I. The Reform of the Central Administration, 1715—1722 The Russian Administrative Structure at the Accession of Peter I When Peter I acceded to the throne of the tsars at the age of ten, the old Muscovite state apparatus was still intact. At the tsar’s side sat a council called the Duma, or the Boiarskaia duma, as it has been referred to by historians. The Duma discussed and participated in all important decisions concerning the administration of justice, the civil administration, the milltary, and so on, as well as serving as the country’s highest judicial body, which function gave it a certain amount of legislative power. The conduct of foreign affairs was another of the Duma’s most important fields of activity. Diplomatic correspondence was channeled through this council, just as negotiations with foreign delegations were conducted by a commission {otvetnaia palata), which was appointed by, reported to, and received instructions fromit throughout the course of negotiations.^ The Duma was made up solely of members of the supreme elite of the Muscovite service class, the so-called upper upper service class (dumnye chiny), which consisted of three different ranks, the boiarin, the okoVnichii, and the dumnyi dvorianinp- In addition to these groups, the Duma also included a group called dumnye d'iaki, who were granted access to its meetings after long careers in the central administration. The members of the Duma were appointed by the tsar for life terms, but this did not mean that the holders of the lower ranks were prevented from advancing to higher ones. On the contrary, there were cases in which a dumnyi d’iak advanced all the way to the rank of boiar. On the whole, however, the composition of the Duma was characterized by an aristocracy of birth. The representatives of the leading families often entered the Duma 1. K. V. Bazilevich et al., “Tsarskaia vlast’ ! Boiarskaia Duma," Ocherki (1955), 351—352. - V. O. Kliuchev'Skii, Istoriia soslovii v Rossii (3rd ed., Petrograd, 1918), 110. a - Petersou
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjYyNDk=