order in the most remote places of the Russian lands, they performed their duties reluctantly. Arbitrariness and monstrous corruption reigned everywhere, and there was no council or boss on the local kings. It took the iron will of a separate ruler to break the existing system and develop a new principle for the functioning of the local administration.
During the reign of Ivan the Terrible, there was an urgent need to completely reorganize the administrative system of the Russian state. The general code of laws tied to this political process is called the reform of local government. The main reason for their occurrence was the need to abolish the so-called feeding - an archaic remnant of ancient times, which gave the right to visiting officials to live from the income (i.e. feed) of a certain area.
Instead of a natural levy, a financing system was introduced, and cash flows were directly controlled by the state.
Stoglavy Cathedral
In 1551, the Stoglavy Cathedral approved the introduction of the Zemstvo charter, according to which the institution of governors was completely liquidated. Instead of appointees in all corners of the Russian state, a zemsky elder began to be elected on the ground. The royal decree of 1555 ordered the abolition of feeding and the election of these officials on the ground. The center of local power was Zemsky huts, which personified the executive branch. The judicial and administrative system was completely reformed, and the Zemsky elders under Ivan the Terrible were given new rights and powers.
Career of Zemsky elders
The transformation of local authority completely changed the profile of the administrative system of the Russian kingdom. Zemsky elder began to have a wide range of powers. He was in charge of local courts, which examined not only civil cases, but also minor criminal violations of the law. Particularly high-profile criminal offenses were investigated separately. The headman dealt with the problems of the draft population, the administration of the lower classes and the collection of taxes. The main type of tax was “mowing the bill”, which was required to pay the entire adult male population of the country. This fee replaced the obsolete governor. Money began to go directly to the royal treasury, and from there the contents of local officials and visiting auditors were paid.
Zemsky elder stood at the head of the Zemsky hut. He dealt with the problems of using communal lands, tax records, the collection and distribution of state taxes, and carried out other tasks.
If, for a number of reasons, the laborer did not fulfill his duties or was not elected, then these duties were also the responsibility of the head of the Zemsky hut. In this case, the Zemsky warden supervised the public police, controlled the work of Zemstvo judges, Zemsky clerks and clerks, kissers.
Election and control
A candidate for this remarkable position was elected from among the most influential and wealthy local residents. With a good combination of circumstances, he was destined for the career of metropolitan officials and boyars. Of course, many small nobles sought to pursue such a career. The Zemsky elder was elected on the spot, and directly obeyed the central order, which was in charge of the nearby counties. The period of his authority lasted from one to two years. Simultaneously with the re-election, the entire staff of the Zemsky hut was also revised. The most famous zemstvo headman was A. Minin.
In 1699, the Zemsky huts became similar to the local councils of small European cities. Zemsky warden became a burgomaster with a significant expansion of his responsibilities. But in the remote places of the Russian Empire, the old form of local authority continued to exist. The next reorganization of local government institutions was carried out in 1719.
Provincial Reform
Changes in central authority over two centuries (from the 16th to the 18th century) were of a periodic and unsystematic nature. Peter the Great sought to give the dense Russian administration a civilized European appearance. Of course, it was not a question of any self-sufficiency of the European bodies of local self-government , but rather an imitation of the Swedish system of self-government, but in fact all power was still concentrated in the hands of the royal appointees. The labial and zemstvo elders seemed to be selected locally, but for their approval in office, a separate decree of the tsar was required.
Why didn’t it?
The city administrations were reformed according to the Swedish model, while rural zemstvo huts were reluctant to yield to innovations. This was primarily due to the lack of an educated population and strict estate restrictions that did not give the right to occupy elected posts in the draft estate. Therefore, the staff for the new local government was recruited from the old clerks and priests, who could not and could not reorganize their work according to a given pattern. Therefore, the Petrine reform of local self-government did not fulfill the tasks assigned to it, but became only an autocratic decoration of existing European freedoms.