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See also:CHINESE, See also:JAPANESE AND KOREANS .. .. .. 86,113 .. .. 86,I13 ' These totals include in some cases small linguistic See also:groups not mentioned in the table. 2 About 77% Bulgarians, the See also:rest mostly Bohemians (Czechs). 3 Inclusive of 448,022 Zhmuds. ' Principally Frenchmen, with Englislmen, Italians, Norwegians, Danes, Dutchmen and Spaniards. ' Ethnologically the Bulgarians ought perhaps to come here; but, as a large admixture of Slav See also:blood flows in their See also:veins and they speak a distinctly Slav See also:language, they have In this table been grouped with the Slays. 6 Includes Georgians, Mingrelians, Imeretians, Lazes and Svanetians. ' For details, see table under the heading See also:CAUCASIA. Of the See also:total given here, 20 % are Circassians. the See also:great cities. The members of the Duma are elected by electoral colleges in each See also:government, and these in their turn are elected, like the zemstvos (see below), by electoral assemblies chosen by the three classes of landed proprietors, citizens and peasants. In these assemblies the large proprietors sit in See also:person, being thus See also:electors in the second degree; the lesser proprietors are represented by delegates, and therefore elect in the third degree. The See also:urban See also:population, divided into two categories according to their taxable See also:wealth, elects delegates See also:direct to the See also:college of the government (Guberniya), and is thus represented in the second degree; but the See also:system of See also:division into categories, according not to the number of taxpayers but to the amount they pay, gives a great preponderance to the richer classes. The peasants are represented only in the See also:fourth degree, since the delegates to the electoral college are elected by the volosts (see below). The workmen, finally, are specially treated. Every See also:industrial concern employing fifty hands or over elects one or more delegates to the electoral college of the government, in which, like the others, they See also:form a See also:separate See also:curia. In the college itself the voting—secret and by See also:ballot throughout—is by See also:majority; and since this majority consists, under the actual system, of very conservative elements (the landowners and urban delegates having 8ths of the votes), the progressive elements—however much they might preponderate in the country—would have no See also:chance of See also:representation at all See also:save for the curious See also:provision that one member at least in each government must be chosen from each of the five classes represented in the college. For example, were there no reactionary See also:peasant among the delegates, a reactionary majority might be forced to return a Social Democrat to the Duma. As it is, though a fixed minimum of peasant delegates must be returned, they by no means probably represent the See also:opinion of the peasantry. That in the Duma any See also:Radical elements survive at all is mainly due to the See also:peculiar See also:franchise enjoyed by the seven largest towns—St See also:Petersburg, See also:Moscow, See also:Kiev, See also:Odessa, See also:Riga and the See also:Polish cities of See also:Warsaw and See also:Lodz. These elect their delegates to the Duma direct, and though their votes are divided into two curias (on the basis of taxable See also:property) in such a way as to give the See also:advantage to wealth, each returning the same number of delegates, the democratic colleges can at least return members of their own complexion.' The competence of the See also:Russian parliament2 thus constituted is strictly limited. It shares with the See also:emperor the legislative See also:Powers See also:power, including the discussion and sanctioning of of the the See also:budget. But, so far as the See also:parliament is concerned, Mims. this power is subject to numerous and important exceptions. All See also:measures, e.g. dealing with the organization of the See also:army and See also:navy are outside its competence; these are no longer called " See also:laws " but " See also:ordinary administrative rules." Moreover, the See also:procedure of the Houses practically places the See also:control of legislation in the hands of ministers. Any member may bring in a " project of See also:law," but it has to be submitted to the See also:minister of the See also:department concerned, who is allowed a See also:month to consider it, and himself prepares the final draft laid on the table of the See also:House. Amendments, however, may be and have been carried against the government. Ministers are responsible, moreover, not to parliament but to the emperor. They may be interpellated, but only on the legality, not the policy, of their acts. In the words of M. Stolypin, there is no intention of converting the ministerial See also:bench into a prisoners' See also:dock. If by a two-thirds majority the See also:action of a minister be arraigned, the See also:president of the Imperial See also:Council See also:lays the See also:case before the emperor, who decides. The powers of the parliament over the budget are even more limited, though not altogether illusory. No legislation by means of the budget is allowed, i.e. no alteration may be made in credits necessary for carrying out a law. This deprives parliament of control over the administrative departments, all the ministries being thus " See also:armour-plated "—to use the cant phrase current in Russia—except that of ways and communications (See also:railways). The sum of 700,000,000 roubles per annum is thus excepted from the control of the See also:chambers. Other exceptions are the " Institutions of the Empress See also:Marie," which absorb, inter alia, the duties on playing-See also:cards and the taxes on places of public entertainment; the imperial See also:civil See also:list, so far as this does not exceed the sum fixed in 1906 (16,359,595 roubles!); the expenses of the two imperial chanceries, 10,000,000 roubles per annum, which constitute in effect a See also:secret service fund. Al-together, See also:half the See also:annual expenditu,e of the See also:country is outside the control of parliament. Nor is this all. If the budget be not sanctioned by the emperor, that of the previous See also:year remains in force, and the government has power, motu proprio, to impose the extra taxes necessary to carry out new laws. In certain circumstances, too, the emperor reserves the right to raise fresh loans. ' Thus M. Guchkov, See also:leader of the Octobrists, and M. Miliukov, leader of the cadets, were both returned by the second curia of St Petersburg to the third Duma. 2 Strictly speaking, the See also:title is inapplicable, there being no collective See also:official name for the two chambers. The word parliament may, however, be used as a convenient See also:term, failing a better.
Further, the emperor has the power to issue ordinances having the force of law, i.e. under extraordinary circumstances when the Duma is not sitting. These ordinances must, how-ever, be of a temporary nature, must not infringe the fundamental laws or statutes passed by the two chambers, or See also:change the electoral system, and must be laid upon the table of the Duma at the first opportunity. Since, however, the emperor has the power of proroguing or dissolving the Duma as often as he pleases, it is clear that these temporary ordinances might in effect be made permanent. Finally, the emperor has the right to proclaim anywhere and at any See also:time a See also:state of See also:siege. In this way the fundamental laws were suspended not only in See also:Poland but in St Petersburg and other parts of the See also:empire during the greater See also:part of the four years succeeding the See also: It is presided over by a See also:lay See also:procurator, representing the emperor, and consists, for the rest, of the three Holy synod. metropolitans of Moscow, St Petersburg and Kiev, the See also:archbishop of See also:Georgia, and a number of bishops sitting in rotation. The Senate (Pravitelstvuyushchi Send, i.e. directing or governing senate), originally established by See also:Peter the Great, consists of members nominated by the emperor. Its functions, which are exceedingly various, are carried h Senate. out by the different departments into which it is divided. It is the supreme court of cassation (see Judicial System, below); an See also:audit See also:office, a high court of justice for all See also:political offences; one of its departments fulfils the functions of a heralds' college. It also has supreme See also:jurisdiction in all disputes arising out of the administration of the empire, notably See also:differences between the representatives of the central power and the elected See also:organs of See also:local self-government. Lastly, it examines into registers and promulgates new laws, a See also:function which, in theory, gives it a power, akin to that of the Supreme Court of the See also:United States, of rejecting measures not in accordance with the fundamental laws. For purposes of provincial administration Russia is divided into 78 governments (guberniya), 18 provinces (oblast) and x See also:district (okrug). Of these 11 governments, 17 p.0. provinces and x district (See also:Sakhalin) belong to See also:Asiatic vinciai Russia. Of the rest 8 governments are in See also:Finland, adminisxo in Poland. See also:European Russia thus embraces 59 tree°°' governments and r See also:province (that of the See also:Don). The Don province is under the direct jurisdiction of the See also:ministry of war; the rest have each a See also:governor and See also:deputy-governor, the latter presiding over the administrative council. In addition there are See also:governors-See also:general, generally placed over several governments and armed with more extensive powers,
usually including the command of the troops within the limits of their jurisdiction. In 1906 there were governors-general in Finland, Warsaw, See also:Vilna, Kiev, Moscow and Riga. The. larger cities (St Petersburg, Moscow, Odessa, See also:Sevastopol, Kertch-Yenikala, See also:Nikolayev, Rostov) have an administrative system of their own, See also:independent of the governments; in these the
See also:chief of police acts as governor. As organs of the Police.
central government there are further, the ispravniki, chiefs of police in the districts into which the governments are divided. These are nominated by the governors,' and have under their orders in the principal localities commissaries (stanovoi pristav). Ispravniki and stanovoi alike are armed with large and See also:ill-defined powers; and, since they are for the most part illiterate and wholly ignorant of the law, they have proved exasperating engines of oppression. Towards the end of the reign of See also: Its See also:object had originally been to keep the emperor in See also:close See also:touch with all the branches of the administration and to bring to his See also:notice any abuses and irregularities (see NICHOLAS 1.), and for this purpose its chief was in See also:constant See also:personal intercourse with the See also:sovereign. Actually, however, its activity, directed mainly to the discovery of political offences, degenerated into a hideous reign of terror. Its organization was spread all over Russia; its procedure was secret and See also:summary (transportation by administrative order); and, its See also:instruments being for the most part ignorant and largely corrupt, its victims were counted by thousands. The " Third Section " was suppressed by Alexander II. in r88o, but only in name. In fact it was transformed into a separate department of the ministry of the interior, and, provided with an enormous secret service fund, soon dominated the whole ministry. The corps of gendarmes was also incorporated in this department, the under-secretary of the interior being placed at its head and at that of the police generally, with practically unlimited jurisdiction in all cases which, in the See also:judgment of the minister of the interior, required to be dealt with by processes outside the ordinary law. In 1896 the powers of the minister were extended at the expense of those of the under-secretary, who remained only at the head of the corps of gendarmes; but by a law of the 24th of See also:September 1904 this was again reversed, and the under-secretary was again placed at the head of all the police with the title of under-secretary for the administration of the police. Local Elected Administrative Bodies.—Alongside the local organs of the central government in Russia there are three classes of local elected bodies charged with administrative functions: (I) the peasant assemblies in the mir and the volost, ' From See also:Catherine II.'s time to that of Alexander II. they were elected by the nobles. This was changed in consequence of the emancipation of the See also:serfs. 2 They were soon nicknamed Kuryadniki, chicken-stealers (from Kura, See also:hen). See Leroy-See also:Beaulieu, L'Empire See also:des tsars, ii. 134. ' The dvornik is on duty for sixteen See also:hours at a stretch, during which he is not allowed to See also:sleep or even to shelter in the See also:porch.the zemstvos in the 34 governments of Russia proper, (1) the municipal See also:dumas. Of these the peasant assemblies are the most interesting and in some respects the most important, since the peasants (i.e. three-quarters of the population of Russia) form a class apart,' largely excepted from The mir. the incidence of the ordinary law, and governed in accordance with their local customs. The mir itself, with its customs, is of immemorial antiquity (see See also:VILLAGE COMMUNITIES) ; it was not, however, till the emancipation of the serfs in 1861 that the village community was withdrawn from the patrimonial jurisdiction of the landowning See also:nobility and endowed with self-government. The See also:assembly of the mir consists of all the peasant householders of the village.5 These elect a head-See also:man (starosta) and a See also:collector of taxes, who was responsible, at least until the See also:ukaz of October r906, which abolished communal responsibility for the See also:payment of taxes, for the repartition among individuals of the taxes imposed on the See also:commune. A number of See also:miss are united into a volost, The or See also:canton, which has an assembly consisting of elected volost. delegates from the mirs, These elect an See also:elder (starshina) and, hitherto, a court of justice (volostnye sud). See Judicial System, below. The self-government of the mists and volosts is, however, tempered by the authority of the police commissaries (stanovoi) and by the power of general oversight given to the nominated " district committees for the affairs of the peasants." The system of local self-government is continued, so far as the 34 governments of old Russia are concerned,6 in the elective district and provincial assemblies (zemstvos). The These bodies, one for each district and another for zemstvos. each province or government, were created by Alex- ander II. in 1864. They consist of a representative council (zemskoye sobranye) and of an executive See also:board (zemskaya uprava) nominated by the former. The board consists of five classes of members: (I) large landed proprietors (nobles owning .590 acres and over), who sit in person; (2) delegates of the small landowners, including the See also:clergy in their capacity of landed proprietors; (3) delegates of the wealthier townsmen; (4) delegates of the less wealthy urban classes; (5) delegates of the peasants, elected by the volosts.7 The rules governing elections to the zemstvos were taken as a See also:model for the electoral law of 1906 and are sufficiently indicated by the See also:account of this given below. The zemstvos were originally given large powers in relation to the incidence of See also:taxation, and such questions as See also:education, public health, roads and the like. These powers were, however, severely restricted by the emperor Alexander III. (law of 12/25 See also:June 189o), the zemstvos being absolutely subordinated to the governors, whose consent was necessary to the validity of all their decisions, and who received drastic powers of discipline over the members.8 It was not till 1905 that the zemstvos regained, at least de facto, some of their independent initiative. The part played by the See also:congress of zemstvos in the earlier stages of the Russian revolution is outlined below (see History: § 2. Development of the Russian Constitution). 4 Until the ukaz of October 18, 1906, the peasant class was stereo-typed under the electoral law. No peasant, however See also:rich, could qualify for a See also:vote in any but the peasants' electoral colleges. The ukaz allowed peasants with the requisite qualifications to vote as landowners. At the same time the Senate interpreted the law so as to exclude all but heads of families actually engaged in farming from the vote for the Duma. None but peasants—not even the See also:noble-landowner—has a See also:voice in the assembly of the mir. 8 Sixteen provinces have no zemstvos, i.e. the three Baltic provinces, the nine western governments annexed from Poland by Catherine II., and the Cossack provinces of the Don, See also:Astrakhan, See also:Orenburg and See also:Stavropol. 7 By the law of the 12th (25th) of June 1890 the peasant members of the zemstvos were to be nominated by the governor of the government or province from a list elected by the volosts. 8 In spite of these restrictions and of an electoral system which tended to make these assemblies as strait-laced and reactionary as any government See also:bureau, the zemstvos did See also:good See also:work, notably educational, in those provinces where the proprietors were inspired with a more liberal spirit. Many zemstvos also made extensive and valuable inquiries into the See also:condition of agriculture, industry and the like. Secret police. Since 187o the municipalities in European Russia have had institutions like those of the zemstvos. All owners of houses, Municipal and tax-paying merchants, artisans and workmen dumas. are enrolled on lists in a descending order according to their assessed wealth. The total valuation is then divided into three equal parts, representing three groups of electors very unequal in number, each of which elects an equal number of delegates to the municipal duma. The executive is in the hands of an elective See also:mayor and an uprava, which consists of several members elected by the duma. Under Alexander III., however, by laws promulgated in 1892 and 1894, the municipal dumas were subordinated to the governors in the same way as the zemstvos. In 1894 municipal institutions, with still more restricted powers, were granted to several towns in See also:Siberia, and in 1895 to some in Caucasia. In the Baltic provinces (See also:Courland, See also:Livonia and See also:Esthonia) the landowning classes formerly enjoyed considerable powers Baltic of self-government and numerous privileges in matters provinces. affecting education, police and the administration of local justice. But by laws promulgated in 1888 and 1889 the rights of police and manorial justice were transferred from the landlords to officials of the central government. Since about the same time a See also:process of rigorous Russification has been carried through in the same provinces, in all departments of administration, in the higher See also:schools and in the university of Dorpat, the name of which was altered to See also:Yuriev. In 1893 district committees for the management of the peasants' affairs, similar to those in the purely Russian governments, were introduced into this part of the empire. Judicial System.—Not the least valuable of the gifts of the " See also:tsar emancipator," Alexander II., to Russia was the judicial system established by the See also:statute (Sudebni Ustav) of the loth of November 1864. The system which this superseded was not indigenous to Russia, but had been set up by Peter the Great, who had taken as his model the inquisitorial procedure at that time in See also:vogue on the See also:continent of western See also:Europe. Both civil and criminal procedure were secret. All the proceedings were conducted in See also:writing, and the See also:judges were not confronted with either the parties or the witnesses until they emerged to deliver judgment. This secrecy, combined with the fact that the judges were very ill paid, led to universal See also:bribery and corruption. To check this courts were multiplied (there were five, six or more instances), which only multiplied the evil. Documents accumulated from court to court, till none but the clerks who had written them could tell their gist; See also:costs were piled up; and all this, combined with the confusion caused by the chaotic See also:mass of imperial ukazes, ordinances and See also:ancient laws—often inconsistent or flatly contradictory—made the administration of justice, if possible, more See also:dilatory and capricious than in the old, unreformed See also:English court of chancery. Above all, there was no dividing See also:line between the judiciary and the administrative functions. The judges were not so by profession; they were merely members of the official class (chinovniks), the prejudices and vices of which they shared. Of this system—except so far as the confusion of the laws is concerned—the reform of 1864 made a clean sweep. The new Law of system established—based partly on English, partly 1864. on See also:French models—was built up on certain broad principles: the separation of the judicial and administrative functions, the See also:independence of the judges and courts, the publicity of trials and oral procedure, the equality of all classes before the law. Moreover, a democratic See also:element was introduced by the See also:adoption of the See also:jury system and—so far as one order of tribunal was concerned—the See also:election of judges. The See also:establishment of a judicial system on these principles constituted, as M. Leroy-Beaulieu justly observes, a fundamental change in the conception of the Russian state, which, by placing the administration of justice outside the See also:sphere of the executive power, ceased to be a despotism. This fact made the new system especially See also:obnoxious to the bureaucracy, and during the latter years of Alexander II. and the reign of Alexander III. there was a piecemeal taking back of what had been given. It was reserved for the third Duma, after the revolution, to begin the reversal of this process.' The system established by the law of 1864 is remarkable in that it set up two wholly separate orders of tribunals, each having their own courts of See also:appeal and coming in contact only in the senate, as the supreme court of cassation. The first of these, based on the English model, are the courts of the elected justices of the See also:peace, with jurisdiction over See also:petty causes, whether civil or criminal; the second, based on the French model, are the ordinary tribunals of nominated judges, sitting with or without a jury to hear important cases. The justices of the peace, who must be landowhers2 or (in towns) persons of moderate property, are elected by the municipal dumas in the towns, and by the zemstvos justices in the country districts, for a term of three years. of the They are of two classes: (I) acting justices (uchastokvye Peace. mirovye sudi); (2) honorary justices (pochetnye mirovye sudi). The acting justice sits normally alone to hear. causes in his canton of the peace (uchastok), but, at the See also:request of both parties to a suit, he may See also:call in an honorary justice as See also:assessor or substitute? In all civil cases involving less than 30 roubles, and in criminal cases punishable by no more than three days' arrest, his judgment is final. In other cases appeal can be made to the " See also:assize of the peace " (mirovye syezd), consisting of three or more justices of the peace See also:meeting monthly (cf. the English See also:quarter sessions), which acts both as a court of appeal and of cassation. From this again appeal can be made on points of law or disputed procedure to the senate, which may send the case back for retrial by an assize of the peace in another district. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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