Appeal to the first person of the state with a request to solve problems that for some reason are unable or unwilling to solve lower authorities is an old Russian custom, the roots of which go back to ancient times. Even in Ancient Russia, the people turned to the princes, and later to the kings, in the hope that he would be able to solve all their difficulties. For the rulers themselves, such petitions were also of interest, as they created what we now call feedback: they provided information about the realities of the life of ordinary people.
Prerequisites for creation
The larger the state became, the more people sought to turn to the king directly. Often attempts to "shout" to the king ended in executions or uprisings. In any case, the result was bloody. So, in 1546, Ivan IV, on a false slander, executed several boyars who allegedly advised the Novgorod pishchalniks to submit a petition to the tsar. A year later, the king severely punished seventyPskov residents who dared to disturb him with a petition in a country residence.
It was necessary to provide the people with the possibility of an alternative appeal to the sovereign, not causing too much irritation of the autocrat, which, as mentioned above, could well end in death for the petitioner. The first attempts of this kind were made under Ivan III, in the Sudebnik of 1497, but they were not crowned with particular success.
Public administration reform
The problem of getting rid of the tsar from unwanted anxiety by his subjects was solved by Ivan IV's courtier AF Adashev, who proposed to create a petition order. The main tasks of the new state body were, on the one hand, to create a mediation mechanism between the tsar and the petitioners, and on the other hand, to form a barrier to the huge number of petitions sent to the sovereign.
In general, historians disagree on the exact date of the creation of this government body. The first documented mention of a petition hut (this order was called differently) dates back to 1571. However, researcher S. O. Schmidt believes that this order began to function as early as 1549, which is indirectly confirmed by information about Adashev's participation in its creation.
Regulatory framework
The activity of the petition order throughout its functioning (1549 - 1685) was regulated by the Code of Laws of 1550 and, subsequently, the Cathedral Code of 1649.
Analysis of functionaldestination
In the administrative structure of the Moscow State, the Petition Order occupied a unique position. It was a universal body and was not considered part of any branch order. Analyzing the activities of this order, researchers identify several of its main functions.
- First of all, the Petition Order, as a component of the system of orders, was an executive authority and performed mainly an administrative and distributive function, that is, it was an intermediate authority between the complainant and the competent authority. In addition, the clerks of this order were engaged in an intermediate consideration of petitions.
- Some historians believe that the petition order performed mainly a cassation function, that is, it controlled the activities of the bodies responsible for the execution of petitions.
- Like the rest of the orders, Petition also performed a judicial function, which, however, was not his main task.
- As mentioned above, the Petition Order served in some way as an intermediary between the population and the ruler. Appeals addressed to the king were transmitted by the clerks of the order to the sovereign himself or to the relevant authorities, in the “sphere of influence” of which there was a specific issue.
By decision of Fyodor Alekseevich Romanov, in 1677, the petition order was combined with the Vladimir court order. Then in January 1683 (during the reign of Sofya Alekseevna) it was restored, and in 1685 its activities were finally abolished.
