5 March 1711 g. By decree of Peter I in Russia established the Governing Senate

March 6 2013 2

5 March (22 February) 1711, by decree of Peter Alekseevich, was established the Governing Senate, the highest state body in the Russian state for law and government. This government body was created by Peter because of the constant absences, which often prevented him from engaging in current management affairs. He has repeatedly before, in 1706, 1707 and 1710. He presented cases to several selected associates, from whom he demanded that they, without addressing him for any clarification, resolve current issues. The immediate prerequisite for the Senate was the preparation for the Prut campaign (summer 1711 of the year), when the head of state was busy with the problem of the Russian-Turkish war and could not solve the "routine" with full dedication. Therefore, the Senate received very broad functions, it was established "instead of his royal Majesty's own person" in the absence of the sovereign. He had to duplicate the power of the king. In the 2 decree of March 1711, Peter Alekseevich says: “we have defined the governing Senate, to whom everyone and their decrees should be obedient, as we ourselves, under severe punishment, or death, guilty”. At the same time, the Senate was responsible to the king, who promised cruel punishment for unjust deeds.

In 1711 - 1714 The place of permanent residence of the Governing Senate was Moscow. Only sometimes, temporarily, in whole or in the person of several senators, did the Senate move to Petersburg. The new capital of Russia has become the permanent seat of the Senate since 1714. From that time on, the Senate moved to Moscow only occasionally, in the case of a king’s travel there for a considerable time. However, in Moscow remained part of the Senate office - "the office of the Senate government." The first senators were Count Ivan Musin-Pushkin, 1-th Moscow governor, Boyar Tikhon Venetian former Arkhangelogorodskaya governor, Prince Peter Galitzine, Michael Dolgorukov, Prince Grigory nephews, Prince, Prince Grigory Volkonsky, General krigstsalmeyster Michael Samarin, Quartermaster-General Vasily Apukhtin and Nazari Melnitsky. Anisim Schukin received the position of chief secretary.

When appointed as a senator, as well as to other posts, Peter was guided not by the origin of a person, but by professional fitness. If in the 17 century, the representative of the boyar family with the usual sequence overcame the steps of the service ladder and eventually reached the highest rank, replacing the father, then under Peter Alekseevich the right to become a senator was received by persons who had personal dignity. The merits of the ancestors had no decisive significance. The mind, service skills, education, etc. were valued. This new criterion allowed new people to appear in the upper ruling layer. They owed their whole career to the king. In addition, the senators differed from the boyars in that the boyar was a rank and the senator a position. The person who dropped out of the Senate lost the title of senator. Senators were more dependent on the supreme power. This was supposed to increase the zeal of the senators.

In 1718, presidents of colleges were included in the Senate. The Senate had to make rulings at the request of the colleges, which they could not decide on their own due to the lack of precedents. Governors and governors appealed to the Senate through the heads of colleges only in exceptional cases: unexpected attacks by enemy troops, the beginning of an epidemic, etc.

At the end of the reign of Peter Alekseevich - in 1721-1722. - The Senate was reorganized, and its activities are streamlined. First of all, the principle of its acquisition was changed. If before it included all the presidents of the collegiums, then Peter admitted that this was "imprudent." Presidents of colleges could not work well immediately at the head of colleges and in the Senate. In addition, the Senate, consisting of the presidents of the collegiums, could not well control the activities of the central government bodies. By decree of 22 on April 1722, the Senate was to consist of secret real and secret advisers. As an exception, Peter allowed the appointment to the senators of the presidents of only the three most important collegiums - the Military, the Admiralty and Foreign Affairs. True, this decree was not properly executed because of the personnel shortage. Already in May a decree was issued that canceled the action of the former, the presidents of the colleges were returned to this body because of the “lack of people in the Senate”. As a result, Peter began to modernize the Senate not by changing its composition, but by establishing new officials and structural divisions.

Until the death of the emperor, the Governing Senate remained the highest legislative and administrative body of Russia and the supervisory authority in relation to its subordinate colleges. In addition, simultaneously with the establishment of the Senate, the sovereign ordered instead of the Bit order to establish “a discharge table under the Senate. Thus, the assignment to all military and civilian positions (“writing to the ranks”), managing all the serving class of Russia, maintaining lists, making reviews and observing that noblemen were not hiding from the service was given to the Senate. In 1721 — 1722 the discharge table was transformed into a collapsible office, also held under the Governing Senate.

5 February The 1722 of the year at the Senate appointed the herald master, who, through the herald master's office, served the serving class. The first herald master was the steward Stepan Kolychev. The Heraldmaster's office kept records of the nobility, revealed among them fit and unfit for service, carried out the registration of ranks and movements of servicemen both on the ranks of the Table of Ranks, and from one department to another. Under the special supervision of the heraldmasters were noblemen who evaded service, as well as children who were to serve in the future. The office was supposed to collect information where they received education - at home or in schools. The responsibilities of the Heraldry Office also included the creation of educational institutions for children of “noble and middle noble families”, where they were to be taught “economy and citizenship”, that is, civilian specialties. However, this duty was never implemented, like many other undertakings of Peter.

The instruction also commissioned the Heraldry Office to create coats of arms. For these purposes, the Italian Count Francis Santi was invited, who was given the task of "modifying" the imperial coat of arms, the coats of arms of all his kingdoms, provinces, cities and noble families. During the life of Peter Alekseevich, Santi and his assistants produced an image of the coat of arms for the state seal, as well as the coats of arms of the provinces and 97 coat of arms of the provinces.

Most successfully, the Heraldry Office acted in the field of accounting for the service class. This was due to the urgent need to implement this function and the presence of previous structures - the Discharge order and the discharge table created on its basis in 1711 year.

The communication between the Senate and the provinces was carried out by commissioners (they were appointed by the governors), two from each region. As the colleges (central government bodies) developed, they began to function as an intermediary between the Senate and the provinces.

Simultaneously with the creation of the Senate, the position of fiscal authorities was established, which were supposed to “secretly supervise over all cases”, fight corruption, such as bribes, embezzlement of treasury, violations in the field of tax collection, etc. The violations were reported to the Senate. If they really convicted the guilty, then half of the fine was received by fiscal, the other part was in favor of the treasury. It was also ordered to establish the post of chief fiscal (later general-fiscal), who was the highest official for secret supervision of affairs, he had four assistants. In the provinces were provincial fiscal, one for each branch of government; they were subject to the city fishers. With the creation of the colleges, the post of collegiate fiscal authorities appeared, one for each college.

In order to curb the constant feuds among the senators, Peter ordered the supervision of the romance of the Senate meetings, as well as the function of complying with the Senate decisions to the Code and decrees to the Prosecutor General (January 12, the prosecutor’s office was established). Prior to this, oversight of the senatorial meetings of the Senate was carried out by the Chief Secretary Anisim Schukin, and then the monthly staff officers of the Guard. Assistant Attorney General in the Senate was the chief prosecutor. The first Prosecutor General was Pavel Yaguzhinsky. The Prosecutor General was in direct relations with the sovereign, therefore he brought the Senate closer to the highest authority and at the same time streamlined the production of cases. At the same time in the 1722, the senate offices were established - the senatorial, auditing and schismatic.

In February, 1722 was defined as the authority of the rekemeister (retame general), this word was derived from a German who combined a French requête - “complaint, petition”, and German Meister. He began to supervise the office work at the collegiums and the course of justice, he received complaints of deception about red tape, illegal decisions of collegiums and offices. The establishment of this position was pursued by two main objectives: to free the emperor from the proceedings to him personally submitted by petitions and to lead a decisive attack on red tape, unlawful actions of colleges and offices. True, the establishment of this post did not solve the tasks. The tradition was strong and the petition tried to feed over the head of the general manager and the chief master himself. Peter himself wrote that “in many places, they dare to beat his majesty with their brows and give petitions packs, without giving rest anywhere.” Smaller results could have been achieved by the General Master of Retaliation against red tape and unfair decisions. The rocket master had only bureaucratic ways of dealing with the bureaucracy: having received a complaint, he had to understand not the essence of the decision taken, but the timeliness of the complaints by instances and the decision-making by these instances. Therefore, the recokemaster could not solve the problem of the flow of complaints, both fair and litigious.

After the death of Peter I, the value of the Senate decreased, and its functions began to change. Initially, his authority was limited by the Supreme Privy Council, and then by the Cabinet of Ministers. The Senate instead of the Governing began to call High. Empress Elizaveta Petrovna, who in her policy tried to follow her father’s course, issued a decree in 1741 on the restoration of the power of the Senate in the government of internal affairs. However, this did not restore the real significance of the Senate in the affairs of Russia's internal administration. After ministries were established in the Russian Empire in 1802, the Senate retained only the functions of the highest judicial body and supervisory authority. In this form, almost unchanged, the Senate existed until 22 November (5 December) 1917 g, when the decree of the Council of People's Commissars "On court" was issued, which decided to "abolish the general judicial institutions that exist to this day, such as: district courts, judicial chambers and the Governing Senate with all departments ... ".