The deed of honor to the nobility begins a new stage in the history of this estate. After the adoption of the document, the nobles became the legislatively privileged layer and received ample opportunities and rights.
The letter of honor to the nobility was accepted by the great transformer Catherine 2. No one suspected that a woman who did not have any rights to the Russian crown could become the second Great Empress after Peter 1. Her politics went down in history as "enlightened absolutism." And indeed it is. With her diploma she made the nobility the most noble class.
A deed of honor to the nobility of 1785 freed the nobility from compulsory service. But it is worth noting that the beginning of such legal registration of the rights of this estate was laid by Peter 3 in his Manifesto on the nobility of liberty. This document gave the nobles the right to continue their service of their own free will, and they were also allowed to enter the service in other states, but on condition that at the first request of the Russian Empire they would return to the location of the Russian army.
The letter of honor granted to the nobility also ruled that only information on the place of study should be provided for children under 18 years of age. The content of this manifesto raised doubts from Catherine, and she convened a special commission to adjust the document. After which, on the basis of existing provisions, they issued a Letter of Merit. It had its own structure and was divided into 4 parts:
- personal benefits;
- meetings and reform of the noble society;
- instructions for the compilation of genealogy books;
- evidence of origin.
The new document freed the nobility from corporal punishment , allowed the man to give her his status in case of marriage to a noblewoman, and this right was not granted to a woman in case of marriage to a nobleman.
Also, this document of Catherine 2 secured the following position: only an equal court could judge a nobleman and no one else. Nobles got the right to gather their societies and assemblies - this speaks of their self-government. It is worth noting that the letter was equal to all kinds: from noble to ordinary. Thus, all noble families had the same rights and opportunities. A distinctive feature of that time was the creation of genealogical books, by the presence of which they judged the nobility of the clan.
Letters of honor to the nobility and cities became a symbol of enlightened absolutism at the time of Catherine 2. Accepted on her birthday, they became as symbolic as the figure of the Great Empress. Of great importance was the adoption of these documents for the final social stratification of Russian society.
A deed of honor to the nobility was adopted at the end of the 18th century. She secured the privileges of the nobility, determined the conditions of their life and great opportunities in relation to the disposal of peasants. The document was an excellent opportunity for the development of managerial and entrepreneurial qualities of the estate, as well as for the formation of confident noble self-government.