Legal regulation of congresses of representatives of medium and small businesses in the Russian Empire in the early twentieth century

The article considers the Regulation on the congresses of workers in medium and small industry and trade in 1913 as the main normative act regulating the formation and activities of a public organization of entrepreneurs. The object of this research is the legal relations related to the process of formation, organization and functioning of the congress of small and medium-sized trade and industry figures, as well as local departments of the congress. The subject matter is the Regulation prepared by the Ministry of Trade and Industry, approved by the Council of Ministers of Russia and approved by Emperor Nicholas II on June 5, 1913. The authors consider in detail such aspects of the topic as the composition and typology of congresses, their goals and objectives. Special attention is paid to the composition and responsibilities of the congress council. The ways of financing congresses and the process of forming their training program are considered. To achieve the purpose of the work, the authors used dialectical, historical-genetic, systemic and comparative legal methods combined with the principles of objectivity and historicism. The main conclusion of the study is the recognition of the high level of legal regulation of the formation and activity of congresses of figures of medium and small industry and trade as a public organization representing the interests of small and medium-sized businesses. It had all the signs of a legal entity and, together with its local departments, could actively resolve conflicts between employees and employers, create credit and consumer societies, educational institutions, and publish books, magazines, and newspapers. A special contribution of the authors to the research of the topic is the consideration of the Regulations of 1913 as the fundamental normative act regulating the activities of congresses of small and medium-sized entrepreneurs. The scientific novelty of the research lies both in the very formulation of the task of the work (a legal analysis of the 1913 Regulations, which had not been conducted before) and in the conclusions reached, including the possibility of using this experience in the rulemaking of modern Russia.

civil society, Emperor Nicholas II, small business, Trade and Industry, public organization, Regulations on congresses, The Russian Empire, The Council of Ministers, medium-sized entrepreneurs, Congress of Figures