Volost ( rus, во́лость, p=ˈvoləsʲtʲ; ) was a traditional administrative subdivision in

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russia, whic ...

. In earlier East Slavic history, ''

volost Volost ( rus, во́лость, p=ˈvoləsʲtʲ; ) was a traditional administrative subdivision in Eastern Europe. In earlier East Slavic history, '' volost'' was a name for the territory ruled by the knyaz, a principality; either as an absolute ...

'' was a name for the territory ruled by the knyaz, a principality; either as an absolute ruler or with varying degree of autonomy from the ''Velikiy Knyaz'' (

Grand Prince Grand prince or great prince (feminine: grand princess or great princess) ( la, magnus princeps; Greek: ''megas archon''; russian: великий князь, velikiy knyaz) is a title of nobility ranked in honour below emperor, equal of king ...

). Starting from the end of the 14th century, ''volost'' was a unit of administrative division in

Grand Duchy of Lithuania The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a European state that existed from the 13th century to 1795, when the territory was partitioned among the Russian Empire, the Kingdom of Prussia, and the Habsburg Empire of Austria. The state was founded by Lit ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

Muscovy Muscovy is an alternative name for the Grand Duchy of Moscow (1263–1547) and the Tsardom of Russia (1547–1721). It may also refer to: *Muscovy Company, an English trading company chartered in 1555 * Muscovy duck (''Cairina moschata'') and Domes ...

, lands of modern Latvia and Ukraine. Since about the 16th century it was a part of provincial

district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municipa ...

s that were called "

uezd An uezd (also spelled uyezd; rus, уе́зд, p=ʊˈjest), or povit in a Ukrainian context ( uk, повіт), or Kreis in Baltic-German context, was a type of administrative subdivision of the Grand Duchy of Moscow, the Russian Empire, and the ea ...

" in Muscovy and the later

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

. Each uezd had several volosts that were subordinated to the uezd city. After the abolition of

Russian serfdom The term '' serf'', in the sense of an unfree peasant of tsarist Russia, is the usual English-language translation of () which meant an unfree person who, unlike a slave, historically could be sold only with the land to which they were "att ...

in 1861, ''volost'' became a unit of

peasant A peasant is a pre-industrial agricultural laborer or a farmer with limited land-ownership, especially one living in the Middle Ages under feudalism and paying rent, tax, fees, or services to a landlord. In Europe, three classes of peasant ...

's local

self-rule __NOTOC__ Self-governance, self-government, or self-rule is the ability of a person or group to exercise all necessary functions of regulation without intervention from an external authority. It may refer to personal conduct or to any form of ...

. A number of mirs are united into a volost, which has an assembly consisting of elected delegates from the mirs. These elect an elder ('' starshina'') and, hitherto, a court of justice (''volostnoy sud''). The

self-government __NOTOC__ Self-governance, self-government, or self-rule is the ability of a person or group to exercise all necessary functions of regulation without intervention from an external authority. It may refer to personal conduct or to any form of ...

of the mirs and volosts was, however, tempered by the authority of the police commissaries ('' stanovoi'') and by the power of general oversight given to the nominated "district committees for the affairs of the peasants". Volosts were abolished by the

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...

administrative reform of 1923–1929.

Raion A raion (also spelt rayon) is a type of administrative unit of several post-Soviet states. The term is used for both a type of subnational entity and a division of a city. The word is from the French (meaning 'honeycomb, department'), and is co ...

s may be roughly called a modern equivalent of both volosts and uezds.

Administration

Volosts were governed by volost administration (, ''volostnoye pravleniye''), which consisted of the electable chief of volost (''volostnoy starshina''), chiefs of villages (village '' starostas'') and other officials electable by the Volost Assembly (волостной сход, ''volostnoy skhod'').'' Large Encyclopedic Dictionary,'' vol. 1, Moscow, 1991 Volost Court was the

court A court is any person or institution, often as a government institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in acco ...

electable by the Volost Assembly, which could handle smaller civil and criminal cases. It could sentence people to corporal punishment,

fine Fine may refer to: Characters * Sylvia Fine (''The Nanny''), Fran's mother on ''The Nanny'' * Officer Fine, a character in ''Tales from the Crypt'', played by Vincent Spano Legal terms * Fine (penalty), money to be paid as punishment for an offe ...

or short-term incarceration.

Russian Federation

In modern Russia, the term has a different meaning. The subdivision into volosts is used in the Republic of Karelia, where volosts have the same status as

raion A raion (also spelt rayon) is a type of administrative unit of several post-Soviet states. The term is used for both a type of subnational entity and a division of a city. The word is from the French (meaning 'honeycomb, department'), and is co ...

s, and in

Leningrad Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

, Pskov, Samara, and

Tula Oblast Tula Oblast (russian: Ту́льская о́бласть, ''Tulskaya oblast'') is a federal subject (an oblast) of Russia. It is geographically in the European Russia region of the country and is part of the Central Federal District, covering ...

s, where volosts are considered subdivisions of raions and have the same status as

selsovet Selsoviet ( be, сельсавет, r=sieĺsaviet, tr. ''sieĺsaviet''; rus, сельсовет, p=ˈsʲelʲsɐˈvʲɛt, r=selsovet; uk, сільрада, silrada) is a shortened name for a rural council and for the area governed by such a cou ...

s in other Russian federal subjects.

Notes

{{Authority control Types of administrative division Former subdivisions of Belarus Local government in the Russian Empire Russian-language designations of territorial entities

Administration

Russian Federation

See also

Notes