Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1899 American Edition.djvu/1265

 CONSTITUTION AND govehnment 909

their judgments can be made to the 'Syezd,' or gathering of judges of the district, and further to the Senate. In 1889 an important change was made in the above organisation. Justices of Peace have been replaced in twenty provinces of Central Russia by Chiefs of the District {uyezdnyi nacholnik), nominated by the administration from among candidates taken from the nobility, recommended by the nobility, and endowed with wide discii)linary powers against the peasants ; in the cities, except St. Petersburg, Moscow, and Odessa, special ' town magistrates ' {gorodskoi sudia), nominated in the same way, are to take the place of the former Justices of Peace. As to the peasants' tribunals {volostnoi sud), they are placed in direct subjection to the ' Chiefs of the Districts.' The same measure has been extended in 1890 and 1891 over all the provinces endowed with provincial institutions {zemstvos).

A new Peasants' Administration and Peasants' Chiefs have been intro- duced in Siberia (law of June 2, 1898).

The administration of the economical affairs of the district and province are, to some extent, in the hands of zemstvos, or the district and provincial assemblies, composed of representatives elected l^y the peasantry, the house- holders in the towns, and the landed proprietors. Their executive power is entrusted to provincial and district ' Upravas.' The president of the nobility of the district, or of the province, presides ex officio over the zemstvos of the district, or of the province. Important modifications, increasing the jjowers of noble landowners in the affairs of the zemstvos, reducing the numbers of representatives, and limiting their jTOwers, were introduced in 1890.

The towns and cities have municipal institutions of their own, organised on nearly the same principles as the zemstvos. All house-owners are divided into three classes, each of which represents an equal amount of real property, and each class elects an equal number of representatives to the Dumas ; the latter elect their executive the Uprava. The new law of 1894 reduces the powers of the Municipal Government and places it almost entirely under the Governors nominated by the Emperor. In 1894, municipal institutions, with still more limited powers, were introduced in several towns of Siberia, and in 1895 in Caucasia.

During the years 1883-97 the institutions of the s(!?«s^c-o were in force in 34 provinces (361 districts) of European Russia. The number of electors was: 40,172 landowners, 48,091 urban population, and 196,773 peasants. As to the number of votes given to the above electors, it appears that 64 j)er cent, of all votes belong to peasants, 12 per cent, to nobles, 10 percent, to merchants, 5 per cent, to the clergy, and 4 per cent, to artisans. Of the 13,196 elected members of the Assemblies of the zemstvos, 35 per cent, belonged to the nobility, 15 per cent, to the class of the ' merchants,' and 38 per cent, to the peasantry. The Executives of the zemstvos (the upravas) have 1,263 members, out of whom two-thirds are peasants in East Russia, while in Middle Russia from two-thirds to three-quarters of the members are nobles. The 34 provincial executives have 137 members (98 nobles, 21 oflScials, 9 merchants, 3 artisanS; and 2 peasants).

Finland \ — The Grand-duchy of Finland, ceded to the Emperor of Russia by the treaty of Frederickshamn, September 17, 1809, has preserved, by special grant of Alexander I. in 1810 (renewed by his successors), some- remains of its ancient Constitution, dating from the year 1772, reformed in 1789, and slightly modified in 1869 and 1882. This charter i)rovides for a national parliament, consisting of four estates, the nobles, the clergy, the burghers, and the peasants, convoked by the 'Grand-duke,' Emperor of Russia, for four months. They discuss the schemes of laws proposed by the

1 For further details on Finland, see end of Russia.