Sunday, March 24, 2013

Village, Township and County Administration; 19th Century Ostrog County


Terms:
English
Russian
County
powiat; повіт or uezda; уѣзда
Township, Parish 
volost; волость
Village 
selo; село
Rural community
sel'ckoe obshchestvo; cельское общество
Peasant householder
krest'yan-domokhozyaev; крестьян-домохозяев
Social estate, class
soslovie; сословие
Village assembly
silskyi skhod; cельский сход
Village mayor              
silskyi starosta; сельский cтароста
Township assembly 
volostnoi skhod; волостной сход
Township headman
volostnoi starshina; волостной старшина
Township Board
volost pravleniya; волостного правления
Township Court
volostnoi sud; волостной суд
Township Court judges
sud'i volostnogo suda; судьи волостного суда
Tax collector
sborshchikov podatey; сборщиков податей
County congress
uezdnyi sezd; уездный съезд
District Marshal of the Nobility
uezdnyi predvoditel' dvoryanstva; уездный предводитель дворянства                                         
Provincial Marshal of the Nobility
gubernskyi predvoditel' dvoryanstva; губернский предводитель дворянства
Magistrate’s Court
mirovoi sud; мировой суд
Police Captain
ispravnik; исправник
Police Bailiff
stanovoi pristav; становой пристав
Police Constable
politseyskyi uriadnik; полицейский урядник
Police Precinct
stana; стана



In 1906, Ostrog County was made up of 14 townships with an average of 27 villages each.  The administrative system set up by the Tsar’s government allowed for a certain measure of self government within these townships and villages.  The provincial governmental (Volyn Gubernia) capital was located in Zhytomyr and was headed by a Governor or a Governor-General who was appointed by the Tsar himself. 

Each of the 12 counties of Volyn Gubernia was divided into a number of townships.  And of course each of these townships contained many villages or rural communities.  The local administration began at this village level. 

Each village had a mayor and an administrative body.  The administrative body was made up of delegates of the village, 2 for every 10 peasant households.  The assembly elected a mayor who would serve a term of 3 years.  In Right-Bank Ukraine (Ukraine territories west of the Dnieper River), the mayor and the assembly together formed the Hromada (Ukr: Громада, community) which was the administrative body for the village. 

Each township was similarly administered.  A township body was comprised of delegates from the villages of the township; 1 for every 10 peasant households.  This assembly elected the township headman who likewise was elected for a 3 year term.  Together with each village mayor and with any township tax collector(s), the volost headman formed the township board which was the executive body of the assembly.  Also members of the township assembly were any existent township court judges.  This township assembly elected one delegate to represent the township at the State Dumas (imperial assembly) in St. Petersburg.  In Right-Bank Ukraine, the township headman was required to be ethnically Russian or Ukrainian.

These administrative bodies had various duties for the well-being of the townships and villages.  The township assembly provided guidance regarding the economic and political course of the township, as well as giving direction for school systems and charitable foundations and hearing complaints that affected the entire township.  The township assembly also maintained any township employees.  For instance, many Volhynian townships employed a forester to maintain the cleanliness of the forests; leaves, pine needles and other natural refuse needed to be systematically removed to reduce the possibility of forest fires. 

The village assembly and hromada acted upon matters such as the use and allocation of village communal land, residence status of members of the community, as well as the management of any communal property or stockpiles, and the equitable distribution of the collective tax burden.  The hromada also maintained any village employees.  For instance, my great grandfather, Andreas Ratzlaff, was employed by the Village of Leeleva as the schoolteacher and also perhaps as the summer herdsman.  According to Abe J Unruh, villages also employed runners; teenage boys who could quickly run to the next village to communicate any important news or warn of any emergencies.  The hromada, due to its limited authority, largely oversaw community solidarity and managed village communal interests through control of social behavior.

The village mayor oversaw items such as chairing assembly meetings, supervision over peasant householders’ payment of taxes and fees, monitoring proper maintanence of roads and bridges within the village, detention of runaways or vagrants, managing emergencies and providing for public safety, management of crime scenes until police arrived, and generally taking necessary measures to provide for the proper decorum and order of the village.  Abe J Unruh relates that the village mayor in the Karolswalde Villages had the right to detain any stranger who appeared in a village such as a boy who might arrive without the proper escort of his parents.  Strangers such as these could even be chained to logs until their business in the village was sorted out.
 
The township headman had similar duties but his focus encompassed the entire township.  Headmen also ensured peasants were upholding their soslovie duties, oversaw decisions of the township court and village, issued residence permits for the township, managed each village mayor, as well as managing any township assets.  The headman had the authority to fine peasants up to 1 ruble, arrest them for periods not exceeding 2 days, and to order them to perform work on behalf of the township.

Township headmen, village mayors, as well as members of any township or village assembly, were probably fairly well-to-do rural peasants.  Up to this level of administration, no members of the nobility were included.  This system was practiced only in rural areas as a method of self-administration for the peasants; administration in urban areas was set up differently.  Of course, this system as it’s been described was all in theory.  What was realistically practiced on a day to day basis throughout the countryside could have varied significantly.

The German villages (Ger: Dörfer) in Ostrog County probably had their own mayors, who they would have called their Schultze or Schultheiß (German for mayor).  And they similarly would have enjoyed levels of self-government according to their specific soslovie.  They may have enjoyed some special exemptions from the township assembly, however, insofar as issues such as schooling of children and military service/taxation were concerned.

Above the township assembly was the district or county congress which was made up of the members of the county circuit court, municipal judges and justices of the peace, as well as the police captain.  This body was chaired by the District Marshal of the Nobility who was essentially the headman of the county.  The District Marshal was a nobleman, 21 years of age or older, elected to his post by the members of the county congress.  The District Marshal was the first appearance of a nobleman within the administration of the rural peasants.  Above the District Marshall, but not directly in charge of him, was the Provincial Marshal of the Nobility who worked with the Governor or Governor General in overseeing the administration of the entire province.

The judicial system for the county began at the lowest level with Parish Court.  The Parish Court consisted of several judges who had been elected to 3 year terms by members of village assembly.  Usually these judges had no judicial training and often meted out justice based upon local customs instead of imperial law.  Frequently, these courts introduced additional problems because they were untrained, biased and inconsistent.  This court’s jurisdiction was limited to rural areas and the Parish Court had no equivalent in urban areas.  The cases heard by this judicial body’s were limited to minor offenses between peasants or propery disputes at the lowest village levels.

The township board also held some judicial authority in minor matters between peasants.  Other local courts included the Magistrate’s Court, the Municipal Court, the County Court, and the Provincial Court.

Regarding legal enforcement at the local level, there existed a police force separate and apart from any local administration.  Counties were divided into 2 or 3 precincts.  Each precinct was under the authority of a bailiff and separate portions of each precinct were manned by police constables.  All the precincts in one county were under the authority of the aforementioned police captain who was also a member of the district congress.  The police captain was appointed by the provincial government and was under the direct authority of the Provincial Ministry of the Interior and the Provincial Court

Bailiffs and constables had the authority to conduct investigations in the support of charges in criminal cases as well as protecting the general public order.  Police had relatively high physical and intellectual standards and needed to be able to draw up reports and have a basic knowledge of the law of the Empire.  Above and beyond simple law enforcement, police were charged with monitoring any incidence or action that was contrary to the Tsar.  Murmuring against the government, administrative authorities or public order was indeed looked upon as a crime in 19th Century Imperial Russia.

The captain was theoretically elected by the local nobility for a period of 3 years.  In reality, he may have been appointed by the governor himself.  After the District Marshal of the Nobility, the police captain was the highest ranking official in any county.  The captain was also a member of the county congress.

In 1906 there were 3 police precints in Ostrog County.  The first served the northwest townships of Annopolskaya, Bugrinskaya, Dolzhanskaya, Goschskaya, and Siyanetskaya.  The second served the central and northwestern townships of Krivinskaya, Khorovskaya, Kunevskoy (where my ancestors lived), and Zdolbitskaya.  The office for this second precinct may have been housed in the village of Kunev.  The third precinct served the southern townships of Lyakhovetsky, Pereroslovsk, Pluzhanskoy, Semenovskaya, and Unievskaya.  Here's the stamp/signature of the police Bailiff of precinct #2, Ostrog County, from 1895:

This is the stamp/signature of the police Bailiff of precinct #2, Ostrog County, from 1906:


In most provinces throughout the empire, the mid 19th Century saw the introduction of the Zemstvo system in which local nobility, along with peasants, burghers and clergy took charge in matters of local governance in an effort to streamline and “russify” the populace.  In areas where the Zemstvo system was actice, the Zemstvo boss held considerable authority.  In Right-Bank Ukraine, however, the Zemstvo system was not fully implemented until the second decade of the 20th Century as this system placed heavy responsibility upon the local nobility.  In Right-Bank Ukraine, the majority of the nobility was of Polish origin.  Obviously the Tsar’s government did not want to place in the hands of Polish nobility the Zemstvo goal of “russification” thus more time was taken in these areas before the Zemstvo implementation.

History of Ukraine: The Land and its Peoples, by Paul Robert Magocsi

Features and Figures out of the Past, by Vladimir Iosifovic Gurko; 1939

The Helpless Poles, by Abe J Unruh; 1973

The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979).  2010 The Gale Group, Inc.