Collegium (ministry)

The Collegium (

Following the formation of the Governing Senate in 1711, the Tsar Peter I sought to make more reforms on the imperial government bodies. He planned to replace the Prikaz with a new type of government agency, based on two new principles:

1. Systematic separation of departments, in order to avoid overlapping/omission of certain governmental duties under the Prikaz system;
2. Advisory procedure for resolving cases.

Similar form of central government institutions were adopted in Sweden and a number of German states. In 1717, Collegium was introduced based on the Swedish Kollegium.^[1]

History

• 1717 - Establishment of the 8 following Collegiums: Collegium of Foreign Affairs, College of War, Collegium of State Income, Collegium of Justice, Collegium of Commerce, Collegium of State Expenses, Collegium of Mining and Manufacturing, and Collegium of Accounting.
• 1718 - Establishment of the Admiralty Board, as well as a special collegium to administer the newly acquired territories along the Baltic Sea.^[2]
• 1720 - Publication of the General Regulations (Russian: Генеральный регламент), which, among other things, made the following changes:
  • Formalized the 1718 special collegium into the Judicial Collegium of Livonian and Estonian Affairs (Russian: Юстиц-коллегия Лифляндских и Эстляндских дел)^[3]
  • Established the Chief Magistrate (Russian: Главный магистрат), which served as a court of appeal for all magistrates.^[4]

• 1721 - Establishment of the Collegium of Estates.
• 1722 - Division of Collegium of Mining and Manufacturing into the Collegium of Mining and the Collegium of Manufacturing.
• 1726 - Establishment of the Collegium of Economics (Russian: Коллегия экономии).^[5]
• 1763 - Establishment of the Collgium of Medicine (Russian: Медицинская коллегия).^[1]
• 1780s - As a result of the local government reform carried out by Catherine the Great, the number of collegiums was sharply reduced, and their functions were transferred to provincial institutions.
• 1802 - Passage of the Manifesto on the Establishment of Ministries by Alexander I of Russia, which incorporated the collegiums into newly created ministries.

Regulations

The activities of the collegiums were determined by the General Regulations, which was approved by Peter I on February 28 (March 10 on Gregorian calendar), 1720.

The General Regulations instituted a set of office administration rules for the collegium. Each collegium was to be consisted of advisers and assessors, and headed by presidents and vice-presidents. The decisions of the collegium need to be debated on, received majority approval, and signed by all members present.^[1] Peter I paid special attention to this form of decision-making, noting that “every better arrangement happens through councils” (Chapter 2 of the General Regulations “On the advantage of colleges”).^[6]

Internal structure

Each collegium consisted of the following staff:

• President: Head of a collegium, but could not make decisions without the consent of the other members. Appointed by the Governing Senate with consent from the Tsar.^[7]
• Vice President: Assistant of the president in performing duties of the collegium, and could stand in for the president during the latter's absence. Appointed by the Governing Senate.
• 4 advisers
• 4 assessors
• 1 prosecutor
• 1 secretary
• 1 actuary
• 1 registrar
• 1 translator
• Clerks

Meeting were held daily, exceot for Sundays and public holidays. they started at 6 A.M. or 8 A.M. depending on the season, and usually lasted 5 hours.

Materials for the boards were prepared in the Office of the collegium, and were then transferred to the General Presence, where they were discussed and adopted by a majority of the votes. Issues on which the collegium failed to make a decision were referred to the Senate, the only institution to which the collegiums were subordinate to.^[7]

See also

• Prikaz

References