Editing Russian Empire

| style="text-align: center;" width=50% | [[Image:Romanov flag.PNG|Flag of the Russian Empire]] || style="text-align: center;" width=50% | http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg229/minnesota_iceman/CoatofarmsoftheRussianEmpire.png

|'''Establishment'''<br/>&nbsp;- Accession of Peter I<br><br/>&nbsp;- Empire proclaimed<br/>&nbsp;

|<br>May 7, 1682 NS,<br>April 27, 1682 OS<br>October 22, 1721 NS,<br>October 11, 1721 OS

[[Image:Russian Empire Map 1912.jpg|left|thumb|250px|Map of the Russian Empire.]]

[[Image:Peter IV.jpg|right|thumb|250px|Peter IV, the current Russian Emperor.]]

The power of the Emperor is limited by only two liabilities: he and his consort must belong to the Russian Orthodox Church; and he must obey the laws of succession, as established by Paul I. Otherwise, his power is virtually unlimited.

The legislature of the Russian Empire comprises the State Council (upper house) and the State Duma (lower house).

====State Council====

By the law of the 20 February 1906, the State Council of the Empire was associated with the Duma as a legislative Upper House; and from this time the legislative power has been exercised normally by the emperor only in concert with the two chambers.  

The State Council, as reconstituted for this purpose, consists of 196 members, of whom 98 are nominated by the emperor, while 98 are elective. The ministers, also nominated, are ex officio members. Of the elected members, 3 are returned by the "black" clergy (the monks), 3 by the "white" clergy (seculars), 18 by the corporations of nobles, 6 by the academy of sciences and the universities, 6 by the chambers of commerce, 6 by the industrial councils, 34 by the governments having zemstvos, 16 by those having no zemstvos, and 6 by Poland. As a legislative body the powers of the Council are coordinate with those of the Duma; in practice, however, it has seldom if ever initiated legislation.

====The State Duma and electoral system====

The State Duma, which forms the Lower House of the Russian parliament, consists of 442 members, elected by an exceedingly complicated process. The membership is manipulated as to secure an overwhelming majority of the wealthy (especially the landed classes). Each province of the empire returns a certain number of members; added to these are those returned by several large cities. The members of the Duma are chosen by electoral colleges and these, in turn, are elected in assemblies of the three classes: landed proprietors, citizens, and peasants. In these assemblies the wealthiest proprietors sit in person whilst the lesser proprietors are represented by delegates. The urban population is divided into two categories according to taxable wealth, and elects delegates directly to the college of the Governorates. The peasants are represented by delegates selected by the regional subdivisions called ''volosts''. Workmen are treated in special manner with every industrial concern employing fifty hands or over electing one or more delegates to the electoral college.

In the college itself the voting for the Duma is by secret ballot and a simple majority carries the day. Since the majority consists of conservative elements (the landowners and urban delegates), the progressives have little chance of representation at all save for the curious provision that one member at least in each government is to be chosen from each of the five classes represented in the college.

 

The Fundamental Laws of 1906 severely limit the power of the Duma. The Fundamental Laws state in part that the Emperor's ministers cannot be appointed by, and are not responsible to, the Duma, thus denying responsible government at the executive level. Furthermore, the Emperor has the power to dismiss the Duma and announce new elections whenever he wishes.

The Senate (''Pravitelstvuyushchi Senat'', i.e. directing or governing senate), originally established during the government reform of Peter I, consists of members appointed by the Emperor. Its wide variety of functions are carried out by the different departments into which it is divided. It is the supreme court of cassation; an audit office, a high court of justice for all political offences; one of its departments fulfills the functions of a heralds' college. It also has supreme jurisdiction in all disputes arising out of the administration of the Empire, notably differences between representatives of the central power and the elected organs of local self-government. Lastly, it promulgates new laws, a function which theoretically gives it a power akin to that of the Supreme Court of the United States, of rejecting measures not in accordance with fundamental laws.

 

The Senate is chaired by the Ober-Procurator (formerly known as the General Procurator), who serves as the link between the Emperor and the Senate and acts, in the emperor's own words, as "the sovereign's eye".

The judicial system of the Russian Empire, existed from the mid-19th century, was established by the emperor Alexander II, by the statute of 20 November 1864 (''Sudebni Ustav''). This system — based partly on English, partly on French models — was built up on certain broad principles: the separation of the judicial and administrative functions, the independence of the judges and courts, the publicity of trials and oral procedure, the equality of all classes before the law. Moreover, a democratic element was introduced by the adoption of the jury system and — so far as one order of tribunal was concerned — the election of judges. The establishment of a judicial system on these principles constituted a fundamental change in the conception of the Russian state, which, by placing the administration of justice outside the sphere of the executive power, ceased to be a despotism. This fact made the system especially obnoxious to the bureaucracy, and during the latter years of Alexander II and the reign of Alexander III there was a piecemeal taking back of what had been given. It was reserved for the third Duma, after the Russian Revolution of 1905, to begin the reversal of this process (which has since been completed).