Judicial and police activities of the zemstvo chiefs of the Penza province in the late 19th – early 20th centuries

Background. The article analyzes the activities of zemstvo chiefs in the context of the exercise of judicial, police and administrative powers by these officials in Penza province. The purpose of the research is to study the composition and timing of considera-tion of cases by zemstvo chiefs on the basis of a wide range of previously unpublished sources in dynamics; to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the activities of zemstvo chiefs of Penza province within the framework of their judicial and police duties. Materials and methods. The study was conducted on the basis of materials from the State Archive of the Penza Region (GAPO): fund No. 5 of the Governor’s Office, fund No. 413 of the Cleri-cal Work of the zemsky chief of the 5th district of the Kuznetsky District of the Penza province; the Russian State Historical Archive (RGIA): data from audits of clerical work of zemsky chiefs and volost institutions of the Penza province for 1900–1903; periodical ma-terials, as well as memoirs of contemporaries, in particular, A.I. Novikov, A.A. Titov. The research methodology is based on the historical and comparative method, which allowed us to get a more complete picture of the stated problems of the period of the late 19th – early 20th century; statistical method and method of generalization, through which it was possible to trace quantitative parameters and identify general trends in the activities of the zemstvo chiefs of Penza province in the field of the implementation of judicial and police duties; the method of content analysis in areas of analysis of periodicals and opinions of contemporar-ies to understand the attitude of the common man in the street to this state institution. Re-sults. The main tasks have been solved – an analysis of the performance of judicial and administrative duties by zemstvo chiefs, taking into account the practice of record keep-ing, has been carried out; the procedural procedure for considering cases by zemstvo chiefs has been studied; the directions of police activity by zemstvo chiefs have been identified and considered. Conclusions. From the analysis of the above materials, it follows that when exercising judicial and police powers, the zemstvo chiefs faced a huge volume of cases. Their competence included almost all peasant cases, which led to long periods of considera-tion – often more than six months. In addition, the zemstvo chiefs spent a significant part of their time on police activities, which they carried out both independently and through volost and rural authorities.