Self-government in pre-revolutionary Russia (historical and legal aspects)

Abstract

 The article is devoted to the community self-government in prerevolutionary Russia, its theoretical reasoning and its understanding Russian scientists. The types and forms of self-government are studied. The social and state theories of self-government are considered, the main statements of their supporters are highlighted. Historically, the first form of self — government is considered-the  veche assembly, characteristic of the time when selfgovernment had a wide  range of powers. Centralization of power and weakening of self-government,  inherent in the period of the Moscow Principality.  The article considers the  reform of self-government carried out by Ivan the Terrible (Ivan IV), the class-representative nature of self-government during his reign; the administrative-territorial division of Peter I and the system of magistrates; the system of class-based local self-government headed by the nobility under Catherine II; the reform of local self-government of Alexander I that affected the state peasants; the abolition of serfdom in 1861.