In all Russia, that is to say in the immense territory which extends to beyond the Dnieper and contains a population of fromthirty to thirty-five millions; the land, which does not belong to the Crown or to the lords, is the collective, undividedproperty of the commune. The law of February 19, 1861, defines collective property in the following terms. "Enjoyment incommon ( obshtshinnve polzovanie ) is the mode of enjoyment regulated by custom, by virtue of which the soil is divided orallotted from time to time among the peasants, either by head, by tiaglo , or otherwise, joint responsibility being imposedupon all for the fulfilment of the obligations attached to the occupancy."The commune is the constitutional atom of the Russian nation. It forms a civil person, a juridical corporation, endowed witha vitality very powerful and active, even very despotic. It alone is proprietor of the soil, of which individual members havebut the usufruct or temporary enjoyment. It is jointly responsible to the lord for his rent, and to the state for taxes andrecruits, in proportion to its population. It governs itself far more independently than the commune of France or Germany.
For all purposes of administration it enjoys as complete a self-government as the American township. The ukase of February19, 1861, has conferred on it a real, and it is said even an excessive, autonomy.
The heads of families, assembled in council under the presidency of the starosta or mayor, whom they have elected, discussand regulate all the affairs of the commune, just as the vestrymen do in England, or the landesgemeinde in the primitivecantons of Switzerland. The starosta is the chief of police; he also has jurisdiction over lesser offences. He can pronouncesentence to the amount of one rouble fine and two days' hard labour.
The union of several villages forms the volost , a sort of large commune or district, resembling the township of the UnitedStates, or the concelho of Portugal. The volost has from three hundred to two thousand inhabitants. The administrative chiefof the volost is the starshina , who is assisted by a council, composed of the starostas of the villages in his district. In concertwith them, he regulates all that relates to taxes, recruits, roads or the corvée . For important affairs, he summons the greatcouncil of delegates from the villages, each of whom is named by a group of ten families. This council elects from four to tenjudges or jurymen, who meet in succession, three at a time, to hear civil cases up to the amount of one hundred roubles, andto punish misdemeanours.
The aggregation of inhabitants of a village possessing in common the land attached to it, is called the mir . (2) This word,which appears to belong to all Slavonic dialects, and is found in Tzectic and Silesian documents of the thirteenth century,answers to the idea rendered in the names commune, gemeinde , communitas ; but, in its primitive sense, it denotes somethingvenerable and holy, for it also signifies the universe, like the Greek word kosmos . The Baron de Haxthausen quotes a greatnumber of Russian proverbs, shewing the profound respect which the mir inspired in the people: "God alone is judge of the mir ; -- All that the mir has decided, ought to be done; -- A breath of the mir shivers the rock; -- The mir is the bulwark ofthe country." It is, in fact, the primordial institution of the nation, "The original phenomenon" of the genius of the Slavnations, as the "old Russians" say.
Each male inhabitant of full age is entitled to an equal share of the land of which the mir is proprietor. In primitive times,there was no partition of the soil. The land was cultivated in common, and the produce divided among all, in proportion tothe number of labourers in each family. At the present time, in the midst of the forest districts, among the Roskolniks, somecommunes, bearing the name of skit, are found, where this system is still in force. It is also said to be met with in certainisolated districts of Bosnia; but the fact is disputed. At a later period, a partition of the soil was effected every year, or everythree years, after each triennial rotation; and in some parts this ancient custom is still maintained. The period of partitionvaries at the present day in the different districts. In certain localities partition takes place every six years; in others, everytwelve or fifteen years: every nine years is the most usual period. At every public census, a new division is regarded asobligatory. These general re-divisions have not been made at regular intervals. Since 1719, there have been ten of them, thelast of which occurred in 1857.
The peasants, though faithful to the principle of community, do not readily assent to this operation of partition, because theparcels which they have occupied return to the common mass, and the new allotment frequently assigns others to them.
According to the report of M. de Haxthausen, they call the general re-division "the black partition," tschernoi peredell . Inmany communes, the hay meadows are divided afresh every year.
Everything that concerns the period and manner of partition, the regulation of the number of couples who are entitled to ashare, the disposition of lots falling vacant, and the granting of land to new households, is decided by the peasantsthemselves, assembled under the presidency of the starosta . At this assembly, at least half their number must be present.
Two-thirds of their votes are necessary to pronounce the dissolution of the community, and to divide the soil intopermanent, individual property. to effect a new partition and to expel or hand over to the government "vicious andincorrigible" persons.
