Establishment of land self-government bodies in the Ukrainian provinces of the Russian empire in the second half of the xix century and their legal status

Abstract

Purpose. The purpose of the work is to analyze the introduction of zemstvos in the Ukrainian provinces of the Russian Empire, to identify the order of their formation, to identify sources of funding and determine their functions. Method. The methodology includes a comprehensive analysis and generalization of existing scientific and theoretical, historical and legal material and the formulation of relevant conclusions and recommendations. The following methods of scientific knowledge were used during the research: terminological, theoretical research, system-structural, logical-normative. Results. The study acknowledged that the Regulations of 1864 did not reform the old zemstvo administrative mechanism, but created a qualitatively new system of local government in which the state refused to manage "irrelevant" for him economic affairs of the county and province, based on such basic principles as: election, urgency, omnipresence of the zemstvo representation, property qualification, independence exclusively within the framework of economic activity. Scientific novelty. The study found that it was thanks to the zemstvos, with their election, that the process of forming zemstvo parties began - temporary associations that rallied around a certain leader of landowners, manufacturers, and industrialists. According to their political orientation, these groups were either conservative-landlord or liberal-bourgeois, and depending on this, the character of provincial and county zemstvos was determined. Practical significance. The results of the study can be used in law-making activities during further reforms of local governments and local authorities.