In September 1781, the grand ducal couple, under the name of the Count and Countess of the North, set off on a long journey across Europe, which lasted a whole year. During this trip, Pavel did more than just sightseeing and acquiring works of art for his palace under construction.

The trip was also of great political importance. The Grand Duke had the opportunity to personally meet the European monarchs and paid a visit to Pope Pius VI. In Italy, Paul, following in the footsteps of his great-grandfather, Emperor Peter the Great, is seriously interested in the achievements of European shipbuilding and gets acquainted with the formulation of naval affairs abroad.

During his stay in Livorno, the Tsarevich finds time to visit the Russian squadron located there.

Thoughtfulness of reforms

In 1787, setting off for the first and last time in the army, Paul left his "Instruction", in which he outlined his thoughts on government.

The reign of Emperor Paul I was very short - only 4 years and 4 months (from November 1796 to March 1801), but unusually intense. During his reign, Emperor Pavel Petrovich signed 2,179 legislative acts (that is, an average of 42 documents per month) - this is an unprecedented number.

Among these documents were documents of significant size, for example, military regulations. Paul I's contemporaries were not ready for such an intensive law-making, and to this day his legacy has not been thoroughly studied. There is an opinion that these laws were supposedly contradictory, insufficiently prepared and were justified only by the desire to destroy the state system created by Catherine II. However, this opinion does not stand up to scrutiny.

On the contrary, everything indicates that the transformations begun by Pavel Petrovich were thought out in advance and in detail by him. before accession to the throne... This applies to most of the laws he adopted and the reforms carried out: the law on the succession to the throne, and the reforms of the army and navy, and changes in class policy.

About the goals and tasks that Emperor Paul set for himself, he himself said quite clearly in a testamentary letter dated as far back as 1788 (8 years before accession to the throne). These notes represent an integral program of state reforms.

Succession to the throne

The decree on succession to the throne was issued by Paul I on April 5, 1797. With the introduction of this decree, the uncertainty of the situation in which the Russian imperial throne found itself with every change of reign and with constant coups and seizures of supreme power after Peter I as a result of his legislation ceased.

From that moment on, the throne was inherited through the male line, after the death of the emperor, he passed to the eldest son and his male offspring, and if there were no sons, to the next eldest brother of the emperor and his male offspring, in the same order. A woman could occupy the throne and pass it on to her offspring only when the male line was cut off.

State goals

Paul considered the goal of the state "the bliss of each and all", which views show him not just as a monarch, but as a state manager, although he recognized only the monarchy as a form of government. But he agreed that this form "is associated with the inconvenience of humanity." In those historical conditions, Paul did not see any other structure of society, but he felt that autocratic power is better than others, since it “combines the power of the laws of power of one”, opening up opportunities for gaining conceptual power in the future.

Autocracy- this is, at least, the independence of society in developing its policy and ideology in line with a certain concept, as a maximum - the conceptual power of society and its statehood. It was the tendency of the autocracy of the Russian emperors to become the autocracy of the Russian Empire that became the reason for the special operation "February Revolution", designed to permanently solve this Russian issue, but the autocracy, contrary to all forecasts and the current political situation, was shown by the Bolsheviks in October 1917.

Administrative reform

The main task of the reform of the administrative division of Emperor Paul I was to achieve good governance of the country. "The decree of December 12, 1796 completely abolished 13 provinces" (Olonets, Kolyvan, Bratslav, Chernigov, Novgorod-Seversk, Voznesensk, Yekaterinoslav, Tauride regions, Saratov, Polotsk, Mogilev, Vilensk and Slonim), dividing their territories between neighboring ... “In the course of the Pavlovsk reform, the number of provinces decreased from 51 to 42, and the counties were also enlarged. The main idea of ​​the reform of Paul I was the enlargement of the provinces. "

Having ascended the throne, Emperor Alexander I “began to restore the former grid of provinces, while preserving, however, a number of new ones established by Emperor Paul I. Thus, the decree of September 9, 1801 restored five abolished provinces within their borders until 1796.

According to Speransky's unrealized project, the territory of Russia was supposed to be divided into 12 governorships with 3, 4 or more provinces in each (with the likeness of a cabinet of ministers in each governorate), that is, some decentralization of power was assumed. However, the project was not implemented and later, during the reign of Emperor Nicholas I, this decentralization was finally abandoned. The post of governor-general (governor) became an exception and was established only in border areas or for special political reasons.

Emperor Nicholas I finally proclaimed the principle of centralization and uniformity of provincial government, to which Emperor Paul I was striving in his reforms. Even after 25 years, but the idea of ​​a clear vertical of power, subordination to the autocratic monarch, to which Emperor Paul I attached so much importance, were developed during the reign of Nikolai Pavlovich.

Collegiums in ministries

By the time of Catherine II's accession to the throne, the Russian Empire had a collegial system of sectoral management, created by Peter I. Then the collegiums came to replace the outdated system of orders.

Pavel I, appreciating the “speed of power of one person,” rather coldly regarding the collegial principle, usually preferred the beginning of the sole ministerial administration, which, in his opinion, was more flexible and efficient. It was also quite natural that under Paul, the importance of the Prosecutor General as the closest collaborator and assistant of the Tsar in matters of internal government of the state increased sharply.

- who actually becomes the prime minister.

Strengthening the centralization of management, Pavel recreated Manufactur-, Kamer-, Berg-, Revision-; Justitz-; Commerce Collegium: He put the directors at the head, giving them the right to report personally to the emperor, and independence from the members of the collegiums.

That is, in fact, these were no longer colleges, but subordinate directly to the emperor of the ministry, which system we still use.

There is only one step left to the final redistribution of the collegia into ministries.

And this step was taken by his heir, Alexander I. “The formation of the ministerial system of government in Russia was laid down on September 8, 1802 by the Manifesto“ On the Establishment of Ministries ”and the Decree to the Senate elected to manage the ministries ”.

In fact, Alexander continued his father's transformation. And we can say with complete confidence that he did it very successfully.

Finance

In the field of finance, Paul believed that state revenues belonged to the state, and not to the sovereign personally. Therefore, he demanded that expenditures be coordinated with the needs of the state (and the goals of the state are "the bliss of each and all"). Pavel ordered that part of the Winter Palace's silver services be melted down into coins, and up to two million rubles in banknotes be destroyed to reduce the state debt.

Army

Paul introduced a new uniform form, charter, and armament in the army. The soldiers were allowed to complain about the abuse of their commanders. Everything was strictly controlled and, in general, the situation, for example, of the lower ranks became better. In fact, it was Paul I who created the army that “beat the Frenchman”.

Peasantry

Listing all the estates in the "Instruction", he dwells on the peasantry, which:

contains itself and its works all other parts, therefore, worthy of respect

- what thought shows his understanding of the fact that society is capable of developing as much as agriculture can feed it, which again shows his state mentality.

Pavel tried to enforce a decree that serfs should work no more than three days a week for the landowner, and on Sunday they would not work at all. This is a good undertaking, lying in the same vein as the Stalinist one:

it is necessary first of all to reduce the working day to at least 6, and then to 5 hours. This is necessary to ensure that members of the community have enough free time to receive a comprehensive education.

- however, not being backed up by supervisory practice led to greater enslavement of the peasants by the landlords. Indeed, before Paul, for example, the peasant population of Ukraine did not know corvee at all. Now, to the delight of the Little Russian landowners, a three-day corvee was introduced here. And on the Velikoros estates it was very difficult to follow the execution of the decree, which was used by the landowners.

Education

Attention was also paid to public education. A decree was issued on the restoration of the university in the Baltic States (it was opened in Dorpat already under Alexander I), a Medical-Surgical Academy, many schools and colleges were opened in St. Petersburg. In fact, it was Paul who laid the foundations of the educational system that later gave birth to a galaxy of figures of the "Golden Age".

Information Security

At the same time, in order to prevent the idea of ​​"depraved and criminal" France from entering Russia, the study of Russians abroad was completely prohibited, and censorship was established on imported literature and notes. That is, a barrier to trends from abroad was formed, which, given the lack of expression of its own concept of development, ensured information security at some level.

Forerunner of Pushkin

The new tsar drew attention to the improvement of the Russian language. Soon after his accession to the throne, Paul ordered in all official papers:

express themselves in the purest and simplest syllable, using all possible accuracy, and always avoid high-flown expressions that have lost their meaning.

So Paul was the first to prepare the ground for the arrival of his great reformer, Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin, in the Russian language.

Order of Malta

The Order of St. John of Jerusalem, which Paul I established in Russia, could not organically integrate into the system of views of the noble class, which was already masonry (who was, and who sympathized with ideologically).

For the "progressive part" of society, the Order of Malta was a strange anachronism. Members of numerous Masonic lodges did not accept him due to disagreements over issues of attitude towards the church. Among the conservative part of the Russian nobility, the appeal of the Orthodox emperor to Catholic chivalry, moreover, could hardly find a response.

Nevertheless, Paul I partially merged the system of hierarchy of the Order of Malta with the system of state ranks of the Russian Empire. The hospitallers' relics (the icon of the Filerma Mother of God, a piece of the life-giving cross and the right hand of St. John) ended up in Gatchina, and then in the Church of the Savior Not Made by Hands at the Winter Palace.

Malta was not only officially accepted as a protectorate, but even intended to make the Russian province, about what the decree of the sovereign was sent to the Academy of Sciences.

The outpost on the Mediterranean Sea was geopolitically beneficial to the Russian emperor. Therefore, it would be fundamentally wrong to refer to only Paul I's sympathy for medieval knightly ideas in justifying the defense of the Order of Malta.

It seems to us that Paul I tried, through the structures of the Order of Malta, to “saddle” the Masonic movement in Russia as a whole, thereby preventing the revolution that was already gaining strength, which resulted in the 1825 Decembrist Uprising. It is as if Vladimir Putin led the Orange protest today (although there are rumors about Navalny that he is an agent of the Kremlin).

However, from the very beginning of the appearance of the "Maltese" at the court, the higher ranks of the Russian Empire to an even greater extent ceased to have sympathy for the already unpopular Paul I. And among the mocked nobility began to mature a conspiracy against the emperor.

Global politics

After the return of Suvorov from foreign campaigns in 1799, Paul I, the emperor of Russia, broke off all diplomatic relations with England and Austria, left the alliance with them and no longer took part in the war with France. The war itself was soon ended, since neither the British nor the Austrians, after Russia left the war, could oppose anything to the commander Napoleon.

Napoleon understood that the determining factor in the further development of the situation would be Russia's participation or non-participation in the war. The Emperor of France openly wrote that in the whole world there is only one ally for France - this is Russia. Napoleon openly sought an alliance with the Russians.

July 18, 1800 The French government announced that it was ready to return to Russia all prisoners of war, a total of 6 thousand people. Moreover, the prisoners were to return in full uniform, with weapons and banners. Paul I, the emperor of Russia, correctly appreciated this friendly gesture of France and went to rapprochement with Napoleon.

Paul I, the emperor of Russia, first demanded that the court of Louis XVIII and the exiled French king leave the territory of Russia. After that, a Russian delegation was sent to France, led by General Sperngporten. It was no coincidence that this man stood at the head of the delegation: he always adhered to the pro-French position. As a result, for the first time, the contours of a possible alliance between Russia and France began to be clearly seen.

At this time, the British began to actively act to keep Paul I from alliance with Napoleon. They offered the Russians to re-form an alliance against France. At the same time, the conditions of the union were so humiliating that Paul I, the emperor of Russia, was even more inclined towards the idea of ​​friendship with France. The British offered Russia a policy of non-intervention and demanded that Russian troops capture Corsica, Napoleon's homeland.

The steps of the British only strengthened the alliance between Russia and France. Paul I, who until that time was still in doubt, finally agreed with Napoleon's plan, which proposed to unite forces and jointly seize India, a colony of England. It was assumed that both powers for this campaign will field 35 thousand people.

January 12, 1801 Paul I, Emperor of Russia, gave the order to advance the 41st Don Cossack regiment, led by Orlov, towards India.

The time has come for the British government. Their world colonial hegemony could be ended. The importance of India for England lay in the fact that India was a kind of money bag for the British. Since at that time India was the only country in the world that mined diamonds. The loss of India meant the loss of a huge amount of money for England, which in turn led to an economic crisis in Albion. And this meant the end of the domination of the British in the world. What happened next?

The assassination of Paul I

They tried to kill the emperor several times. One of the first disclosed conspiracies was the conspiracy of the Kanalsky workshop in Smolensk. The materials of the investigation were destroyed, and the members of the group were exiled to hard labor, but information about this was preserved in other sources.

Rumors of a conspiracy against the tsar spread in the St. Petersburg barracks and the noble gatherings. After Malta passed to the British, they increasingly found a common language with the capital and Moscow Masons, who were increasingly dissatisfied with the ban on the activities of lodges.

Economic factors also played a role. Members of the Order of Malta began to feed from Russian estates. The Russian nobility, in turn, was threatened with the loss of sales markets in England. Therefore, not only the British ambassador, but also the head of the secret police Palen, and General Fyodor Uvarov, who was in confidence with the emperor, and, according to some reports, Golenishchev-Kutuzov, took part in the next conspiracy against Paul I.

In total, the number of conspirators amounted to more than a hundred people who represented the flower of the Russian nobility. In March 1801, Paul I was killed in his bedroom. Historians are not accepted to directly link the assassination of the Russian emperor with his protectorate over the Order of Malta, as well as with the allied relations of Paul I and Napoleon.

Let us give an opinion about war as a political instrument and a phenomenon of public life of one of the heroes of the “conquest of Central Asia” - Mikhail Dmitrievich Skobelev.

Once, regarding the heavy losses at Plevna, one of the generals frivolously remarked:

The forest is being cut down - the chips are flying.

Skobelev instantly flushed:

Of course, once a war has started, there is nothing to talk about humanity ... But for me in each of this sliver is a human life with its sufferings and earthly concerns.

He constantly repeated to his officers:

The commander must feel a reproach of conscience, leading people to war.

This poet and war enthusiast, as he was called, once wrote in his diary:

War is excusable when I defend myself and mine. It is despicable and shameful to start a war so-so, with the wind, unless absolutely necessary. Black spots on kings and emperors are wars undertaken out of ambition, out of predation, out of dynastic interests. But it is even more terrible when the people, having completed this terrible deed, remain dissatisfied, when their rulers do not have the courage to take advantage of all the results, all the benefits of the war.

In this case, there is no point in being generous to the vanquished. This generosity is at the expense of others, for this generosity is paid not by those who conclude peace treaties, the people are paying the price - with hundreds of thousands of victims, economic and other crises. A person who loves his neighbors, a person who hates war, must finish off the enemy so that after one war another does not immediately start (http://www.vupkro.ru/Enc.ashx?item=5601).

In our understanding of history, in the above excerpt from the diary of M.D. Skobelev, he characterized the "generosity" of Emperor Alexander I, whose breakdown of the alliance with Napoleon, inherited from Paul I, led to the invasion of Napoleon in 1812 (he had to start a war against Russia under the pressure of circumstances because without a war with Russia, if an alliance with her was impossible, he was guaranteed to lose power in the short term under the influence of economic problems organized by Great Britain), and turned out to be fruitless for Russia in the political perspective of events after 1814, even despite the victory over Napoleonic France.

This means that the murder at the instigation of London by domestic "elitaries" who had become corrupted in the "golden age of Catherine", Emperor Paul I, which occurred with the tacit consent of the heir to the throne, who became emperor, Alexander I, is not only a violation of the oath to the tsar, but and a crime against the peoples of Russia, India, Europe.

After Word

Based on the above, we can draw some conclusions about the mechanisms (and it is difficult to name these processes in another way) of the formation of the historical memory of Paul I.

The main conclusion: according to these "mechanisms" of modern research, Paul I does not fit into any ideologically harmonious image of Russian history.

In addition, it also occupies a very low ranking position in the circle of objects of historical memory. At the same time, it can be assumed that literary texts, in which Paul is presented mainly in a negative or contradictory light, deprive him of even the illusory hope of winning an objective assessment as his historical personality, which is reflected not only in the data of sociological surveys, but and in the content of the network content associated with his figure.

However, we note that taking into account the more positive image of Paul in educational texts than in fiction, certain hopes for an increase in the level of objectivity in assessing his deeds still remain ...

Youth Analytical Group

April 15 In 1797, the coronation of Emperor Paul I took place in Moscow. By his first decree, Paul canceled the established by Peter I order of succession by will and introduced male inheritance("Institution of the Imperial Family").

The order of succession to the throne in Russia was quite simple, it was based on a custom dating back to the founding of the Grand Duchy of Moscow, when the succession to the throne was carried out on the basis of the family line, i.e. the throne almost always passed from father to son.

Only a few times in Russia passed the throne by choice: in 1598, Boris Godunov was elected by the Zemsky Sobor; in 1606 Vasily Shuisky was elected boyars and people; in 1610 - the Polish prince Vladislav; in 1613, Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov was elected Zemsky Sobor.

The order of succession to the throne was changed by Emperor Peter I. Fearing for the fate of his reforms, Peter I decided to change the order of succession to the throne by birthright.

On February 5, 1722, he issued the "Charter of Succession to the Throne", according to which the previous order of succession to the throne by a direct male descendant was abolished. Under the new rule, the inheritance of the Russian Imperial Throne became possible by the will of the sovereign. Any person worthy, in the opinion of the sovereign, to head the state could become a successor under the new rules.

However, Peter the Great himself did not leave a will. As a result, from 1725 to 1761, three palace coups took place: in 1725 (the widow of Peter I, Catherine I, came to power), in 1741 (the rise to power of the daughter of Peter I, Elizabeth Petrovna) and in 1761 (the overthrow of Peter III and transfer of the throne to Catherine II).

In order to prevent further coups d'état and all kinds of intrigues, Emperor Paul I decided to replace the old system introduced by Peter the Great with a new one, which clearly established the order of inheritance of the Russian Imperial Throne.

On April 5, 1797, during the coronation of Emperor Paul I, the "Act of Succession" was promulgated in the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin, which existed with minor changes until 1917. The Act determined the pre-emptive right to inherit the throne for male members of the imperial family. Women were not removed from the succession to the throne, but the advantage is assigned to men in the order of primogeniture. The order of succession to the throne was established: first of all, the inheritance of the throne belonged to the eldest son of the reigning emperor, and after him to his entire male generation. After the suppression of this male generation, the inheritance passed into the family of the second son of the emperor and into his male generation, after the suppression of the second male generation, the inheritance passed into the family of the third son, and so on. When the last male generation of the emperor's sons was suppressed, the inheritance was left in the same lineage, but in the female generation.

This order of succession to the throne absolutely excluded the struggle for the throne.

Emperor Paul established the age of majority for sovereigns and heirs at the age of 16, and for other members of the imperial family - 20 years. In case of the accession to the throne of a minor sovereign, the appointment of a ruler and guardian was provided.

The "Act of Succession" also contained an extremely important provision on the impossibility of accession to the Russian throne by a person who does not belong to the Orthodox Church.

Convenient article navigation:

Adoption of the decree on succession to the throne in 1722

On February 16, 1722, Tsar Peter the First signed the so-called Decree on succession to the throne, according to which the procedure for transferring supreme power in the state was changed. From that moment on, the emperor himself determined his successor, and who he would become no longer depended on whether the candidate was the eldest son of the existing ruler of Russia.

This law became so new for the Russian state that for its actual approval in society a certain explanation was required, which became the ideologically substantiating document called "Truth of the will of the monarch", the creation of which was entrusted to the companion of the sovereign, as well as one of the leaders of the Holy Synod, Feofan Prokopovich ...

Reasons for creating the decree on succession to the throne in 1722

The direct need for this document arose due to the acute conflict between Peter the Great and his eldest son Alexei Petrovich, who did not at all share the need for Peter's reforms. Little by little, a circle of like-minded people arose around the prince.

It should be noted that this was not an ordinary quarrel between fathers and children. Alexei Petrovich was forced to flee to Europe and seek the support of European rulers to fight his father.

Although Peter the Great eventually managed to return his son to his homeland, the prince did not abandon his own views. As a result, in the winter of 1718, the tsarevich was forced to abdicate the Russian throne in favor of his brother Peter Petrovich.

In the same year, the Chancellery, created by Peter Taina, began to work, the first thing of which was just the investigation of the "Case of Tsarevich Alexei". According to him, the heir himself was accused of trying to seize power and organize a conspiracy against the king. Already in the summer, Tsarevich Alexei was accused and tried as a traitor, and on July 7 he died in the Peter and Paul Fortress.

At the same time, Tsarevich Peter Petrovich, who was declared the heir to the throne, also could not occupy him. He died at the age of four. Of all the children of Peter for their majority, except for Tsarevich Alexei, only Anna Petrovna and Elizaveta Petrovna were able to survive.

After the death of Peter Petrovich, the tsar again began to ponder who would take the Russian throne. According to the existing law, power was to pass to Tsarevich Peter Alekseevich, the son of the disgraced Aleksei Petrovich. This did not suit the ruler at all, because a circle could form around the boy, which also did not support the transformations of Peter the Great.

Only the decree on succession to the throne could change the current situation and turn it in favor of the king. However, ironically, Peter the Great himself was never able to take advantage of the introduced innovation of choosing a successor.

After his death, power passes (not without the help of the guards) to the wife of the late emperor, Ekaterina Alekseevna. At the same time, no one dared to cancel the Peter's Decree under consideration because of fears of unrest in society.

Taking into account the experience of Tsar Peter, the empress designates Tsarevich Peter Alekseevich as the heirs, and also determines the detailed order of priority of other candidates for the highest office in the state. No one expected that the Decree on Succession to the throne would fail already in 1730. And all because the young Peter II dies without having determined a successor. The fate of the royal throne is decided by the Supreme Privy Council, which elevates Anna Ioannovna to the throne.

In 1740, before her death, this empress determined her nephew Ioann Antonovich as the heir, who was soon overthrown by the daughter of Peter the Great, Elizabeth. It is worth noting that during the period of the coup, Elizabeth herself referred to her mother's will, according to which, allegedly, Elizabeth had to sit on the throne even then.

This empress planned to take full advantage of Peter's decree on succession to the throne. After her accession to the throne, she appoints her nephew Pyotr Fedorovich as her successor, whom the ruler decides to marry a German princess in order to later transfer power to their son, personally raising a worthy replacement.

But, the planned maneuver did not work out, because by the time the empress died, Tsarevich Pavel Petrovich was only seven years old and the throne passed to Peter Fedorovich, who already determines his son as heir. A year later, as a result of a palace coup organized by Peter's wife, the throne passes to his wife, who ascended the throne under the name of Catherine II.

Cancellation of the decree on succession to the throne in 1722

After her death, Paul the First, who ascended the throne, decided to cancel the Decree on the succession to the throne of Emperor Peter the Great. It is worth noting that the Manifesto of Cancellation was prepared by him while his mother was still alive. Paul himself considered this Decree a source of arbitrariness and injustice in relation to the legitimate heirs to the throne. Canceling after such a long period of time the decree of Peter, he argued that in this way he relieves the descendants of many of the sorrows that he himself experienced because of this document.

Historical implications of the decree

Historical Table: Consequences of the 1722 Succession Ordinance

Video lecture: Reasons for the adoption and consequences of the Decree on Succession to the throne of 1722

Decree of Emperor Paul I on succession to the throne.
April 5, 1797

Script. At the top of the litter sheet in ink: "The act, imperially approved on the day of the most august coronation of His Imperial Majesty and deposited on the throne of the Cathedral of the Assumption."
33.0 x 21.5 cm.
Russian State Historical Archives. F. 1329. Op. 1.D. 191.L. 16-17.

RGIA. F. 1329. Op. 1.D. 191.L. 16.

RGIA. F. 1329. Op. 1.D. 191.L. 16v.

In the name of father and son and holy spirit.

RGIA. F. 1329. Op. 1.D. 191.L. 17.

On the day of his coronation, Paul I approved a new law on succession to the throne, which established a strict order in the succession to the throne along the male descending line. He canceled the order of the transfer of the throne at the arbitrary will of the autocrat, introduced in 1722 by Peter I. Women could obtain the right to the throne only if the male offspring were suppressed. At the same time, the "Institution of the Imperial Family" was published, which determined the order of seniority in the imperial family. The maintenance of its members went from that time on at the expense of the income from the so-called department of "destinies" - a part of the palace lands.

“We, Pavel, are the heir, the Tsarevich and the Grand Duke, and we, his wife, Maria, the Grand Duchess.

By our common voluntary and mutual consent, according to mature reasoning and with a calm spirit, we decided this act of our common, by which, out of love for the fatherland, we choose the heir, by natural right, after my death, Paul, our greatest son, Alexander, and according to him all his masculine generation. After the suppression of this male generation, the inheritance passes to the lineage of my second son, where I will follow what is said about the generation of my eldest son, and so on, if I had more sons; what is the first thing about ".

Law on succession to the throne of 1797 as a source of state law of Russia

In the history of Russian state law, the Act on the Inheritance of the All-Russian Imperial Throne, issued on April 5, 1797, was one of the most important in terms of its significance. He created a firm and unambiguous hereditary order in the succession of the supreme state power. According to M.F. Florinsky, the law of succession to the throne was a successful response of the tsar to the demand of the time.

The conflict development of the state system of Russia during the implementation of the principles of succession to the throne, introduced by the decree of February 12, 1722, showed the need not only to establish the normative foundations of the succession to the throne, but also to consolidate a strict procedure for accepting the throne, which would most closely correspond to the requirements of an absolute monarchy and meet the principles regulation of hereditary legal relations that developed in the XVIII century.

In the Act itself, the purpose of its publication is formulated as follows: “so that the state does not exist without an heir. So that the heir was always appointed by the law itself. So that there is not the slightest doubt about who to inherit. In order to preserve the right to give birth in inheritance, without violating the right of the natural and to avoid difficulties in passing from one kind to another. "
The Act of Succession legitimized the Austrian or "semi-salic" system. Imperial power was inherited from father to son, and in his absence - to the next, in seniority, brother of the emperor; women were allowed to inherit only in case of complete absence of all male descendants of the given dynasty. Paul I "by natural right" appointed his eldest son Alexander as his heir, and after him all his male offspring. After the suppression of the offspring of the eldest son, the right to inherit the throne passes to the clan of the second son, and so on until the last male descendant of the last son. With the suppression of the last male generation of the sons of Paul I, the inheritance passes to the female generation of the last reigning emperor, in which males also have the advantage, with the only obligatory condition that “that female person from whom the right came directly never loses the right.” In the event of the suppression of the direct descending line of succession to the throne (both along the male and female lines), the right of succession could go to the side line.

In addition to describing the order of succession to the throne, the Act stipulated issues related to the status of the imperial spouses, the age of majority of the sovereign and heir, custody of the juvenile sovereign and suitability to the throne from a religious point of view.

The Act of Succession to the throne of 1797 excludes the possibility of succession to the throne by the wife or husband of the reigning person. "If a female person inherits, and such a person is married, or leaves, then the husband will not be honored as a sovereign, but to give honors on an equal basis with the spouses of sovereigns, and enjoy other advantages of such, except for the title." Marriages of members of the imperial family were not recognized as legal without the permission of the reigning sovereign. However, the law does not clearly spell out the rule on the elimination from the inheritance of the throne of persons born from marriages entered into without the permission of the monarch.

The age of majority of the heir to the throne was determined at the age of 16, for other representatives of the reigning house it was set at 20 years. In the case of the accession to the throne of a minor heir, regency was provided. In the absence of a government order on custody, the father and mother of the young sovereign were called to regency (stepfather and stepmother were excluded), at their death - the next adult person of the royal house closest to the throne. Being a ruler and guardian is hindered by "insanity, however temporary, and the second marriage of widows during government and guardianship."

The Act of Succession also contains an important provision on the impossibility of occupying the Russian throne by a person who does not profess the Orthodox faith: “When the inheritance reaches such a female generation that reigns already on another throne, then it is left to the inheriting person to choose the faith and the throne, and renounce together with the heir from another faith and throne, if such a throne is associated with the law so that the sovereigns of Russia are the head of the church, and if there is no denial of faith, then inherit to the person who is closer in order. "

Thus, the Act of Succession to the throne of 1797 settled the problem of succession to the throne and created a strict procedure for the succession to the throne, which remained unchanged until 1917. In fact, this normative legal act was the first step towards the formation of the Russian constitution, defining the conditions for the functioning and transfer of supreme power. As essential conditions necessary for the heir to the throne, and therefore presented to the future emperor, were called: belonging to the imperial house of the Romanovs; descent from legal marriage; the equality of the parents' marriage, i.e. that the spouse (or spouse) belong to some reigning (or reigning house); primogeniture in the male line (that is, the son is higher than the brother); confession of the Orthodox faith.

History of the Russian Empire

History is a treasury of our deeds, a witness of the past, an example and a lesson for the present, a warning for the future (M. Cervantes)

Reforms of Paul I

S. Shchukin "Portrait of Paul I"

Emperor Paul I did not have an attractive appearance: short stature, snub-nosed short nose ... He knew about this and could, on occasion, joke about his appearance and his entourage: “My ministers ... oh, these gentlemen really wanted to lead me by the nose, but , unfortunately for them, I don't have it! "

Paul I tried to establish a form of government that would eliminate the causes that gave rise to wars, riots and revolutions. But some of the Catherine's nobles, accustomed to licentiousness and drunkenness, weakened the ability to realize this intention, did not allow it to develop and establish itself in time in order to change the life of the country on a solid basis. A chain of accidents is linked into a fatal pattern: Paul could not do this, and his followers no longer set this task as their goal.

F. Rokotov "Portrait of Paul I in Childhood"

Paul I (Pavel Petrovich; (September 20, 1754 - March 12, 1801) - Emperor of All Russia from November 6, 1796, from the imperial family of the Romanovs, Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov dynasty, Grand Master of the Order of Malta, General-Admiral, son of Peter III Fedorovich and Catherine II Alekseevna.

The fate of this emperor was tragic. He was brought up without parents (from birth he was taken away from his mother, the future empress, and was brought up by nannies. At the age of eight he lost his father, Peter III, who was killed in a coup d'etat) in an atmosphere of neglect on the part of his mother, like an outcast, forcefully removed from power ... Under these conditions, suspicion and irascibility arose in him, combined with brilliant abilities in sciences and languages, with innate ideas about knightly honor and state order. The ability to think independently, close observation of the life of the court, the bitter role of an outcast - all this turned Paul away from the way of life and politics of Catherine II. Still hoping to play some role in state affairs, Pavel, at the age of 20, submitted to his mother a draft military doctrine of a defensive nature and the concentration of the state's efforts on internal problems. She was not taken into account. He was forced to test the military regulations on the Gatchina estate, where Catherine moved him out of sight. There, Paul's conviction about the benefits of the Prussian order was formed, with which he had the opportunity to meet at the court of Frederick the Great - a king, commander, writer and musician. The Gatchina experiments later became the basis of the reform, which did not stop after the death of Paul, creating an army of a new era - disciplined and well trained.

Often the time of the reign of Paul I is spoken of as the time of compulsion to discipline, drill, despotism, arbitrariness. In fact, he fought against laxity in the army and in the life of Russia in general at that time and wanted to make public service the highest valor, to stop embezzlement and negligence and thereby save Russia from the collapse that threatened her.

Many anecdotes about Paul I were disseminated in those days by the nobles, whom Paul I did not allow to live a free life, demanding that they serve the Fatherland.

Succession reform

The decree on succession to the throne was issued by Paul I on April 5, 1797. With the introduction of this decree, the uncertainty of the situation in which the Russian imperial throne found itself with each change of reign and with constant coups and seizures of supreme power after Peter I as a result of his legislation ceased. Love for legality was one of the striking features in the character of Tsarevich Paul at that time of his life. Clever, thoughtful, impressionable, as some biographers describe him, Tsarevich Pavel showed an example of absolute loyalty to the culprit of his removal from life - until the age of 43 he was under undeserved suspicion on the part of the empress-mother in attempts to assassinate the power that rightfully belonged to him more than herself, who ascended the throne at the cost of the lives of two emperors (Ivan Antonovich and Peter III). A sense of disgust for coups d'etat and a sense of legitimacy was one of the main incentives that prompted him to reform the succession, thought out and decided by him almost 10 years before its implementation. Paul canceled the Peter's decree on the appointment of his successor to the throne by the emperor himself and established a clear system of succession to the throne. From that moment on, the throne was inherited through the male line, after the death of the emperor, he passed to the eldest son and his male offspring, and if there were no sons, to the next eldest brother of the emperor and his male offspring, in the same order. A woman could occupy the throne and pass it on to her offspring only when the male line was cut off. With this decree, Paul excluded palace coups, when emperors were overthrown and erected by the force of the guards, the reason for which was the lack of a clear system of succession (which, however, did not prevent the palace coup on March 12, 1801, during which he himself was killed). Paul restored the collegium system, and attempts were made to stabilize the country's financial situation (including the famous action to melt palace services into coins).

The three-day corvee manifesto

Postage stamp "Paul I signs the Manifesto on the three-day corvee"

Prerequisites

The corvee economy of the Russian Empire in the second half of the 18th century was the most intensive form of exploitation of peasant labor and, unlike the quitrent system, led to the ultimate enslavement and maximum exploitation of the peasants. The growth of corvee duties gradually led to the emergence of a month (daily corvee), and small peasant farming faced the threat of extinction. Serfs were not legally protected from the arbitrary exploitation of the landlords and the burden of serfdom, which took on forms close to slavery.

During the reign of Catherine II, the problem of legislative regulation of peasant duties became the subject of public discussion in an atmosphere of relative publicity. New projects for the regulation of peasant obligations appear in the country, and heated discussions are unfolding. A key role in these events was played by the activities of the Free Economic Society and the Legislative Commission, created by Catherine II. Attempts to legislatively regulate peasant duties were initially doomed to failure due to the tough opposition of the noble-landlord circles and the political elite associated with them, as well as due to the lack of real support for reform initiatives from the autocracy.

Even before his accession to the throne, Paul I took real measures to improve the situation of the peasants on his personal estates in Gatchina and Pavlovsk. So, he reduced and reduced peasant duties (in particular, on his estates for a number of years there was a two-day corvee), allowed peasants to go to the trades in their free time from corvée work, gave out loans to peasants, built new roads in villages, opened two free medical hospitals for his peasants, built several free schools and colleges for peasant children (including for disabled children), as well as several new churches. He insisted on the need for legislative regulation of the position of serfs. "Human,- wrote Pavel, - the first treasure of the state "," saving the state - saving people "("Discourse on the State"). Not being a supporter of radical reforms in the field of the peasant question, Paul I admitted the possibility of some limitation of serfdom and the suppression of its abuses.

Manifesto

WE ARE PAUL THE FIRST

Emperor and Autocrat

and so on, and on, and on.

We declare to all OUR loyal subjects.

The law of God, taught to US in ten words, teaches US to devote the seventh day to it; why on a day that is a real triumph of Christian faith, glorified, and on which WE were honored to receive the sacred anointing of the world and the Royal on the Ancestral Throne, OUR wedding, we consider it our duty to the Creator and the giver of all blessings to confirm throughout OUR Empire about the exact and indispensable fulfillment of this law, commanding all and to everyone to observe, so that no one and under any guise would dare to force the peasants to work on Sundays, especially since for rural products the remaining six days in the week are equal to the number of these in common shared, both for the peasants themselves and for their work in favor of the following landlords, with good disposition, they will be sufficient to satisfy all economic needs. Given in Moscow on the day of Holy Easter on April 5, 1797.

The three-day corvee manifesto

Assessment of the Manifesto by contemporaries

Representatives of foreign powers saw in him the beginning of peasant reforms.

For the Manifesto on the three-day corvee, Paul was sincerely praised by the Decembrists, noting the emperor's desire for justice.

With a dull murmur and widespread boycott, the Manifesto was greeted by the conservative noble-landlord circles, who considered it an unnecessary and harmful law.

The peasant masses saw hope in the Manifesto. They regarded it as a law that officially protected their interests and eased their plight, and tried to complain about the boycotting of its norms by the landowners.

But the implementation of the norms and ideas of the Three-Day Corvee Manifesto, published by Emperor Paul I, was initially doomed to failure. The ambiguity of the wording of this law and the undeveloped mechanisms for its implementation predetermined the polarization of the opinions of government and judicial officials of the country in the interpretation of its meaning and content and led to a complete inconsistency in the actions of the central, provincial and local structures that controlled the implementation of this law. The desire of Paul I to improve the plight of the peasant masses was combined with his stubborn unwillingness to see the serf peasantry as an independent political force and social support for the autocracy's anti-serf initiatives. The indecisiveness of the autocracy led to the absence of strict control over the observance of the norms and ideas of the Manifesto and the connivance of its violations.

Military reform of Paul I

G. Sergeev "Military exercise on the parade ground in front of the palace" (watercolor)

1. Introduced single soldier training and improved content.
2. Defense strategy developed.
3. 4 armies were formed in the main strategic directions.
4. Military districts and inspections have been created.
5. New statutes introduced.
6. The reform of the guard, cavalry and artillery has been carried out.
7. The rights and obligations of servicemen are regulated.
8. Reduced the privileges of the generals.

Reforms in the army caused dissatisfaction on the part of the generals and guards. The guards were required to perform service as expected. All officers assigned to the regiments were obliged to come to service from long-term vacations, some of them and those who did not appear were expelled. The unit commanders were limited in the disposal of the treasury and the use of soldiers for household work.

The military reform of Paul I created the army that defeated Napoleon.

Anecdotes about Paul were inflated for political purposes. The indignant nobility did not understand that Paul "tightening the screws" extended the rule of the "service class" for a hundred years.

Paul's contemporaries adapted to him. He put things in order and discipline, and this met with approval in society. True military men quickly realized that Paul is hot, but easy-going, understands humor. There is a known case that allegedly Paul I sent a whole regiment from the watch parade to Siberia; in fact, Paul showed his discontent in a harsh manner, reprimanding the commander in front of the formation. In irritation, he expressed that the regiment was worthless, that it should be sent to Siberia. Suddenly the regimental commander turns to the regiment and gives the command: "Regiment, march to Siberia!" Then Pavel was taken aback. And the regiment marched past him. Of course, the regiment was caught up and turned back. And the commander had nothing. The commander knew that such a trick would ultimately please Pavel.

Dissatisfaction with Paul was primarily shown by a part of the higher nobility, who fell out of favor under Paul for various reasons: either because they constituted the “Catherine’s court” hated by the emperor, or brought to justice for embezzlement and other offenses.

F. Shubin "Portrait of Paul I"

Other reforms

One of the first attempts to create a code of laws was made. All subsequent rulers of Russia, up to the present time, have tried to create a code like "Napoleon's Code" in France. Nobody succeeded. Bureaucracy interfered. Although under Paul there was a "training" of the bureaucracy, but from this training it only became stronger.
* Decrees were declared not to be considered laws. During the 4 years of the reign of Paul I, 2,179 decrees were issued (42 decrees per month).

* The principle was proclaimed: "State income, not the sovereign." Audits of state institutions and services were carried out. Significant sums were collected in favor of the state.
* Discontinued issue of paper money (by this time the first paper ruble was worth 66 kopecks in silver).
* Emphasis was placed on the distribution of land and peasants to private hands (during the reign - 4 years), 600 thousand souls were granted, in 34 years Catherine II granted 850 thousand souls. Paul believed that the landlords would better support the peasants than the state.
* The "Loan Bank" was established and the "bankruptcy charter" was adopted.
* The family of Academician M. Lomonosov was released from the capitation salary.
* The Polish rebels led by T. Kosciuszko were released from prison.

The death of Paul I

The conspiracy against Paul had already matured in 1800. The inspirations of the conspiracy were Catherine's grandee Count N.P. Panin and the Petersburg military governor P.A. Palen. The British ambassador Charles Whitworth actively helped the conspirators.

In March 1801, Pavel learned about the impending conspiracy and shared the news with P.A. Palen. On March 11, Paul summoned the sons of Alexander and Constantine to the court church and demanded a second oath from them. The conspirators began to rush. In total, about 60 dignitaries and guards officers took part in the conspiracy. Drunken conspirators on the night of March 12 broke into the emperor's bedroom, pounced on him, and one of them broke the emperor's head with a heavy snuffbox. It was announced that he died of "stroke". The soldiers of the Guards, who came running on alarm to the palace, did not believe Palen. This once again confirms the social composition of the conspirators.

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Paul i law of succession

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On April 5, 1797, on the day of his coronation, Emperor Paul I promulgated the Act of Succession, which canceled the Peter's decree on succession to the throne (1722). This Act, with minor changes, existed until the abolition of the monarchy in Russia (1917). Paul established a strict order of succession to the throne so that in the future it would be impossible to remove the rightful heirs from power. The majority for sovereigns and heirs was established upon reaching the age of 16, and for other members of the imperial family - 20 years. In case of the accession to the throne of a minor sovereign, the appointment of a ruler and guardian was provided. The Act of Succession also contained an important provision on the impossibility of accession to the Russian throne by a person who does not belong to the Orthodox Church. In 1820, Emperor Alexander I supplemented the provisions of the Act of Succession with the requirement of equality of marriages as a necessary condition for the inheritance of the throne by the children of members of the imperial family.

In the ancient Russian state, the order of inheritance of power by seniority in the gens operated, the so-called ladder principle of succession to the throne (officially enshrined in the will of Yaroslav the Wise, 1054). In accordance with him, the supreme, Kiev throne was occupied by the eldest of the sons of the deceased Grand Duke. Further, the throne was passed on by seniority from brother to brother, and after the death of the youngest, it went to the eldest of the next generation of princes. The princes-relatives were not permanent owners of the regions, which they got according to the section: with each change in the existing composition of the princely family, there was a movement, the younger relatives who followed the deceased moved from volost to volost, from the younger table to the older one, i.e. as if going up the stairs (Old-Russian "ladder"). The principle of priority in relations between princes as the princely family grew, led to a gradual fragmentation and fragmentation of the princely possessions, and relations between relatives became more and more confused. Disputes arising between the princes about seniority and the order of ownership were resolved either by treaties at congresses, or, if an agreement did not work out, by weapons.

To prevent strife, on the initiative of Vladimir Monomakh, in October 1097, the Lyubech congress of 6 princes took place: the Grand Duke of Kiev Svyatopolk Izyaslavich, the Chernigov princes Davyd and Oleg Svyatoslavich, the Pereyaslavl prince Vladimir Monomakh, the Volyn prince David Igorevich Rostovlich and Terebovych Terebovych. The princes made peace with each other and decided not to allow internecine strife, united to protect themselves from the Polovtsians. By the decision of the congress, each prince was given those lands that belonged to his father. Thus, the Russian land ceased to be considered a single possession of the entire princely house, and became an aggregate of separate "fatherland", hereditary possessions of the branches of the princely house.

This abolished the "ladder" system of occupying the thrones, based on the notion that all members of the grand ducal family are joint owners of the Russian land. It was replaced by dynastic rule. Russian lands were distributed among separate branches of the Yaroslavich descendants. Unlike the provisions of Yaroslav the Wise, now the guarantor of the observance of the new norms of relations was not the "senior", Kiev, but all the princes.

The same dynastic principle of succession to the throne existed in the Moscow principality, which was finally formed in 1263 as the inheritance of Daniel Alexandrovich, the son of Alexander Nevsky. For the first time, a serious conflict over the inheritance of the Moscow throne arose in 1425, when, after the death of Grand Duke Vasily I Dmitrievich, his younger brother, Yuri Dmitrievich, challenged his rights, Vasily II. Only in 1453, after a long struggle with his uncle and cousins, Vasily II finally secured the throne.

After cutting off the straight line of the Rurik dynasty (the name was established in the 16th century) in 1598, the Zemsky Sobor elected Boris Godunov (brother-in-law of the deceased Tsar Fyodor Ivanovich) as tsar. Godunov hoped to become the founder of a new dynasty, but his son Fyodor was killed by supporters of False Dmitry I. After the overthrow of False Dmitry in 1606, Vasily Shuisky was elected tsar at an impromptu cathedral already a month and a half after his father's death (even before the coronation); after his "removal" from the throne in 1610, the Boyar Duma invited the Polish prince Vladislav to the throne. After the end of the Time of Troubles in 1613, the Zemsky Sobor elected Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov as tsar.

Under the first Romanovs, the throne passed from father to son (if the king had male offspring). The order of succession to the throne was changed by Emperor Peter I. On February 5, 1722, he issued the "Charter on the succession to the throne." In accordance with it, the inheritance of the Russian Imperial Throne became possible by the will of the sovereign. Any person worthy, in the opinion of the sovereign, to head the state could become a successor under the new rules.

However, Peter the Great himself did not leave a will. As a result, from 1725 to 1761. there were several palace coups that undermined the legitimacy of the monarchy. As a result of the last of the palace coups in December 1761, Catherine II came to power, overthrowing her husband Peter III and removing her son Paul from power.

Having inherited the throne after the death of his mother in 1796, Paul, in order to prevent coups d'etat and intrigue in the future, decided to replace the old system introduced by Peter the Great with a new one, which clearly established the order of inheritance of the Russian imperial throne. On April 5, 1797, during the coronation of Paul I in the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin, the "Act of Succession" was promulgated, which, with some changes, existed until 1917. Pavel developed his project together with his wife Maria Fedorovna back in 1788, when he was a crown prince ...

The Act determined the pre-emptive right to inherit the throne for male members of the imperial family. Women were not removed from the succession to the throne, but the advantage is assigned to men in the order of primogeniture. The order of succession to the throne was established: first of all, the inheritance of the throne belonged to the eldest son of the reigning emperor, and after him to his entire male generation. After the suppression of this male generation, the inheritance passed into the family of the second son of the emperor and into his male generation, after the suppression of the second male generation, the inheritance passed into the family of the third son, and so on. When the last male generation of the emperor's sons was suppressed, the inheritance was left in the same lineage, but in the female generation. This order of succession to the throne absolutely excluded the struggle for the throne. The "Act" also contained a provision on non-recognition of legal marriages of members of the imperial house without the permission of the sovereign. Emperor Paul established the age of majority for sovereigns and heirs at the age of 16, and for other members of the imperial family - 20 years. In case of the accession to the throne of a minor sovereign, the appointment of a ruler and guardian was provided. The "Act of Succession" also contained a very important provision on the impossibility of accession to the Russian throne by a person who does not belong to the Orthodox Church.

On the same day, the emperor issued another act - the Establishment of the Imperial Family. It determined the composition of the imperial house, the hierarchical seniority of its members, the civil rights of the members, their duties in relation to the emperor, established coats of arms, titles and the size of the content. At the end of the XIX century. in connection with the growth of the imperial family (by 1885 there were 24 grand dukes), Emperor Alexander III limited its composition. According to the new Institution of 1886, only the children and grandchildren of the emperor, from whom they descended, began to be considered grand dukes; great-grandchildren and the next generation were considered princes of the imperial blood. The conditions for the marriage of members of the imperial family were determined. The amount of money received also changed.

During the XVIII century. members of the Romanov dynasty entered into marriages only with foreign princes and princesses. This has already become a self-evident fact, so it never occurred to anyone that the established tradition could be violated. Therefore, in the Act of Emperor Paul I of 1797, the concept of morganatic marriage was not provided for, which required clarification at the time of the first precedent. This case arose in connection with the second marriage of the brother of Emperor Alexander I, Tsarevich Konstantin Pavlovich, who wished to marry the Polish princess of Georgia. Emperor Alexander Pavlovich allowed this marriage, but with his Manifesto on March 20, 1820 established “We recognize for the good, for the unshakable preservation of the dignity and tranquility of the Imperial Family and Our Empire itself, to add the following additional rule to the previous decrees on the Imperial Family: if which person from Of the Imperial Family will enter into a marriage with a person who does not have the appropriate dignity, that is, does not belong to any Reigning or Owning House, in which case the Person of the Imperial Family cannot communicate to another the rights belonging to the Members of the Imperial Family, and the children born from such a union are not have the right to inherit the throne. " Thus, descendants from morganatic marriages were deprived of the right to inherit the throne. The "Act of Succession" in an edited form, together with later acts relating to this topic, was included in all editions of the Code of Laws of the Russian Empire.

The "Act of Succession", which Emperor Paul I personally placed in a silver chest, was kept on the throne of the Assumption Cathedral. Later, the manifesto of Alexander I on the prohibition of unequal marriages, documents on the transfer of the rights to inherit the throne to Nikolai Pavlovich (the future Emperor Nicholas I) and some other documents were added to this casket. In 1880, by order of Emperor Alexander III, all of them, together with the casket, were transferred to the State Archives.

Act, Supremely approved on the day of the sacred coronation
His Imperial Majesty and laid for storage
to the throne of the Assumption Cathedral.

WE ARE PAUL, Heir, Tsarevich and
Grand Duke, and WE, His Wife MARIA
Grand Duchess.

In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

By our common voluntary and mutual consent, according to mature reasoning and with a calm spirit, we decided this common act, by which, out of love for the Fatherland, we choose the heir, by natural right, after my death, PAUL, the son of OUR great, ALEXANDER, and according to him all his masculine generation. After the suppression of this male generation, the inheritance passes to the lineage of MY second son, where it is necessary to follow what is said about the generation of MY eldest son, and so on, if I had more sons; which is the birthright. After the suppression of the last male generation of MY Sons, the inheritance remains in this gens; but in the female generation of the last-reigning, as in the one closest to the Throne, in order to avoid difficulties in the transition from clan to clan, in which to follow the same order, preferring a masculine face to a woman's, but here it should be noted once and for all that that woman's face never loses its right from which the right came directly. Upon the suppression of this clan, the inheritance passes to the clan of MY eldest Son in the female generation, in which the close relative of the last reigning clan of the aforementioned MY Son inherits, and the lack thereof is that masculine or feminine face that takes her place, observing that a masculine face is preferred to a female , as already mentioned above; which is intercession: after the suppression of these genera, the inheritance passes into the feminine gender of MY other Sons, following the same order; and then into the clan of MY eldest Daughter into Her male generation, and after the suppression of this into Her female generation, following the order observed in the female generations of MY Sons. After the suppression of the generation of male and female eldest MY Daughter, the inheritance passes to the male generation, and then to the female generation of MY second Daughter, and so on. Here, the rule should be that the younger sister, even if she had Sons, does not take away the right from the older one, even if she is not married, for she could get married and have children. The younger brother inherits first his older sisters. Having laid down the rules of inheritance, I must explain the reasons for them, they are the following: so that the State would not be without an heir. So that the heir was always appointed by the law itself. So that there is not the slightest doubt about whom to inherit, in order to preserve the right of birth in inheritance, without violating the rights of the natural, and to avoid difficulties in the transition from clan to clan. Having thus established the inheritance, this law must be supplemented with the following: when the inheritance reaches such a female generation, which reigns already on some other Throne, then it is left to the inheriting person to choose the faith and the Throne, and abdicate together with the heir from another faith and Throne, if such a Throne. connected with the law, so that the Sovereigns of Russia are the head of the church, and if there is no denial of faith, then inherit the person who is closer in order. For this, they must pledge to sacredly observe this law of inheritance when entering and anointing, if a woman's person will inherit, and such a Person is married or leaves, then her husband will not be honored as the Sovereign, however, he should give honors on an equal basis with the Spouses of Sovereigns and enjoy other advantages such, except Title. Marriage cannot be considered legal without the permission of the Sovereign for these. In the event of the minority of the inheriting Person, the order and security of the State and the Sovereign require the establishment of the Government and guardianship until the age of majority. Sovereigns of both sexes and heirs are sixteen years of age in order to save the time of government. If the last reigner did not appoint a Ruler and Guardian, for he should make this choice for better security, the government of the State and the guardianship of the person of the Sovereign follow the Father or the Mother, the Stepfather and Stepmother are excluded, and due to the lack of these to the next to the inheritance from the relatives of adults, of both sexes , minor, the majority of the rest of both sexes of persons of the State families is supposed to be twenty years, the lack of legal ability prevents him from being a Ruler and Guardian, namely insanity, at least temporary, and the second marriage of widows during government and guardianship. The ruler is entitled to the advice of the government, and both the ruler without council and council without the ruler cannot exist: the council does not care about guardianship. This council consists of six persons of the first two classes at the choice of the Ruler, who will appoint others in the event of changes occurring; this council of government includes all matters without exception, which are subject to the decision of the Sovereign himself, and all those who both join him and his council; The ruler has a decisive voice, the masculine persons of the State Family can sit in this council at the choice of the ruler, but not before their majority and not among the six persons who make up the council. The appointment of this council and the selection of its members are based on the lack of another order of the deceased Sovereign, for he must be aware of the circumstances and people. By this we owed the tranquility of the State, which is based on a firm law of inheritance, of which every good-minded person is sure. We wish this act to serve as the strongest proof, before the whole world of OUR love for the Fatherland, love and harmony of OUR marriage and love for our children and descendants. As a sign and evidence of which, OUR NAMES were signed and seals of OUR COATS OF ARMS were attached. April 7th, 1797.

© FKU "Russian State Historical Archive" (RGIA)
F.1329. Op. 1. D.191. L.16-17

Zyzykin M.V. Tsarist power and the law on succession to the throne in Russia. Sofia, 1924.

Bp. John (Maksimovich M.B.). The origin of the law of succession to the throne in Russia. Shanghai, 1936.

M.V. Nazarov Who is the heir to the Russian throne? 3rd ed. M., 2004.

The order of succession to the throne in Russia from the founding of the Russian state to the now happily reigning Emperor Alexander II. M., 1874.

What two principles of succession to the throne existed in the Old Russian state?

Why was the publication of the new law on succession to the throne one of the first decisions of Paul I?

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On April 5, 1797, on the day of his coronation, Emperor Paul I promulgated the Act of Succession, which canceled the Peter's decree on succession to the throne (1722). This Act, with minor changes, existed until the abolition of the monarchy in Russia (1917). Paul established a strict order of succession to the throne so that in the future it would be impossible to remove the rightful heirs from power. The majority for sovereigns and heirs was established upon reaching the age of 16, and for other members of the imperial family - 20 years. In case of the accession to the throne of a minor sovereign, the appointment of a ruler and guardian was provided. The Act of Succession also contained an important provision on the impossibility of accession to the Russian throne by a person who does not belong to the Orthodox Church. In 1820, Emperor Alexander I supplemented the provisions of the Act of Succession with the requirement of equality of marriages as a necessary condition for the inheritance of the throne by the children of members of the imperial family.

In the ancient Russian state, the order of inheritance of power by seniority in the gens operated, the so-called ladder principle of succession to the throne (officially enshrined in the will of Yaroslav the Wise, 1054). In accordance with him, the supreme, Kiev throne was occupied by the eldest of the sons of the deceased Grand Duke. Further, the throne was passed on by seniority from brother to brother, and after the death of the youngest, it went to the eldest of the next generation of princes. The princes-relatives were not permanent owners of the regions, which they got according to the section: with each change in the existing composition of the princely family, there was a movement, the younger relatives who followed the deceased moved from volost to volost, from the younger table to the older one, i.e. as if going up the stairs (Old-Russian "ladder"). The principle of priority in relations between princes as the princely family grew, led to a gradual fragmentation and fragmentation of the princely possessions, and relations between relatives became more and more confused. Disputes arising between the princes about seniority and the order of ownership were resolved either by treaties at congresses, or, if an agreement did not work out, by weapons.

To prevent strife, on the initiative of Vladimir Monomakh, in October 1097, the Lyubech congress of 6 princes took place: the Grand Duke of Kiev Svyatopolk Izyaslavich, the Chernigov princes Davyd and Oleg Svyatoslavich, the Pereyaslavl prince Vladimir Monomakh, the Volyn prince David Igorevich Rostovlich and Terebovych Terebovych. The princes made peace with each other and decided not to allow internecine strife, united to protect themselves from the Polovtsians. By the decision of the congress, each prince was given those lands that belonged to his father. Thus, the Russian land ceased to be considered a single possession of the entire princely house, and became an aggregate of separate "fatherland", hereditary possessions of the branches of the princely house.

This abolished the "ladder" system of occupying the thrones, based on the notion that all members of the grand ducal family are joint owners of the Russian land. It was replaced by dynastic rule. Russian lands were distributed among separate branches of the Yaroslavich descendants. Unlike the provisions of Yaroslav the Wise, now the guarantor of the observance of the new norms of relations was not the "senior", Kiev, but all the princes.

The same dynastic principle of succession to the throne existed in the Moscow principality, which was finally formed in 1263 as the inheritance of Daniel Alexandrovich, the son of Alexander Nevsky. For the first time, a serious conflict over the inheritance of the Moscow throne arose in 1425, when, after the death of Grand Duke Vasily I Dmitrievich, his younger brother, Yuri Dmitrievich, challenged his rights, Vasily II. Only in 1453, after a long struggle with his uncle and cousins, Vasily II finally secured the throne.

After cutting off the straight line of the Rurik dynasty (the name was established in the 16th century) in 1598, the Zemsky Sobor elected Boris Godunov (brother-in-law of the deceased Tsar Fyodor Ivanovich) as tsar. Godunov hoped to become the founder of a new dynasty, but his son Fyodor was killed by supporters of False Dmitry I. After the overthrow of False Dmitry in 1606, Vasily Shuisky was elected tsar at an impromptu cathedral already a month and a half after his father's death (even before the coronation); after his "removal" from the throne in 1610, the Boyar Duma invited the Polish prince Vladislav to the throne. After the end of the Time of Troubles in 1613, the Zemsky Sobor elected Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov as tsar.

Under the first Romanovs, the throne passed from father to son (if the king had male offspring). The order of succession to the throne was changed by Emperor Peter I. On February 5, 1722, he issued the "Charter on the succession to the throne." In accordance with it, the inheritance of the Russian Imperial Throne became possible by the will of the sovereign. Any person worthy, in the opinion of the sovereign, to head the state could become a successor under the new rules.

However, Peter the Great himself did not leave a will. As a result, from 1725 to 1761. there were several palace coups that undermined the legitimacy of the monarchy. As a result of the last of the palace coups in December 1761, Catherine II came to power, overthrowing her husband Peter III and removing her son Paul from power.

Having inherited the throne after the death of his mother in 1796, Paul, in order to prevent coups d'etat and intrigue in the future, decided to replace the old system introduced by Peter the Great with a new one, which clearly established the order of inheritance of the Russian imperial throne. On April 5, 1797, during the coronation of Paul I in the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin, the "Act of Succession" was promulgated, which, with some changes, existed until 1917. Pavel developed his project together with his wife Maria Fedorovna back in 1788, when he was a crown prince ...

The Act determined the pre-emptive right to inherit the throne for male members of the imperial family. Women were not removed from the succession to the throne, but the advantage is assigned to men in the order of primogeniture. The order of succession to the throne was established: first of all, the inheritance of the throne belonged to the eldest son of the reigning emperor, and after him to his entire male generation. After the suppression of this male generation, the inheritance passed into the family of the second son of the emperor and into his male generation, after the suppression of the second male generation, the inheritance passed into the family of the third son, and so on. When the last male generation of the emperor's sons was suppressed, the inheritance was left in the same lineage, but in the female generation. This order of succession to the throne absolutely excluded the struggle for the throne. The "Act" also contained a provision on non-recognition of legal marriages of members of the imperial house without the permission of the sovereign. Emperor Paul established the age of majority for sovereigns and heirs at the age of 16, and for other members of the imperial family - 20 years. In case of the accession to the throne of a minor sovereign, the appointment of a ruler and guardian was provided. The "Act of Succession" also contained a very important provision on the impossibility of accession to the Russian throne by a person who does not belong to the Orthodox Church.

On the same day, the emperor issued another act - the Establishment of the Imperial Family. It determined the composition of the imperial house, the hierarchical seniority of its members, the civil rights of the members, their duties in relation to the emperor, established coats of arms, titles and the size of the content. At the end of the XIX century. in connection with the growth of the imperial family (by 1885 there were 24 grand dukes), Emperor Alexander III limited its composition. According to the new Institution of 1886, only the children and grandchildren of the emperor, from whom they descended, began to be considered grand dukes; great-grandchildren and the next generation were considered princes of the imperial blood. The conditions for the marriage of members of the imperial family were determined. The amount of money received also changed.

During the XVIII century. members of the Romanov dynasty entered into marriages only with foreign princes and princesses. This has already become a self-evident fact, so it never occurred to anyone that the established tradition could be violated. Therefore, in the Act of Emperor Paul I of 1797, the concept of morganatic marriage was not provided for, which required clarification at the time of the first precedent. This case arose in connection with the second marriage of the brother of Emperor Alexander I, Tsarevich Konstantin Pavlovich, who wished to marry the Polish princess of Georgia. Emperor Alexander Pavlovich allowed this marriage, but with his Manifesto on March 20, 1820 established “We recognize for the good, for the unshakable preservation of the dignity and tranquility of the Imperial Family and Our Empire itself, to add the following additional rule to the previous decrees on the Imperial Family: if which person from Of the Imperial Family will enter into a marriage with a person who does not have the appropriate dignity, that is, does not belong to any Reigning or Owning House, in which case the Person of the Imperial Family cannot communicate to another the rights belonging to the Members of the Imperial Family, and the children born from such a union are not have the right to inherit the throne. " Thus, descendants from morganatic marriages were deprived of the right to inherit the throne. The "Act of Succession" in an edited form, together with later acts relating to this topic, was included in all editions of the Code of Laws of the Russian Empire.

The "Act of Succession", which Emperor Paul I personally placed in a silver chest, was kept on the throne of the Assumption Cathedral. Later, the manifesto of Alexander I on the prohibition of unequal marriages, documents on the transfer of the rights to inherit the throne to Nikolai Pavlovich (the future Emperor Nicholas I) and some other documents were added to this casket. In 1880, by order of Emperor Alexander III, all of them, together with the casket, were transferred to the State Archives.

Act, Supremely approved on the day of the sacred coronation
His Imperial Majesty and laid for storage
to the throne of the Assumption Cathedral.

WE ARE PAUL, Heir, Tsarevich and
Grand Duke, and WE, His Wife MARIA
Grand Duchess.

In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

By our common voluntary and mutual consent, according to mature reasoning and with a calm spirit, we decided this common act, by which, out of love for the Fatherland, we choose the heir, by natural right, after my death, PAUL, the son of OUR great, ALEXANDER, and according to him all his masculine generation. After the suppression of this male generation, the inheritance passes to the lineage of MY second son, where it is necessary to follow what is said about the generation of MY eldest son, and so on, if I had more sons; which is the birthright. After the suppression of the last male generation of MY Sons, the inheritance remains in this gens; but in the female generation of the last-reigning, as in the one closest to the Throne, in order to avoid difficulties in the transition from clan to clan, in which to follow the same order, preferring a masculine face to a woman's, but here it should be noted once and for all that that woman's face never loses its right from which the right came directly. Upon the suppression of this clan, the inheritance passes to the clan of MY eldest Son in the female generation, in which the close Relative of the last reigning clan of the aforementioned MY Son inherits, and in the lack of this is that masculine or feminine face that takes her place, observing that a masculine face is preferred to a woman , as already mentioned above; which is intercession: after the suppression of these genera, the inheritance passes into the feminine gender of MY other Sons, following the same order; and then into the clan of MY eldest Daughter into Her male generation, and after the suppression of this into Her female generation, following the order observed in the female generations of MY Sons. After the suppression of the generation of male and female eldest MY Daughter, the inheritance passes to the male generation, and then to the female generation of MY second Daughter, and so on. Here, the rule should be that the younger sister, even if she had Sons, does not take away the right from the older one, even if she is not married, for she could get married and give birth to children. The younger brother inherits first his older sisters. Having laid down the rules of inheritance, I must explain the reasons for them, they are the following: so that the State would not be without an heir. So that the heir was always appointed by the law itself. So that there is not the slightest doubt about whom to inherit, in order to preserve the right of birth in inheritance, without violating the rights of the natural, and to avoid difficulties in the transition from clan to clan. Having thus established the inheritance, this law must be supplemented with the following: when the inheritance reaches such a female generation, which reigns already on some other Throne, then it is left to the inheriting person to choose the faith and the Throne, and abdicate together with the heir from another faith and Throne, if such a Throne. connected with the law, so that the Sovereigns of Russia are the head of the church, and if there is no denial of faith, then inherit the person who is closer in order. For this, they must pledge to sacredly observe this law of inheritance when entering and anointing, if a woman's person will inherit, and such a Person is married or leaves, then her husband will not be honored as the Sovereign, however, he should give honors on an equal basis with the Spouses of Sovereigns and enjoy other advantages such, except Title. Marriage cannot be considered legal without the permission of the Sovereign for these. In the event of the minority of the inheriting Person, the order and security of the State and the Sovereign require the establishment of the Government and guardianship until the age of majority. Sovereigns of both sexes and heirs are sixteen years of age in order to save government time. If the last reigner did not appoint a Ruler and Guardian, for he should make this choice for better security, the government of the State and the guardianship of the person of the Sovereign follow the Father or the Mother, the Stepfather and Stepmother are excluded, and due to the lack of these to the next to the inheritance from the relatives of adults, of both sexes , minor, the majority of the rest of both sexes of persons of the State families is supposed to be twenty years, the lack of legal ability prevents him from being a Ruler and Guardian, namely insanity, at least temporary, and the second marriage of widows during government and guardianship. The ruler is entitled to the advice of the government, and both the ruler without council and council without the ruler cannot exist: the council does not care about guardianship. This council consists of six persons of the first two classes at the choice of the Ruler, who will appoint others in the event of changes occurring; this council of the government includes all matters without exception, which are subject to the decision of the Sovereign himself, and all those that both to him and to his council I enter
T; The ruler has a decisive voice, the masculine persons of the State Family can sit in this council at the choice of the ruler, but not before their majority and not among the six persons who make up the council. The appointment of this council and the selection of its members are based on the lack of another order of the deceased Sovereign, for he must be aware of the circumstances and people. By this we owed the tranquility of the State, which is based on a firm law of inheritance, of which every good-minded person is sure. We wish this act to serve as the strongest proof, before the whole world of OUR love for the Fatherland, love and harmony of OUR marriage and love for our children and descendants. As a sign and evidence of which, OUR NAMES were signed and seals of OUR COATS OF ARMS were attached. April 7th, 1797.

© FKU "Russian State Historical Archive" (RGIA)
F.1329. Op. 1. D.191. L.16-17

Zyzykin M.V. Tsarist power and the law on succession to the throne in Russia. Sofia, 1924.

Bp. John (Maksimovich M.B.). The origin of the law of succession to the throne in Russia. Shanghai, 1936.

M.V. Nazarov Who is the heir to the Russian throne? 3rd ed. M., 2004.

The order of succession to the throne in Russia from the founding of the Russian state to the now happily reigning Emperor Alexander II. M., 1874.

What two principles of succession to the throne existed in the Old Russian state?

Why was the publication of the new law on succession to the throne one of the first decisions of Paul I?

Law on succession to the throne of 1797 as a source of state law of Russia

In the history of Russian state law, the Act on the Inheritance of the All-Russian Imperial Throne, issued on April 5, 1797, was one of the most important in terms of its significance. He created a firm and unambiguous hereditary order in the succession of the supreme state power. According to M.F. Florinsky, the law of succession to the throne was a successful response of the tsar to the demand of the time.

The conflict development of the state system of Russia during the implementation of the principles of succession to the throne, introduced by the decree of February 12, 1722, showed the need not only to establish the normative foundations of the succession to the throne, but also to consolidate a strict procedure for accepting the throne, which would most closely correspond to the requirements of an absolute monarchy and meet the principles regulation of hereditary legal relations that developed in the XVIII century.

In the Act itself, the purpose of its publication is formulated as follows: “so that the state does not exist without an heir. So that the heir was always appointed by the law itself. So that there is not the slightest doubt about who to inherit. In order to preserve the right to give birth in inheritance, without violating the right of the natural and to avoid difficulties in passing from one kind to another. "
The Act of Succession legitimized the Austrian or "semi-salic" system. Imperial power was inherited from father to son, and in his absence - to the next, in seniority, brother of the emperor; women were allowed to inherit only in case of complete absence of all male descendants of the given dynasty. Paul I "by natural right" appointed his eldest son Alexander as his heir, and after him all his male offspring. After the suppression of the offspring of the eldest son, the right to inherit the throne passes to the clan of the second son, and so on until the last male descendant of the last son. With the suppression of the last male generation of the sons of Paul I, the inheritance passes to the female generation of the last reigning emperor, in which males also have the advantage, with the only obligatory condition that “that female person from whom the right came directly never loses the right.” In the event of the suppression of the direct descending line of succession to the throne (both along the male and female lines), the right of succession could go to the side line.

In addition to describing the order of succession to the throne, the Act stipulated issues related to the status of the imperial spouses, the age of majority of the sovereign and heir, custody of the juvenile sovereign and suitability to the throne from a religious point of view.

The Act of Succession to the throne of 1797 excludes the possibility of succession to the throne by the wife or husband of the reigning person. "If a female person inherits, and such a person is married, or leaves, then the husband will not be honored as a sovereign, but to give honors on an equal basis with the spouses of sovereigns, and enjoy other advantages of such, except for the title." Marriages of members of the imperial family were not recognized as legal without the permission of the reigning sovereign. However, the law does not clearly spell out the rule on the elimination from the inheritance of the throne of persons born from marriages entered into without the permission of the monarch.

The age of majority of the heir to the throne was determined at the age of 16, for other representatives of the reigning house it was set at 20 years. In the case of the accession to the throne of a minor heir, regency was provided. In the absence of a government order on custody, the father and mother of the young sovereign were called to regency (stepfather and stepmother were excluded), at their death - the next adult person of the royal house closest to the throne. Being a ruler and guardian is hindered by "insanity, however temporary, and the second marriage of widows during government and guardianship."

The Act of Succession also contains an important provision on the impossibility of occupying the Russian throne by a person who does not profess the Orthodox faith: “When the inheritance reaches such a female generation that reigns already on another throne, then it is left to the inheriting person to choose the faith and the throne, and renounce together with the heir from another faith and throne, if such a throne is associated with the law so that the sovereigns of Russia are the head of the church, and if there is no denial of faith, then inherit to the person who is closer in order. "

Thus, the Act of Succession to the throne of 1797 settled the problem of succession to the throne and created a strict procedure for the succession to the throne, which remained unchanged until 1917. In fact, this normative legal act was the first step towards the formation of the Russian constitution, defining the conditions for the functioning and transfer of supreme power. As essential conditions necessary for the heir to the throne, and therefore presented to the future emperor, were called: belonging to the imperial house of the Romanovs; descent from legal marriage; the equality of the parents' marriage, i.e. that the spouse (or spouse) belong to some reigning (or reigning house); primogeniture in the male line (that is, the son is higher than the brother); confession of the Orthodox faith.

Virtual exhibition dedicated to the 1150th anniversary of the birth of Russian statehood

Decree of Emperor Paul I on succession to the throne.
April 5, 1797

Script. At the top of the litter sheet in ink: "The act, imperially approved on the day of the most august coronation of His Imperial Majesty and deposited on the throne of the Cathedral of the Assumption."
33.0 x 21.5 cm.
Russian State Historical Archives. F. 1329. Op. 1.D. 191.L. 16-17.

RGIA. F. 1329. Op. 1.D. 191.L. 16.

RGIA. F. 1329. Op. 1.D. 191.L. 16v.

RGIA. F. 1329. Op. 1.D. 191.L. 17.

On the day of his coronation, Paul I approved a new law on succession to the throne, which established a strict order in the succession to the throne along the male descending line. He canceled the order of the transfer of the throne at the arbitrary will of the autocrat, introduced in 1722 by Peter I. Women could obtain the right to the throne only if the male offspring were suppressed. At the same time, the "Institution of the Imperial Family" was published, which determined the order of seniority in the imperial family. The maintenance of its members went from that time on at the expense of the income from the so-called department of "destinies" - a part of the palace lands.

“We, Pavel, are the heir, the Tsarevich and the Grand Duke, and we, his wife, Maria, the Grand Duchess.

In the name of father and son and holy spirit.

By our common voluntary and mutual consent, according to mature reasoning and with a calm spirit, we decided this act of our common, by which, out of love for the fatherland, we choose the heir, by natural right, after my death, Paul, our greatest son, Alexander, and according to him all his masculine generation. After the suppression of this male generation, the inheritance passes to the lineage of my second son, where I will follow what is said about the generation of my eldest son, and so on, if I had more sons; what is the first thing about ".

On April 5 (16), 1797, on the day of his coronation, Emperor Paul I promulgated the Act of Succession, which canceled the Peter's decree on succession to the throne on February 5 (16), 1722. This Act, with minor changes, existed until 1917.

Back in 1788, Tsarevich Pavel Petrovich developed and signed, together with his wife, Grand Duchess Maria Fedorovna, the Act of Succession to the throne. Paul's intention was to exclude in the future the possibility of removing the rightful heirs from the throne. The Tsarevich introduced inheritance according to the law, as he put it in the Act itself, “so that the state would not be without heirs, so that the heir was always appointed by the law itself, so that there was not the slightest doubt who to inherit, in order to preserve the right of birth in inheritance, without violating the rights of natural , and to avoid difficulties in passing from genus to genus ”. Paul established the age of majority for sovereigns and heirs at the age of 16, and for other members of the imperial family - 20 years. In case of the accession to the throne of a minor sovereign, the appointment of a ruler and guardian was provided. The Act of Succession also contained an important provision on the impossibility of accession to the Russian throne by a person who does not belong to the Orthodox Church.

After his coronation on April 5 (16), 1797, Paul I immediately swore allegiance to the issued Act, which was deposited in the Assumption Cathedral.

On the same day, the emperor issued another Act - the Establishment of the Imperial Family - which determined the composition of the imperial family, the hierarchical seniority of its members, the civil rights of the members of the Imperial House, the duties of the members of the Imperial House to the Emperor, established coats of arms, titles and the size of the content.

In 1820, Emperor Alexander I supplemented the provisions of the Act of Succession with the requirement of equality of marriages as a necessary condition for the inheritance of the throne by the children of members of the imperial family.

The Act of Succession to the throne of Emperor Paul I, together with later acts on this issue, was included in all editions of the Code of Laws of the Russian Empire.

Lit .: Zyzykin M. Tsarist power and the law on succession to the throne in Russia. Sofia, 1924; John (Maksimovich M.B.). The origin of the law on succession to the throne in Russia. Shanghai, 1936.

See also in the Presidential Library:

Paul I (1754–1801) // The Romanov Dynasty. 400th anniversary of the Zemsky Sobor in 1613: collection;

How the rules of succession to the throne in Russia have changed. reference

April 15 In 1797, the coronation of Emperor Paul I took place in Moscow. By his first decree, Paul canceled the established by Peter I order of succession by will and introduced male inheritance("Institution of the Imperial Family").

The order of succession to the throne in Russia was quite simple, it was based on a custom dating back to the founding of the Grand Duchy of Moscow, when the succession to the throne was carried out on the basis of the family line, i.e. the throne almost always passed from father to son.

Only a few times in Russia passed the throne by choice: in 1598, Boris Godunov was elected by the Zemsky Sobor; in 1606 Vasily Shuisky was elected boyars and people; in 1610 - the Polish prince Vladislav; in 1613, Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov was elected Zemsky Sobor.

The order of succession to the throne was changed by Emperor Peter I. Fearing for the fate of his reforms, Peter I decided to change the order of succession to the throne by birthright.

On February 5, 1722, he issued the “Charter of Succession to the Throne,” according to which the previous order of succession to the throne by a direct male descendant was canceled. Under the new rule, the inheritance of the Russian Imperial Throne became possible by the will of the sovereign. Any person worthy, in the opinion of the sovereign, to head the state could become a successor under the new rules.

However, Peter the Great himself did not leave a will. As a result, from 1725 to 1761, three palace coups took place: in 1725 (the widow of Peter I, Catherine I, came to power), in 1741 (the rise to power of the daughter of Peter I, Elizabeth Petrovna) and in 1761 (the overthrow of Peter III and transfer of the throne to Catherine II).

In order to prevent further coups d'état and all kinds of intrigues, Emperor Paul I decided to replace the old system introduced by Peter the Great with a new one, which clearly established the order of inheritance of the Russian Imperial Throne.

On April 5, 1797, during the coronation of Emperor Paul I, the "Act of Succession" was promulgated in the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin, which existed with minor changes until 1917. The Act determined the pre-emptive right to inherit the throne for male members of the imperial family. Women were not removed from the succession to the throne, but the advantage is assigned to men in the order of primogeniture. The order of succession to the throne was established: first of all, the inheritance of the throne belonged to the eldest son of the reigning emperor, and after him to his entire male generation. After the suppression of this male generation, the inheritance passed into the family of the second son of the emperor and into his male generation, after the suppression of the second male generation, the inheritance passed into the family of the third son, and so on. When the last male generation of the emperor's sons was suppressed, the inheritance was left in the same lineage, but in the female generation.

This order of succession to the throne absolutely excluded the struggle for the throne.

Emperor Paul established the age of majority for sovereigns and heirs at the age of 16, and for other members of the imperial family - 20 years. In case of the accession to the throne of a minor sovereign, the appointment of a ruler and guardian was provided.

The "Act of Succession" also contained an extremely important provision on the impossibility of accession to the Russian throne by a person who does not belong to the Orthodox Church.