Political reforms of Peter I. Establishment of colleges

The whole state activities Peter I can be conditionally divided into two periods: 1695-1715 and 1715-1725.

The peculiarity of the first stage was haste and not always well thought out character, which was explained by the conduct of the Northern War. The reforms were aimed primarily at raising funds for the war, were carried out by force and often did not lead to the desired result. In addition to state reforms, at the first stage, extensive reforms were carried out with the aim of modernizing the way of life.

In the second period, the reforms were more lightning-fast and ill-conceived and aimed at interior arrangement the state.

In general, Peter's reforms were aimed at strengthening the Russian state and introducing the ruling stratum to Western European culture, while strengthening absolute monarchy... By the end of the reign of Peter the Great, a powerful Russian Empire was created, at the head of which was the emperor, who had absolute power. In the course of the reforms, the technical and economic lag of Russia from a number of other European states was overcome, an exit to Baltic Sea, carried out transformations in all spheres of life Russian society... At the same time, the forces of the people were extremely exhausted, the bureaucratic apparatus grew, the prerequisites (Decree on succession to the throne) were created for the crisis of the supreme power, which led to the era of "palace coups".

Public administration reforms

At first, Peter I did not have a clear program of reforms in the sphere government... The emergence of a new state institution or a change in the administrative-territorial administration of the country was dictated by the conduct of wars, which required significant financial resources and mobilizing the population. The system of power inherited by Peter I did not allow collecting enough funds for reorganizing and increasing the army, building a fleet, building fortresses and St. Petersburg.

From the first years of Peter's rule, there was a tendency towards a decrease in the role of the ineffective Boyar Duma in governing the state. In 1699, under the tsar, the Near Chancellery was organized, or Consilium (Council) of Ministers, which consisted of 8 proxies who managed individual orders. This was the prototype of the future Governing Senate, formed on February 22, 1711. The last mentions of the Boyar Duma date back to 1704. A certain operating mode was established in the Consilia: each minister had special powers, reports and minutes of meetings appear. In 1711, instead of the Boyar Duma and the Consilia, which replaced it, the Senate was established. Peter formulated the main task of the Senate as follows: “ Look around the entire state of the costs, and unnecessary, and especially in vain, set aside. Money, as possible, to collect, before money is the essence of the artery of war.»

Created by Peter for the current management of the state during the absence of the tsar (at that time the tsar was sent to Prut campaign), The Senate, consisting of 9 people, turned from a temporary into a permanently operating higher government institution, which was enshrined in the Decree of 1722. He controlled justice, was in charge of trade, fees and expenses of the state, oversaw the serviceability of the nobles serving military service, he was transferred to the functions of the Discharge and Ambassadorial orders.

Decisions in the Senate were made collectively, at a general meeting and were supported by the signatures of all members of the highest state body. If one of the 9 senators refuses to sign the decision, then the decision was considered invalid. Thus, Peter I delegated part of his powers to the Senate, but at the same time assigned personal responsibility to its members.

Simultaneously with the Senate, the fiscal position appeared. The duty of the Ober-fiscal under the Senate and fiscal in the provinces was to secretly monitor the activities of institutions: they revealed cases of violation of decrees and abuses and reported to the Senate and the tsar. Since 1715, the work of the Senate was supervised by the general auditor, from 1718 renamed the chief secretary. Since 1722, control over the Senate has been exercised by the Attorney General and the Chief Attorney, to whom the prosecutors of all other institutions were subordinate. No decision of the Senate was valid without the consent and signature of the Attorney General. The Prosecutor General and his Deputy Chief Prosecutor were directly subordinate to the sovereign.

The Senate as a government could make decisions, but an administrative apparatus was required for their implementation. In 1717-1721, a reform of the executive governing bodies was carried out, as a result of which the system of orders with their vague functions was replaced, according to the Swedish model, by 11 collegia - the predecessors of future ministries. In contrast to orders, the functions and spheres of activity of each collegium were strictly delineated, and relations within the collegium were built on the principle of collegial decisions. Introduced:

• Collegium of Foreign (Foreign) Affairs.
• Military Collegium - recruiting, arming, equipping and training the ground army.
• Admiralty Collegium - naval affairs, fleet.
• Camor-collegium - collection of state revenues.
• State-office-board - in charge of state expenditures,
• The revision board - control over the collection and expenditure of state funds.
• Commerce Board - issues of shipping, customs and foreign trade.
• Berg collegium - mining and metallurgical business.
• Manufacturing collegium - light industry.
• The Justitz Collegium was in charge of civil legal proceedings (a Serf office operated under it: it registered various acts - deeds of sale, on the sale of estates, spiritual wills, promissory notes).
• The Spiritual College - managed church affairs (later the Most Holy Governing Synod).

In 1721, the Patrimony Collegium was formed - it was in charge of noble land tenure (land disputes, transactions for the purchase and sale of land and peasants, and the search for fugitives were considered).
In 1720, the Chief Magistrate was formed as a collegium to govern the city population.
In 1721, the Spiritual Collegium or Synod was established - the affairs of the church were considered.
On February 28, 1720, the General Regulations introduced a single system of office work in the state apparatus for the whole country. According to the regulations, the board consisted of the president, 4-5 advisers and 4 assessors.
In addition, there were the Preobrazhensky Prikaz (political investigation), the Salt Office, the Copper Department, and the Land Survey Office.
Military, Admiralty and Foreign Affairs were called the "first" colleges.
The collegiums had two institutions: the Synod and the Chief Magistrate.
The collegiums were subordinate to the Senate, and to them - the provincial, provincial and district administration.

Regional reform

In 1708-1715, a regional reform was carried out with the aim of strengthening the vertical of power on the ground and better providing the army with supplies and recruits. In 1708, the country was divided into 8 provinces, headed by governors, endowed with full judicial and administrative power: Moscow, Ingermandland (later St. Petersburg), Kiev, Smolensk, Azov, Kazan, Arkhangelsk and Siberian. The Moscow province gave more than a third of the receipts to the treasury, followed by the Kazan province.

The governors were also in charge of the troops located on the territory of the province. In 1710, new administrative units appeared - shares, which united 5536 households. The first regional reform did not solve the assigned tasks, but only significantly increased the number of civil servants and the costs of their maintenance.

In 1719-1720, the second regional reform was carried out, which eliminated the shares. Provinces began to be divided into 50 provinces headed by governors, and provinces into districts headed by zemstvo commissars appointed by the Chamber Collegium. Only military and court cases remained in the jurisdiction of the governor.

As a result of public administration reforms, the formation of an absolute monarchy ended, as well as the bureaucratic system on which the emperor relied.

Control over the activities of civil servants

To control the implementation of decisions on the ground and reduce rampant corruption, since 1711, the office of fiscal officials was established, who were supposed to "secretly visit, inform and expose" all abuses, both high and low officials, prosecute embezzlement, bribery, and accept denunciations from private individuals ... At the head of the fiscal was the ober-fiscal, appointed by the king and subordinate to him. Ober-fiscal was a member of the Senate and kept in touch with subordinate fiscal through the fiscal desk of the Senate Chancellery. Denunciations were considered and reported to the Senate on a monthly basis by the Disciplinary Chamber - a special judicial presence of four judges and two senators (existed in 1712-1719).

In 1719-1723. fiscal subordinate to the Justitz Collegium, with the establishment in January 1722 of the position of the Prosecutor General was supervised by him. Since 1723, the main fiscal is the general-fiscal, appointed by the sovereign, his assistant - the chief fiscal, appointed by the Senate. In this regard, the fiscal service left the jurisdiction of the Justitz Collegium and regained departmental independence. The vertical of fiscal control was brought to the city level.

Army and navy reforms

Upon accession to the kingdom, Peter received at the disposal of a permanent rifle army, prone to anarchy and rebellion, unable to fight the Western armies. The Preobrazhensky and Semyonovsky regiments, which grew out of the children's fun of the young tsar, became the first regiments of the new Russian army, built with the help of foreigners on the European model. Reforming the army and creating a navy became necessary conditions for victory in the Northern War of 1700-1721.

Preparing for war with Sweden, Peter ordered in 1699 to make a general recruitment and begin training soldiers according to the model established by the Transfiguration and Semyonovites. This first recruitment gave 29 infantry regiments and two dragoons. In 1705, every 20 households were to put up one recruit for life, a single guy aged 15 to 20. Subsequently, recruits began to be taken from a certain number of male souls among the peasants. Recruitment into the navy, as well as into the army, was carried out from recruits.

If at first there were mainly foreign specialists among the officers, then after the start of the navigation, artillery, engineering schools, the growth of the army was satisfied with Russian officers from the nobility. In 1715, the Maritime Academy was opened in St. Petersburg. In 1716, the Military Regulations were issued, which strictly defined the service, rights and duties of the military.

The transformation has created a strong regular army and a powerful navy that Russia simply did not have before. By the end of Peter's reign, the number of regular ground troops reached 210 thousand (of which there were 2,600 in the guards, 41,550 in the cavalry, 75 thousand in the infantry, 74 thousand in the garrisons) and up to 110 thousand irregular troops. The fleet consisted of 48 ships of the line; galleys and other ships 787; there were almost 30 thousand people on all ships.

Church reform

One of the transformations of Peter I was the reform of church government he carried out, aimed at eliminating church jurisdiction autonomous from the state and subordinating the Russian hierarchy to the Emperor. In 1700, after the death of Patriarch Adrian, instead of convening a council for the election of a new patriarch, Peter I temporarily appointed Metropolitan of Ryazan Stephen Yavorsky, who received a new title of Guardian of the Patriarchal Throne or "Exarch", at the head of the clergy.

To manage the property of the patriarchal and hierarchical houses, as well as monasteries, including the peasants belonging to them (about 795 thousand), the Monastic Order was restored, headed by I.A. income from church and monastery land holdings.

In 1701, a series of decrees was issued to reform the administration of church and monastic possessions and the organization of monastic life. The most important were the decrees of January 24 and 31, 1701.

In 1721, Peter approved the Spiritual Regulations, the compilation of which was entrusted to the Bishop of Pskov, the tsar's close associate, Little Russia Feofan Prokopovich. As a result, a radical reform of the church took place, eliminating the autonomy of the clergy and completely subordinating it to the state.

In Russia, the patriarchate was abolished and the Spiritual Collegium was established, which was soon renamed the Holy Synod, which was recognized by the eastern patriarchs as equal to the patriarch. All members of the Synod were appointed by the Emperor and took an oath of allegiance to him upon assuming office.

The war stimulated the withdrawal of valuables from monastic depositories. Peter did not go to the full secularization of church and monastic possessions, which was carried out much later, at the beginning of the reign of Catherine II.

Religious policy

The era of Peter was marked by a trend towards greater religious tolerance. Peter terminated the "12 Articles" adopted by Sophia, according to which the Old Believers who refused to renounce the "schism" were to be burned at the stake. The "schismatics" were allowed to practice their faith, subject to the recognition of the existing state order and paying taxes double. Complete freedom of faith was granted to foreigners who came to Russia, restrictions on communication between Orthodox Christians and Christians of other confessions were lifted (in particular, interfaith marriages are allowed).

Financial reform

The Azov campaigns, and then the Northern War of 1700-1721, demanded huge funds, to collect which financial reforms were directed.

At the first stage, it all boiled down to finding new sources of funds. To the traditional customs and tavern levies were added fees and benefits from the monopolization of the sale of certain goods (salt, alcohol, tar, bristles, etc.), indirect taxes (bath, fish, horse taxes, tax on oak coffins, etc.) , obligatory use of stamped paper, minting of coins of less weight (damage).

In 1704, Peter carried out a monetary reform, as a result of which the main monetary unit was not money, but a penny. From now on, it began to equal not ½ money, but 2 money, and this word first appeared on coins. At the same time, the irredeemable ruble was abolished, which had been a conventional monetary unit since the 15th century, equated to 68 grams of pure silver and was used as a standard in exchange transactions. The most important measure in the course of the financial reform was the introduction of the poll tax instead of the household taxation that had existed before. In 1710, a "household" census was carried out, which showed a decrease in the number of households. One of the reasons for this decrease was that in order to reduce taxes, several households were fenced off with one fence, and one gate was made (this was considered one courtyard in the census). Due to these shortcomings, it was decided to switch to the poll tax. In 1718-1724, a repeated population census was carried out in parallel with the revision of the population (revision of the census), which began in 1722. According to this revision of taxable persons, there were 5,967,313 people.

Based on the data obtained, the government divided by the population the amount of money needed to maintain the army and navy.

As a result, the size of the per capita tax was determined: the serfs of the landowners paid the state 74 kopecks, the state peasants - 1 ruble 14 kopecks (since they did not pay the quitrent), the urban population - 1 ruble 20 kopecks. Only men, regardless of age, were taxed. The nobility, clergy, as well as soldiers and Cossacks were exempted from the poll tax. The soul was countable - between revisions, the dead were not excluded from the tax lists, newborns were not included, as a result, the tax burden was distributed unevenly.

As a result of the tax reform, the size of the treasury was significantly increased due to the spread of the tax burden not only on the peasantry, but also on their landlords. If in 1710 incomes extended to 3,134,000 rubles; then in 1725 there were 10,186,707 rubles. (according to foreign sources - up to 7 859 833 rubles).

Transformations in industry and commerce

Realizing during the Grand Embassy the technical lag of Russia, Peter could not ignore the problem of reforming Russian industry. One of the main problems was the lack of qualified craftsmen. The tsar solved this problem by attracting foreigners to the Russian service for favorable terms, sending Russian nobles to study in Western Europe... The manufacturers received great privileges: they were released with children and craftsmen from military service, were subject only to the court of the Manufacturing Collegium, got rid of taxes and internal duties, could bring the tools and materials they needed from abroad duty-free, their houses were exempted from military posts.

The first silver smelting plant in Russia was built near Nerchinsk in Siberia in 1704. The next year he gave the first silver.

Significant measures were taken in the exploration of mineral resources in Russia. Previously Russian state in terms of raw materials, it was completely dependent on foreign states, first of all, Sweden (iron was transported from there), however, after the discovery of deposits of iron ore and other minerals in the Urals, the need for purchases of iron disappeared. In the Urals in 1723 the largest iron-making plant in Russia was founded, from which the city of Yekaterinburg developed. Under Peter, Nevyansk, Kamensk-Uralsky, Nizhny Tagil were founded. Arms factories (cannon yards, arsenals) appear in the Olonets Territory, Sestroretsk and Tula, gunpowder factories - in St. Petersburg and near Moscow, leather and textile industries are developing - in Moscow, Yaroslavl, Kazan and the Left Bank Ukraine, which was due to the need to produce equipment and uniforms for the Russian troops, silk spinning, the production of paper, cement, a sugar factory and a tapestry factory appeared.

In 1719, the "Berg Privilege" was published, according to which everyone was given the right to search, melt, cook and refine metals and minerals everywhere, subject to payment of the "mining tax" in 1/10 of the cost of mining and 32 shares in favor of the owner of that land where ore deposits were found. For the concealment of ore and an attempt to interfere with the extraction, the owner was threatened with confiscation of land, corporal punishment and even the death penalty "through the fault of looking."

The main problem in Russian factories at that time was the lack of labor. The problem was solved by violent measures: whole villages and villages were attributed to manufactories, whose peasants worked out their taxes to the state in manufactories (such peasants will be called attributed), criminals and beggars were sent to factories. In 1721, a decree followed, which allowed "merchant people" to buy villages, the peasants of which could be resettled to manufactories (such peasants would be called possessory).

Further development received trade. With the construction of St. Petersburg, the role of the country's main port passed from Arkhangelsk to the future capital. River canals were built.

In general, Peter's policy in trade can be characterized as a policy of protectionism, which consists in supporting domestic production and the establishment of increased duties on imported products (this was in line with the idea of ​​mercantilism). In 1724, a protective customs tariff was introduced - high duties on foreign goods that could be produced or were already produced by domestic enterprises.

Thus, under Peter the Great, the foundation of Russian industry was laid, as a result of which, in the middle of the 18th century, Russia came out on top in the world in the production of metal. The number of factories and plants at the end of Peter's reign extended to 233.

Social politics

The main goal pursued by Peter I in social policy is the legal registration of the estate rights and obligations of each category of the population of Russia. As a result, new structure a society in which the estate character was more clearly formed. The rights and responsibilities of the nobility were expanded, and, at the same time, the serfdom of the peasants was strengthened.

Nobility

Major milestones:

1. Education decree 1706: boyar children in mandatory must receive either primary schooling or home education.
2. The decree on estates of 1704: noble and boyar estates are not divided and are equal to each other.
3. Decree on single inheritance of 1714: a landowner with sons could bequeath all his real estate only one of them by choice. The rest were required to serve. The decree marked the final merger of the noble estate and the boyar patrimony, thereby finally erasing the difference between the two estates of feudal lords.
4. "Table of Ranks" 1721 (1722): division of military, civil and court service into 14 ranks. Upon reaching the eighth grade, any official or military man could receive the status of hereditary nobility. Thus, a person's career depended primarily not on his origin, but on achievements in public service.
5. Decree on succession to the throne on February 5, 1722: due to the absence of an heir, Peter I decides to issue an order on succession, in which he reserves the right to appoint an heir (the coronation ceremony of Peter's wife Ekaterina Alekseevna)

The place of the former boyars was taken by the "generals", consisting of the ranks of the first four classes of the "Table of Ranks". Personal length of service mixed the representatives of the former clan nobility with people raised by the service.

The legislative measures of Peter, without significantly expanding the estate rights of the nobility, significantly changed his duties. Military affairs, which in Moscow times were the duty of a narrow class of service people, is now becoming the duty of all strata of the population. The nobleman of Peter the Great still has the exclusive right to land tenure, but as a result of decrees on inheritance and revision, he is responsible to the state for the taxable serviceability of his peasants. The nobility is obliged to study in preparation for the service.

Peter destroyed the former isolation of the service class, opening by way of service through the Table of Ranks access to the nobility environment for people of other classes. On the other hand, by the law on single inheritance, he opened the exit from the nobility to merchants and clergy to those who wanted it. The nobility of Russia becomes a military-bureaucratic estate, the rights of which are created and hereditarily determined by public service, and not birth.

Peasantry

Peter's reforms changed the position of the peasants. From different categories peasants who were not in serf dependence on the landowners or the church (black-nosed peasants of the north, non-Russian nationalities, etc.), a new single category of state peasants was formed - personally free, but paid the quitrent to the state. The opinion that this measure “destroyed the remnants of the free peasantry” is incorrect, since the population groups that made up the state peasants were not considered free in the pre-Petrine period - they were attached to the land (Cathedral Code of 1649) and could be granted by the tsar to private individuals and churches as serfs.

State peasants in the 18th century had the rights of personally free people (they could own property, act in court as one of the parties, elect representatives to the estate bodies, etc.), but they were limited in movement and could be (until the beginning of the 19th century, when this category is finally approved as free people) transferred by the monarch to the category of serfs.

Legislative acts concerning the serf peasantry proper were contradictory. Thus, the interference of landowners in the marriage of serfs was limited (decree of 1724), it was forbidden to put serfs in their place as defendants in court and to keep them on the right for the owner's debts. Also, the norm on the transfer of the estates of landowners who ruined their peasants to the guardianship was confirmed, and the peasants were given the opportunity to enroll in soldiers, which freed them from serfdom (by decree of Empress Elizabeth on July 2, 1742, the peasants were deprived of this opportunity).

At the same time, measures against fugitive peasants were significantly toughened, large masses of palace peasants were distributed to private individuals, landlords were allowed to recruit serfs. The imposition of a capitation tax on serfs (that is, personal servants without land) led to the merger of serfs with serfs. The church peasants were subordinated to the monastic order and removed from the rule of the monasteries.

Under Peter, a new category of dependent farmers was created - peasants assigned to manufactories. These peasants in the 18th century were called possessory. By a decree of 1721, noblemen and merchant-manufacturers were allowed to buy peasants for factories to work for them. The peasants bought to the factory were not considered the property of its owners, but were attached to production, so that the owner of the factory could neither sell nor mortgage the peasants separately from the manufacture. Possessional peasants received a fixed salary and performed a fixed amount of work.

An important measure for the peasantry of Peter was the decree of May 11, 1721, which introduced the Lithuanian braid into the practice of harvesting grain, instead of the sickle traditionally used in Russia. To spread this innovation to the provinces, samples of "Lithuanians" were sent out, together with instructors from German and Latvian peasants. Since the scythe gave tenfold savings in labor during the harvest, then this innovation for short term became widespread, and became part of the usual peasant economy. Other development measures by Peter Agriculture, included the distribution among landowners of new breeds of livestock - Dutch cows, merino sheep from Spain, the creation of horse farms. On the southern outskirts of the country, measures were taken to plant vineyards and plantations of mulberry trees.

Urban population

Social politics Peter the Great, concerning the urban population, pursued the provision of the payment of the poll tax. For this, the population was divided into two categories: regular (industrialists, merchants, artisans of workshops) and irregular citizens (all the rest). The difference between the urban regular inhabitant of the end of Peter's reign from the irregular was that the regular citizen participated in the city administration by electing members of the magistrate, was enrolled in the guild and the workshop, or bore a monetary obligation in the share that fell on him according to the social layout.

In 1722, craft workshops appeared on the Western European model. The main purpose of their creation was to unite disparate artisan craftsmen to produce products needed by the army. However, the guild structure did not take root in Russia.

During the reign of Peter, the system of city management changed. The governors appointed by the king were replaced by elected City magistrates, subordinate to the Chief Magistrate. These measures meant the emergence of city government.

Transformations in the field of culture

Peter I changed the beginning of the chronology from the so-called Byzantine era ("from the creation of Adam") to "from the Nativity of Christ." 7208 by the Byzantine era became the year 1700 A.D. However, this reform did not affect the Julian calendar as such - only the year numbers changed.

After returning from the Great Embassy, ​​Peter I fought against outward manifestations an outdated way of life (most famous is the ban on beards), but no less paid attention to the introduction of the nobility to education and secular Europeanized culture. Secular educational institutions began to appear, the first Russian newspaper was founded, and many books were translated into Russian. Success in the service Peter made for the nobility dependent on education.

Under Peter in 1703, the first book in Russian with Arabic numerals appeared. Until that date, they were designated by letters with titles (wavy lines). In 1710, Peter approved a new alphabet with a simplified outline of letters (the Church Slavonic script remained for printing church literature), the two letters "xi" and "psi" were excluded. Peter created new printing houses, in which 1312 titles of books were printed in 1700-1725 (twice as many as in the entire previous history of Russian typography). Thanks to the rise of book printing, paper consumption increased from 4,000-8,000 sheets at the end of the 17th century to 50,000 sheets in 1719. There have been changes in the Russian language, which includes 4.5 thousand new words borrowed from European languages.

In 1724, Peter approved the charter of the organized Academy of Sciences (opened in 1725 after his death).

Of particular importance was the construction of stone Petersburg, in which foreign architects took part and which was carried out according to the plan developed by the tsar. He created a new urban environment with previously unfamiliar forms of life and pastime (theater, masquerades). The interior decoration of houses, the way of life, the composition of food, etc. have changed.

By a special decree of the tsar in 1718, assemblies were introduced, representing a new form of communication between people for Russia. At the assemblies, the nobles danced and communicated freely, in contrast to previous feasts and feasts. Thus, noble women were able to join the cultural leisure and social life for the first time.

The reforms carried out by Peter the Great affected not only politics, economics, but also art. Peter invited foreign artists to Russia and at the same time sent talented young people to study "arts" abroad, mainly to Holland and Italy. In the second quarter of the 18th century. "Peter's pensioners" began to return to Russia, bringing with them new artistic experience and acquired skills.

Gradually, a different system of values, perception of the world, and aesthetic ideas took shape in the ruling environment.

Education

Peter was clearly aware of the need for enlightenment, and took a number of decisive measures to this end.

On January 14, 1700, a school of mathematical and navigational sciences was opened in Moscow. In 1701-1721, artillery, engineering and medical schools were opened in Moscow, an engineering school and a naval academy in St. Petersburg, mining schools at the Olonets and Ural factories. The first gymnasium in Russia was opened in 1705. The goals of mass education were supposed to serve the digital schools created by the decree of 1714 in provincial cities, designed to “ children of all ranks to teach literacy, numbers and geometry". It was supposed to create two such schools in each province, where education was to be free. Garrison schools were opened for soldiers' children; a network of theological schools was created in 1721 to train priests.

According to the Hanoverian Weber, during the reign of Peter, several thousand Russians were sent to study abroad.

By decrees of Peter, compulsory training of nobles and clergy was introduced, but a similar measure for the urban population met with fierce resistance and was canceled. Peter's attempt to create an all-class elementary school failed (the creation of a network of schools after his death ceased, most of the digital schools under his successors were re-profiled into estate schools for training the clergy), but nevertheless, in his reign, the foundations were laid for the spread of education in Russia.

COLLEGES

[…] The lack of accountability in the midst of the war and the financial crisis was most likely to convince Peter of the need for a complete restructuring of the central government. […] He made inquiries about the organization of headquarters abroad: in Sweden, Germany and other countries, he found colleges; foreigners gave him notes on the introduction of collegiums, and he decided to adopt this form for the Russian government. Already in 1712, an attempt was made to arrange a "collegium" for trade with the help of foreigners, for, as Peter wrote, "their bargaining is incomparably better than ours." He instructed his overseas agents to collect regulations on foreign collegia and books on jurisprudence, especially inviting foreign businessmen to serve in Russian colleges, and without people, "it will not be possible to make books from books alone, because they never write all circumstantial documents." For a long time and with great trouble they recruited in Germany and the Czech Republic learned lawyers and experienced officials, secretaries and scribes, especially from the Slavs, who could establish business in Russian institutions; even captured Swedes who managed to learn Russian were invited to the service. Having become acquainted with the Swedish colleges, which were then considered exemplary in Europe, Peter in 1715 decided to take them as a model for the organization of his central institutions. In this decision, you cannot see anything unexpected or anything wayward. […] But this time, too, the matter went in the usual course of all of Peter's reforms: a quick decision was accompanied by a slow execution. Peter sent the Holstein cameralist Fick, hired by him, to Sweden for a closer study of the local colleges and invited to his service the Silesian Baron von Luberas, an expert on Swedish institutions. Both brought him hundreds of regulations and statements of the Swedish colleges and their own projects on their introduction in Russia, and the second hired in Germany, the Czech Republic and Silesia hundreds of one and a half hunters to serve in the Russian colleges. Both of them, especially Fick, took an active part in the formation of these colleges. Finally, by 1718, they drew up a plan of the collegiate structure, established the official composition of each collegium, appointed presidents and vice-presidents, and all collegiums were ordered to compose themselves on the basis of the Swedish charter, and the clauses of the Swedish charter, inconvenient "or dissimilar with the establishment of this state , replace with new ones according to your reasoning ". In 1718, presidents had to set up their collegia in order to begin their work from 1719; but postponements and reschedules followed, and the collegia did not come into effect from 1719, and others from 1720.

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ESTABLISHED COLLEGES

Initially, 9 collegia were established, which the decree of December 12, 1718 lists in this order and with the following names: 1) Foreign affairs, 2) Camor, department of state monetary income, 3) Justice, 4) Revision, "account of all state parishes and expenses ", that is, the department of financial control, 5) Military (collegium), department of the ground military forces, 6) Admiralteyskaya, department of the sea forces, 7) Commerz, department of trade, 8) Berg- and Manufactur, department of mining and factory industries , and 9) State Offices, Department of Public Expenditures. From this list, first of all, it is clear what state interests, as the primary ones, demanded for themselves, according to the concepts of that time, enhanced management: out of nine colleges, five were in charge of the state and national economy, finance and industry. The colleges introduced two principles into management that distinguished them from the old orders: a more systematic and concentrated division of departments and a deliberative order of business. Of the nine collegia, only two coincided in terms of business with the old orders: the Collegium of Foreign Affairs with the Ambassadorial Prikaz and the Revision Collegium with the Accountant; the rest of the collegiums represented the departments of the new composition. In this composition, the territorial element inherent in the old orders disappeared, most of which were in charge of exclusively or mainly known affairs only in a part of the state, in one or several counties. The provincial reform abolished many such orders; the last of them also disappeared in the collegiate reform. Each collegium in the branch of management assigned to it extended its action over the entire space of the state. In general, all the old orders, still living out their days, were either absorbed by the collegiums, or subordinated to them: for example, 7 orders were included in the Justitz Collegium. This was how the departmental division in the center was simplified and rounded; but a number of new offices and chanceries remained, which were either subordinate to the collegiums or constituted special main directorates: so, next to the Military Collegium, the Chanceries of the Main Provisions and Artillery and the Main Commissariat, in charge of recruiting and equipping the army, operated. This means that the collegiate reform did not introduce into the departmental routine the simplification and rounding off that the collegia list promises. And Peter could not cope with the hereditary habit of administrative sideways, cages and basements, which the old Moscow state builders liked to introduce into their management, imitating private house-building. However, in the interest of a systematic and even distribution of cases, the original plan of the collegiums was changed during execution. The local order, subordinate to the Justitz Collegium, on burdening it with affairs, separated into an independent patrimonial collegium, the component parts of the Berg and Manufacturing Collegiums were divided into two special collegia, and the Audit Collegium, as a control body, merged with the Senate, the supreme control, and its separation , according to the frank admission of the decree, "it was not considered then committed" as a matter of thoughtlessness. This means that by the end of the reign of all the colleges there were ten.

Klyuchevsky V.O. Russian history. Full course of lectures. M., 2004.http: //magister.msk.ru/library/history/kluchev/kllec66.htm

FEATURES OF COLLEGES

Another difference between collegia and orders was the deliberative procedure for conducting business. Such an order was not alien to the old order administration: according to the Code, judges or chiefs of orders had to decide cases together with comrades and senior clerks. But the command collegiality was not precisely regulated and died out under the pressure of strong bosses. Peter, who carried out this order in the ministerial consilia, in the district and provincial administration, and then in the Senate, wanted to firmly establish it in all central institutions. Absolute power needs advice to replace the law; "all the best dispensation happens through councils," reads the Military Rule of Peter; It is easier for one person to hide iniquity than for many comrades: let someone give it away. The presence of the college consisted of 11 members, a president, a vice-president, 4 advisers and 4 assessors, to which was added another adviser or assessor from abroad; of the two secretaries of the collegiate chancellery, one was also appointed from among foreigners. Cases were decided by a majority vote of the presence, and for the report to the presence they were distributed among advisers and assessors, of whom each was in charge of the corresponding part of the chancellery, forming a special branch or department of the collegium at the head of it.

Klyuchevsky V.O. Russian history. Full course of lectures. M., 2004.http: //magister.msk.ru/library/history/kluchev/kllec66.htm

FOREIGNERS IN COLLEGES

The introduction of foreigners into the collegiums was intended to place experienced leaders alongside Russian newcomers. For the same purpose, Peter usually appointed a foreigner vice-president to the Russian president. So, in the Military Collegium under the President of Prince Menshikov, the Vice-President is General Veide, in the Chamber Collegium, the President is Prince D. M. Golitsyn, the Vice-President is the Landrat of Revel, Baron Nirot; only at the head of the Gorno-Manufactory Collegium we meet two foreigners, the scientist artilleryman Bruce and the aforementioned Lyuberas. The decree of 1717 established the order of how the appointed presidents "compose their collegia", make up their presence: they themselves selected two or three candidates for the positions of advisers and assessors, but not from their relatives and "their own creatures"; on these candidate lists, the meeting of all collegiums ran for the posts to be replaced. So, I repeat, the collegiate division was different from the order: 1) the departmental distribution of affairs, 2) the scope of the institutions and 3) the order of business.

Klyuchevsky V.O. Russian history. Full course of lectures. M., 2004.http: //magister.msk.ru/library/history/kluchev/kllec66.htm

REPLACEMENT OF ORDERS BY COLLEGES

The replacement of old orders with new central institutions by colleges was carried out in 1717–1721. By the end of the 17th century. the functions of central institutions were carried out by 44 orders. They were replaced by 11 colleges. Foreign relations and the armed forces were in the department of three colleges: the Military, the Admiralty and Foreign Affairs. The significance of these colleges was emphasized by the fact that they were called "the first". Three collegia were also in charge of finances, the responsibilities between which were delimited as follows: The chamber collegium supervised the collection of taxes, the expenses were managed by the State office collegium, and the Audit Collegium exercised control over expenses and revenues. Control light industry was transferred to the Manufacturing Collegium, mining - to the Berg Collegium, foreign trade Commerce Collegium. Instead of the Local Order, in charge of land affairs, the Patrimony Collegium was organized. She was in charge of all kinds of land disputes, land inheritance cases, etc. Local judicial institutions were governed by the Justitz Collegium.

There were two more institutions on the rights of collegia: the Chief Magistrate and the Synod. The town hall after the regional reform of 1708–1710. lost the importance of a central institution, zemstvo huts were liquidated. The Chief Magistrate, established in St. Petersburg in 1720, was tasked with "collecting packs of this (all Russian merchants) scattered temple packs." The city magistrates were subordinate to the Chief Magistrate, whose members were elected from among the "efficient and best merchants" of the townspeople. Actual power in the Main Magistrate and city magistrates was in the hands of wealthy merchants who oppressed small artisan people. Members of city magistrates were elected for life and for "careful zeal" could be granted to the nobility. The city reform strengthened the rights of the merchants and thereby contributed to the development of trade and industry.

A special place among the central institutions was occupied by the Preobrazhensky Prikaz - a punitive institution that arose at the end of the 17th century. The Preobrazhensky order was in charge of political investigation, all opponents of the existing order were subject to its trial: participants in uprisings, persons who made "obscene speeches", which meant conversations that condemned the reforms and behavior of the tsar, his family affairs, etc.

The collegial system differed from the order system by a more strict distribution of responsibilities between the central departments. Decisions in the collegia were made by a majority vote of its members, consisting of the president, vice president, four advisers and four assessors. The introduction of collegial management was motivated by Peter, in particular, by the fact that "the truth is better known" by a collective decision than by "a single person."

The collegiums had not only administrative rights in their assigned area of ​​management, but also judicial functions, with the exception of political crimes. Financial disputes between merchants were settled by city magistrates and the Chief Magistrate. The rights of industrialists were defended by the Berg and Manufacturing Collegia, they also analyzed the relationship between manufactures and workers. The military collegium considered crimes committed by soldiers and officers of the ground army, etc.

The provincial, provincial and district administrations were subordinate to the collegiums.

The procedure for considering cases in collegiums was developed by the General Regulations, on the basis of which the entire internal order of institutions was built. In addition to the General Regulations, each of the collegiums had its own special regulations listing specific responsibilities for a particular branch of management. Foreign lawyers were involved in the development of the regulations, the experience of government institutions in Sweden and Denmark was taken into account. Peter I warned: "Which points in the Swedish regulations are inconvenient or dissimilar to the state's statement, and these should be set according to their own reasoning."

ABOUT THE ADVANTAGE OF COLLEGES

After all, all state colleges, only under his special tsarist majesty, as well as the governing senate, are acquired by decrees; If the senate orders something about what, and the collegium discerns that his majesty's decrees, and high interest are disgusting: then the state collegium should not do this soon, but has in the senate a proper written proposal to do so. And if the Senate, in spite of it, with its previous definition remains, then the Senate is guilty of that, and the collegium, according to the written decree of the senate, must inform his imperial majesty about it, and if not inform: then the entire collegium will be subject to that punishment, according to the power of harm. For this sake his royal majesty permits, all his decrees to the senate and the college, and from the senate to the college, should be sent in writing; for both in the senate and in the colleges, verbal decrees are never to be sent out.

General Regulations of 1720 ("The General Regulations or Charter, according to which the state collegiums, as well as all of the chanceries and offices belonging to them, the servants, not only in external and internal institutions, but also in the administration of their rank, have the right to act") / / Reforms of Peter I. Collection of documents.

ASSESSMENT OF ADMINISTRATIVE REFORM

In the administrative system of the Petrovsky administration, all institutions are new, both in names and in external organization, a new desire of the legislator to delineate departments, to introduce active control; the new collegial system, which he tried so hard about, was presented to Peter. But researchers notice that with all the news of forms ... the foundations of the administrative system remained the same.

E. Falconet. Monument to Peter I

All activities of Peter I were aimed at creating a strong independent state. The implementation of this goal could be realized, according to Peter, only through an absolute monarchy. For the formation of absolutism in Russia, a combination of historical, economic, social, domestic and foreign policy reasons was needed. Thus, all the reforms carried out by him can be considered political, since the result of their implementation was to become a powerful Russian state.

It is believed that Peter's reforms were spontaneous, thoughtless and often inconsistent. One can object to this that it is impossible in a living society to calculate everything with absolute accuracy for decades to come. Of course, in the process of implementing the transformations, life made its own adjustments, so plans changed and new ideas appeared. The order of the reforms and their features were dictated by the course of the protracted Northern War, as well as the political and financial capabilities of the state in a certain period of time.

Historians distinguish three stages of Peter's reforms:

1. 1699-1710 Changes are taking place in the system of state institutions, new ones are being created. The system of local self-government is being reformed. A recruiting system is being established.
2. 1710-1719 Old institutions are liquidated and the Senate is created. The first regional reform is underway. The new military policy leads to the construction of a powerful fleet. A new legal system. Government agencies transferred from Moscow to St. Petersburg.
3. 1719-1725 New institutions begin to work and old ones are finally liquidated. The second regional reform is underway. The army is expanding and reorganizing. Church and financial reforms are underway. A new system of taxation and civil service is being introduced.

Soldiers of Peter I. Reconstruction

All the reforms of Peter I were enshrined in the form of statutes, regulations, decrees that have the same legal force. And when on October 22, 1721, Peter I was awarded the title of "Father of the Fatherland", "Emperor of All Russia", "Peter the Great", this already corresponded to the legal formulation of an absolute monarchy. The monarch was not limited in powers and rights by any administrative authorities. The power of the emperor was wide and strong to such an extent that Peter I broke the customs concerning the person of the monarch. In the Military Regulations of 1716. and the Maritime Regulations of 1720 proclaimed: “ His Majesty is an autocratic monarch who should not give an answer to anyone in his affairs, but his states and lands have strength and power, like a Christian sovereign to rule by his own will and benevolence. ". « Monarch's power is autocratic power, which God himself commands for conscience to obey". The monarch was the head of state, church, supreme commander, supreme judge, it was exclusively in his competence to declare war, conclude peace, and sign treaties with foreign states. The monarch was the bearer of the legislative and executive powers.

In 1722, Peter I issued a decree on succession to the throne, according to which the monarch determined his successor "recognizing the convenient", but had the right to deprive him of the throne, seeing "indecency in the heir", "seeing a worthy one." Legislation determined actions against the tsar and the state as the most serious crimes. Anyone “who would design any evil”, and those who “aided or provided advice or, knowingly, did not inform”, were punished by death, having their nostrils pulled out or banished to galleys, depending on the severity of the crime.

Senate activities

Senate under Peter I

On February 22, 1711, a new state body was formed - the Governing Senate. The members of the Senate were appointed by the tsar from among his inner circle (at first in the amount of 8 people). These were the greatest figures of that time. Appointments and dismissals of senators took place on the orders of the tsar. The Senate was a permanent state collegial body. His competence included:

• the administration of justice;
• solving financial issues;
• general issues of trade management and other sectors of the economy.

In the Decree of April 27, 1722 "On the position of the Senate" Peter I gave detailed instructions on the activities of the Senate, regulates the composition, rights and obligations of senators; the rules of relations between the Senate and the collegia, provincial authorities and the Prosecutor General are established. But the normative acts of the Senate did not have the highest legal force of the law. The Senate only took part in the discussion of bills and interpreted the law. But in relation to all other bodies, the Senate was the highest authority. The structure of the Senate did not take shape immediately. At first, the Senate consisted of senators and the chancellery, and then two departments were formed: the Dispensary Chamber (as a special department before the appearance of the Justitz Collegium) and the Senate Office (which dealt with management issues). The Senate had its own office, which was divided into several tables: provincial, secret, discharge, order and fiscal.

The punishment chamber consisted of two senators and judges appointed by the Senate, who regularly (monthly) submitted reports to the Senate on cases, fines and searches. The verdict of the Execution Chamber could be overturned by the general presence of the Senate.

The main task of the Senate office was to prevent the current affairs of Moscow institutions from the Governing Senate, the execution of Senate decrees, and control over the execution of senatorial decrees in the provinces. The Senate had subsidiary organs: a reketmaster, a herald master, provincial commissars. On April 9, 1720, at the Senate, the post of “reception of petitions” was established (since 1722 - reketmeister), which received complaints about the collegiums and the chancellery. The duties of the King of Heralds included drawing up lists of nobles in the state, ensuring that no more than 1/3 of each noble family in the civil service was.

Provincial commissars monitored local, military, financial affairs, recruiting, and the maintenance of regiments. The Senate was an obedient instrument of the autocracy: senators were personally accountable to the monarch, in case of violation of the oath they were subjected to death penalty or fell into disgrace, dismissed from office, punished with monetary fines.

Fiscality

With the development of absolutism, the institution of fiscal and prosecutors was established. The fiscal power was a special branch of the Senate government. Ober-fiscal (head of the fiscal) was under the Senate, but at the same time the fiscal were the tsar's confidants. The king appointed an ober-fiscal, who took the oath to the king and was responsible to him. The competence of the fiscal was outlined in the Decree of March 17, 1714: to visit about everything that "to the detriment of the state interest may be"; to report “about malicious intent against the person of His Majesty or treason, about indignation or rebellion”, “whether spies are sneaking into the state,” the fight against bribery and embezzlement. The fiscal network constantly began to form according to territorial and departmental principles. The provincial fiscal monitored the city fiscal and once a year "exercised" control over them. In the ecclesiastical department, the fiscal was headed by the proto-inquisitor, in the dioceses - by the provincial-fiscal, in the monasteries - by the inquisitors. With the creation of the Justitz Collegium, fiscal affairs were transferred to its jurisdiction and control of the Senate, and after the establishment of the post of attorney general, fiscal affairs began to obey him. In 1723. a fiscal general is appointed - the supreme body for fiscal. He had the right to demand any business from him. Ober-fiscal was his assistant.

Organization of the Prosecutor's Office

By a decree of January 12, 1722, the Prosecutor's Office was organized. Prosecutors in the provinces and courts were then established by subsequent decrees. The attorney general and chief prosecutors were subject to the judgment of the emperor himself. Prosecutorial supervision even extended to the Senate. The decree of April 27, 1722 established his competence: presence in the Senate (“look firmly so that the Senate retains its position”), control over the fiscal (“if anything is bad, immediately inform the Senate”).

In 1717-1719. - the period of formation of new institutions - colleges. Most of the collegia were created on the basis of orders and were their successors. The collegium system did not take shape immediately. On December 14, 1717, 9 colleges were created: Military, Ingstrannyh Affairs, Berg, Revision, Admiralteyskaya, Justitz, Cameras, State offices, Manufactures. Several years later, there were already 13 of them. The presence of the collegium: president, vice president, 4-5 advisers, 4 assessors. Board staff: secretary, notary, translator, actuary, copyist, registrar and clerk. The collegiums included a fiscal (later a prosecutor) who monitored the activities of the collegiums and was subordinate to the prosecutor general. Colleges received decrees only from the monarch and the Senate, having the right not to execute the decrees of the Senate if they contradicted the decrees of the tsar.

Collegium activities

Collegium of Foreign Affairs She was in charge of "all kinds of foreign and ambassadorial affairs", coordinated the activities of diplomats, was in charge of relations and negotiations with foreign ambassadors, carried out diplomatic correspondence.

Military collegium She managed "all military affairs": recruiting the regular army, managing the affairs of the Cossacks, setting up hospitals, and providing for the army. Military justice was in the system of the Military Collegium.

Admiralty Collegium she managed "the fleet with all naval military servants, including those belonging to naval affairs and administrations." It consisted of the Naval and Admiralty Chanceries, as well as the Tunic, Waldmeister, Academic, Canal Offices and the Particular Shipyard.

Chamber collegium was supposed to exercise "supreme supervision" over all types of fees (customs, drinking), overseeing arable farming, collecting data on the market and prices, controlled salt mines and the coin business.

Chamber collegium exercised control over government spending, made up the state state (the state of the emperor, the states of all colleges, provinces, provinces). It had its own provincial bodies - renters, which were local treasuries.

Revision board exercised financial control over the use of public funds by central and local authorities.

Berg collegiums supervised the issues of the metallurgical industry, the management of mints and monetary yards, supervised the purchase of gold and silver abroad, judicial functions within its competence. A network of local bodies of the Berg Collegia was created.

Manufacturing collegium dealt with industrial issues, in addition to mining, managed manufactories in the Moscow province, the central and northeastern part of the Volga region and Siberia; gave permission to open factories, regulated the execution of state orders, and provided benefits. Its competence also included: linking convicts in criminal cases to factories, controlling production, supplying enterprises with materials. It did not have its own organs in the provinces and provinces.

Commerce Collegium promoted the development of all branches of trade, especially foreign trade, carried out customs supervision, drew up customs charters and tariffs, monitored the correctness of measures and weights, was engaged in the construction and equipment of merchant ships, and performed judicial functions.

Justitz College supervised the activities of provincial court courts; carried out judicial functions in criminal offenses, civil and fiscal cases; headed an extensive judicial system, consisting of provincial lower and city courts, as well as court courts; acted as a court of first instance in "important and controversial" cases. Its decisions could be appealed to the Senate.

Patrimony collegium resolved land disputes and lawsuits, formalized new land grants, considered complaints about “wrong decisions” in local and patrimonial matters.

Secret Chancery engaged in the investigation and prosecution of political crimes (for example, the case of Tsarevich Alexei). There were also other central institutions (old surviving orders, Medical office).

Senate and Holy Synod building

Synod activities

The Synod is the main central institution for church affairs. The Synod appointed bishops, exercised financial control, was in charge of its estates and exercised judicial functions in relation to heresies, blasphemy, schisms, etc. Particularly important decisions were made general meeting- conference.

Administrative divisions

By decree of December 18, 1708. a new administrative-territorial division is introduced. At first, 8 provinces were formed: Moscow, Ingermanland, Smolensk, Kiev, Azov, Kazan, Arkhangelsk and Siberian provinces. In 1713-1714 three more: the Nizhny Novgorod and Astrakhan provinces were separated from the Kazan, and the Riga province from the Smolensk. At the head of the provinces were governors, governors-general, who exercised administrative, military and judicial power.

Governors were appointed by royal decrees only from among the nobles close to Peter I. The governors had assistants: the chief commandant regulated the military administration, the chief commissar and chief provisions master - the provincial and other fees, the landrichter - the provincial justice, financial surveying and search affairs, the chief inspector - the collection of taxes from cities and counties.

The province was divided into provinces (headed by the chief commandant), provinces - into counties (headed by the commandant).

The commandants were subordinate to the chief commandant, the commandant to the governor, the latter to the Senate. In the districts of cities, where there were no fortresses and garrisons, the governing body was the Landards.

50 provinces were created, which were divided into districts - districts. The provincial governors were subordinate to the governors only for military affairs, otherwise they were independent from the governors. The governors were engaged in the search for fugitive peasants and soldiers, the construction of fortresses, the collection of income from state-owned factories, took care of the external security of the provinces, and from 1722. carried out judicial functions.

The governors were appointed by the Senate and were subordinate to the collegia. The main feature of local government bodies was that they performed both administrative and police functions.

The Burmister Chamber (Town Hall) was created with subordinate zemstvo huts. They were in charge of the commercial and industrial population of cities in terms of collecting taxes, duties and duties. But in the 20s. XVIII century. city ​​government takes the form of magistrates. The Chief Magistrate and local magistrates were formed with the direct participation of governors and voivods. The magistrates were subordinate to them in matters of court and trade. Provincial magistrates and magistrates of the cities included in the province were one of the links of the bureaucratic apparatus with the subordination of lower bodies to higher ones. Elections to the magistrates of the mayors and ratmans were entrusted to the governor.

Creation of an army and a navy

Peter I turned individual sets of "tributary people" into annual recruitment sets and created a permanent trained army in which the soldiers served for life.

Petrovsky fleet

The creation of the recruiting system took place from 1699 to 1705. from the Decree of 1699 "On admission to the service of soldiers from all kinds of free people." The system was based on the class principle: officers were recruited from nobles, soldiers - from peasants and other taxable population. For the period 1699-1725. 53 recruits were carried out, which amounted to 284187 people. By decree of February 20, 1705. garrison internal troops were created, which ensured order within the country. The created Russian regular army showed itself in the battles of Lesnaya, Poltava and in other battles. The reorganization of the army was carried out by the Discharge Order, the Order of Military Affairs, the Order of the Commissar General, the Order of Artillery, etc. Subsequently, the Discharge Table and the Commissariat were formed, and in 1717. the Military Collegium was created. The recruiting system made it possible to have a large combat-ready army.

Peter and Menshikov

The Russian fleet was also formed from conscripted recruits. At the same time, the Marine Corps was created. The navy was created during the wars with Turkey and Sweden. With the help of the Russian fleet, Russia established itself on the shores of the Baltic, which raised its international prestige and made it a maritime power.

Judicial reform

It was carried out in 1719 and streamlined, centralized and strengthened the entire judicial system of Russia. The main task of the reform is to separate the court from the administration. The monarch was at the head of the judicial system, he decided the most important state affairs. The monarch, as the supreme judge, examined and decided many cases on his own. On his initiative, the Chanceries of Investigation Cases arose on his initiative, they helped him to carry out judicial functions. The prosecutor general and the chief prosecutor were subject to the king's court, and the Senate was an appellate instance. Senators were subject to the Senate court (for malfeasance). The Justitz Collegium was the court of appeal in relation to the court courts, it was the governing body over all courts. Regional courts consisted of court and lower courts.

The presidents of the court courts were governors and vice-governors. Cases were transferred from the lower court to the court on appeal.

The chamberlains were tried for cases involving the treasury; voivods and zemstvo commissars tried the peasants for the escape. Judicial functions were performed by almost all collegia, with the exception of the collegium of Foreign Affairs.

Political cases were considered by the Preobrazhensky Prikaz and the Secret Chancellery. But since the procedure for passing cases through instances was confused, governors and voivods intervened in court cases, and judges in administrative cases, a new reorganization of the judiciary was carried out: the lower courts were replaced by provincial ones and transferred to the disposal of the voivode and assessors, court courts and their functions were eliminated were transferred to the governors.

Thus, the court and the administration again merged into one body. Court cases were usually resolved slowly, accompanied by red tape and bribery.

The adversarial principle was replaced by an investigative one. In general, the judicial reform took place especially unscheduled and chaotic. The judicial system of the period of Peter the Great's reforms was characterized by the process of increasing centralization and bureaucratization, the development of estate-based justice and served the interests of the nobility.

The historian N. Ya. Danilevsky noted two aspects of Peter I's activity: state and reformative (“changes in everyday life, morals, customs and concepts”). In his opinion, "the first activity deserves eternal grateful, reverent memory and the blessing of posterity." Through the activities of the second kind, Peter brought "the greatest harm to the future of Russia": "Life was forcibly turned over to a foreign way."

Monument to Peter I in Voronezh

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Creation of colleges by Peter I

Historians call the Petrovsky collegia the central governing bodies in Russia, which were formed during the reign of Peter the Great instead of the outdated system of orders. Collegia were housed in a colossal building specially rebuilt for them, which was nicknamed the House of the Twelve Colleges. In 1802, they were integrated into the updated system of ministries, and after its rapid development they were completely abolished.

Reasons for the appearance of colleges

In 1718 and 1719, the previous main state bodies were liquidated and their subsequent replacement with more suitable ones. The formation of the Senate in 1711, according to modern historians, was the main signal for the development of collegia, which are completely different bodies of sectoral government. According to the plan of the sovereign himself, these collegia were supposed not only to completely supplant the system of orders, but also to introduce the following two principles into the existing system of public administration:

• Advisory order of consideration and decision of cases.
• Systematic division of departments (more often than not, orders only substituted each other and performed the same work, which introduced misunderstanding into the management system).

At the same time, Tsar Peter the First decides to choose as a basis the form of government of the central authorities, which at that time functioned in European countries. In particular, in Germany and Sweden. Legislative basis for the management of collegiums was the legislation borrowed from Sweden.

So, already in 1712, the first attempt was made by the ruler of the Russian Empire (with the participation of foreigners) to establish a Trade Collegium. For this, the tsar found experienced officials and lawyers who had previously carried out activities in developed European countries. It should be noted that during this period the Swedes were considered the most qualified workers in this field. That is why Peter tried to get such personnel and took the Swedish governing bodies as a model for his Board of Trade.

However, the collegium system itself took shape only by 1717, because, as it turned out, it was rather difficult to replace one management system with another overnight. Thus, the orders were either obeyed by the collegia, or were gradually absorbed by them.

Register of the Collegia of the Russian Empire

By 1718, a register of colleges was adopted in Russia, which included:

• Admiralty Board;
• Military Collegium;
• Foreign Affairs;
• Revision Board;
• Berg-Manufactur-Collegium;
• State office;
• Commerce Collegium;
• and the Justitz College.

Two years later, the Chief Magistrate was formed, who coordinated the functioning of each magistrate and is for them the court of appeal.

In the same year, the so-called Justitz Collegium of Estland and Livland Affairs appeared, which was later (since 1762) called the Justitz Collegium of Livland, Estland and Finland Affairs and deals with judicial and administrative issues of the work of Protestant churches.

In 1721, the Patrimony Collegium was formed, which replaced the Local Order, and a year later the Berg-Manufactur-Collegium was divided into the Manufacturing Collegium and the Berg Collegium. In the same year, the Little Russian Collegium was established, which eventually absorbed the Little Russian Order.

The creation of the collegia completed the process of bureaucratization and centralization of the state apparatus of the Russian Empire. A clear delineation of all departmental functions, as well as general norms for the implementation of activities, regulated by the General Regulations - all these innovations significantly raised the collegiums above orders.

This General Regulations was drawn up with the participation of Peter the Great himself and was published on February 28, 1720 and was a document. This document determined the order, relationship and organization of the collegia and their relationship with local authorities and the Senate.

In addition, the emergence of colleges dealt a crushing blow to the system of parochialism, which, although it was abolished in 1682, existed unofficially.

It should be noted that the plan of Tsar Peter the Great to completely delimit departmental functions and transfer to each official his own procedure was not fully implemented. As a rule, the collegiums continued to substitute for each other, as well as orders. For example, the Berg, Manufacturing and Commerce Collegiums actually performed the same job.

At the same time, the post, education, medicine, and also the police remained outside the sphere of control of the Petrine colleges for a long time. However, over time, new sectoral bodies or offices appeared in the collegium system. For example, the Pharmaceutical Order, which has been operating in St. Petersburg since 1721, became the Medical Chancellery.

Such offices could be both collegial and one-man. Chanceries did not have a clear regulation, as collegia, but were close to them in value and structure.

Historical table: the main functions of the collegia

Video lecture: Reforms of Peter I. Creation of colleges.

The famous Senate was "born" by Peter 1 as if impromptu. Setting out on the Prut campaign in February 171 1, Peter promulgated a decree: "The governing Senate was appointed for our absences, for management ...". Its composition was small (9 senators), and it was created, as it were, temporarily. In pursuit of the first decree on March 2, a second came with a list of powers (care for justice, the organization of state revenues, general management, trade and economy). The Senate soon became the highest judicial and administrative body. At first, the Senate was a collegial body of 9 senators with equal votes. The connection between the Senate and the provinces was carried out by the provincial commissars.

Almost simultaneously with the Senate, Peter 1 founded a new control and auditing institute of the so-called fiscal. It was a whole army of officials who acted in secret and revealed all the unjust actions that caused damage to the state (embezzlement, bribery, violation of law and order, etc.). At the head of the fiscal was the Ober-fiscal under the Senate. He had 4 fiscal subordinates (two from the merchants and two from the nobility). Under provincial governments there were also 4 fiscal, in cities - 1-2 fiscal. Fiscals did not receive a salary, in the first years they were entitled to half, and then a third of the confiscated property as a reward for their labors. The Fiscals sent all their observations to the Dispensary Chamber, from where the cases went to the Senate. Since 1715, the Senate itself was supervised by a special Senate general-auditor, and since 1721, the control was carried out monthly by the headquarters officers of the Guard.

Gradually, such a form of government as the collegium was making its way. Back in 1711, a project was submitted to organize a special board for the management of the mining industry. The next year, projects of the organization of the Commerce Collegium, the Revision Collegium appeared, and in 1715 the Commerce Collegium began to function. At the same time, in 1715, work began on the issue of organizing central government bodies and studying the experience of Denmark, Sweden and Austria. The three most important colleges (Military, Admiralty and Foreign) began to work already in 1718. In total, 11 colleges were established (the remaining eight; Berg Collegium, Manufacturing Collegium, Commerce Collegium, Chamber Collegium, State Office Collegium, Votchinnaya Collegium, Revision Collegium and Justitz Collegium). The structure and functions of the collegia up to the organization of office work, the procedures of meetings were developed in detail in the General Regulations and the regulations of individual collegia. This laid the foundation for the unification and bureaucratization of public administration.

The central institutions should have included the Synod, or the Spiritual Collegium. At one time, after the death of Patriarch Adrian, the tsar appointed only an acting (locum tenens) to this post, and did not hold elections for the patriarch. The reason for this was the restrained, if not hostile, attitude of the clergy to the reforms of the tsar, the involvement of the clergy in the case of Tsarevich Alexei. As a result, in 1721 a Synod was formed, headed by the president, former locum tenens of the aged, Stephen Yavorsky. The actual head of the Synod was the vice-president of the Pskov archbishop Feofan Prokopovich. It was he who composed the Spiritual Regulations - a set of the most important organizational and ideological provisions church organization in the new conditions of absolutism. According to the Rules of Procedure, the members of the Synod, like all officials, swore allegiance to the tsar and pledged "not to enter worldly affairs and rituals for anything." Behind all this, there was an invisible danger of the pride of Patriarch Nikon, not forgotten. The same motives were dictated by the principles of collegial management of the church and the responsibility of priests to violate the secrecy of confession in cases "threatening the state interests." Outwardly, all this, according to the stories, looked rather frightening. According to N.I. Pavlenko, the tsar, at a meeting with the hierarchs of the church, having realized that they wanted to elect a patriarch, raised the Spiritual Regulations and said: "You ask the patriarch - here's a spiritual patriarch for you!" And to the murmur of the dissatisfied, he bared a dagger and with the words: "And to those who think against you, here is the damask patriarch," - hit them on the table.

In 1718-1722. The Senate was reformed. In particular, all the presidents of the collegiums became its members. The post of attorney general was introduced. With its appearance, a whole army of prosecutors began to operate in all central and provincial institutions. All fiscal of the empire also obeyed him. The Prosecutor General and the Chief Prosecutor of the Senate were subordinate only to the sovereign. He could appeal and suspend the Senate decision. The main function of the prosecutor's control is to take care of the observance of law and order. The first prosecutor general was Pavel Ivanovich Yaguzhinsky.

In 1720, in St. Petersburg, the Chief Magistrate was recreated as a central institution, and city magistrates were re-formed in the localities, to some extent reflecting the class interests of the merchants. Finally, in addition to the Preobrazhensky order, a Secret Chancellery was established in St. Petersburg to resolve matters of political investigation.