Legal regulation of the estate status of city Cossacks in the 1822 Charter on Siberian City Cossacks (To the 250th anniversary of the birth of Mikhail Speransky)

The year 2022 celebrates the 250th anniversary of the birth of Mikhail Speransky, an outstanding Russian reformer and statesman, the author of the Statute on Siberian Provincial Administration, the creator of the Collection and Code of Laws of the Russian Empire. The aim of the article is to consider, on the basis of archival sources and pre-revolutionary legislation, the legal regulation of the estate status of city Cossacks in the 1822 Charter on Siberian City Cossacks, which became part of the Statute on Siberian Provincial Administration and was prepared by Speransky. The increased interest in the history of the Cossacks is connected not only with the desire of researchers to look deeper into the past and revive forgotten traditions, but also with urgent practical needs. Today you can hear about the proposals of organizing special Cossack formations, as part of the Rosgvardiya of Russia, that would carry out police and military service in their places of residence. Returning to the lost traditions, it is necessary to take into account the historical experience gained in the past. Taking into account modern realities, it is necessary to look at already known facts in order to overcome old myths and misconceptions and prevent the birth of new ones. The relevance of the chosen topic is also explained by its insufficient study in modern historical and legal science. The theoretical basis of the work is historicism, objectivity and alternativeness, which provide a critical attitude to the source under study and enable an unbiased approach to the analysis of the problem. The author comes to the conclusion that the legal regulation and the attempt to reanimate Siberian city Cossacks in the 1822 Charter on Siberian City Cossacks, at least to some extent, improved the situation of the Cossacks, and also reduced the state budget expenditures on the police apparatus in Siberia, but, in general, was not crowned with success. City Cossacks, who performed the main local police service in Siberia until 1867, ceased to be used to protect public safety and law and order, and their units were liquidated. By the 1870s, there was not a single city Cossack regiment left in Siberia, city Cossacks as a class ceased to exist. City Cossacks were transferred to the estate of state peasants with the right to transfer to the Siberian and Trans-Baikal Cossack troops, and their settlements - stanitsas - were renamed villages.

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