Rural public administration of the second half of the ХІХ century (on the example of Chernigov province)

In the article is analysed the system of rural public administration, in particular on some examples of documents of the Chernihiv province, in the second half of the ХІХ century and defines the role, first of all, of the rural community as the lowest administrative-territorial unit among local government bodies of the ХІХ century.

The main purpose of the research is to study the system of local self-government bodies in the Ukrainian lands within the Russian Empire, namely, the formation of rural self-government bodies at the community level, which is relevant and useful at the present stage of the decentralization process in Ukraine.

Methodological basis and research methods. The general theoretical, philosophical method of research is materialistic dialectics, which is based on the doctrine of the material nature of the world, which is changing and developing. The assigned tasks were also solved using a complex of general mutually complementary scientific methods, including: systemic; historical, which made it possible to study in dynamics the processes of creation and development of state-owned structures of the local level; comparative, which was used to identify features and innovations in the system of local government bodies and administration of the second half of the ХІХ – early ХХ century.

In Ukraine, this issue has been studied in different years by: I. Desyatnikov, VV Kalinichenko, A. Lokhmatova, V. Nechitaylo, Y. Prysyazhnyuk, O. Reyent, I. Fareniy, K. Shikhov and others. Naturally, first of all this issue is in the center of attention of historians. Thus, in particular, O. Reyent made a detailed analysis of the functioning of the rural east in the context of the social life of the Ukrainian countryside in the second half of the XIX – early XX centuries. The source analysis of peasant studies conducted by V. Bondar is meaningful. Another qualitative and extremely meaningful source study of the activities of rural stairs is the work of A. Lokhmatova. Some aspects of this issue are covered in the scientific research of V. Kulikov.

Bodies of rural self-government in accordance with Article 46 of the General Provision on Peasants on February 19, 1861, determined the village gathering and the village headman, as well as rural community .In the villages the management of state peasants was carried out by a village gathering, where they elected: a village headman, a tax collector, a supervisor of a rural store (warehouse) for grain stocks and tenants.

At village gatherings elections of rural officials and the appointment of electives to the volost gatherings took place, as well as issues of ensuring the life of the inhabitants of the partnership. The village headman proposed to the assembly all the questions that concerned the village partnership. In addition, the village headman carried out the verdicts of the assembly and reported, if necessary, the decision taken at the assembly to the rural municipality administration and local institutions for rural affairs. In general, a rural partnership, as a body of rural public administration in the second half of the ХІХ century, performed the functions of a lower administrative unit subordinate to state power.