Department of Institutions of Empress Maria and Preparation of Fundamental State Laws on April 23, 1906

Abstract

The article examines the reform of the state system of the Russian Empire in 1905—1906, which culminated in the publication of the Fundamental State Laws on April 23, 1906, which summed up the previous reforms and became the first domestic constitution. It is noted that at the final stage of the preparation of the Fundamental Laws, there was a problem of integrating the Guardianship Council of the Empress Maria’s Institutions into the new political reality. It is emphasized that legislative measures related to this institution were passed through the Guardianship Council, while according to the new Fundamental Laws, all legislative measures were supposed to go through the State Duma and the State Council. For the first time in scientific historiography, based on previously unknown archival materials, the article examines how representatives of the highest imperial bureaucracy, directly involved in preparing the draft Fundamental Laws, solved this problem. Bureaucratic practices and strategies are analyzed. The author concludes that these representatives acted as defenders of the principles of separation of powers and unity of the legislative path, opposing the inclusion of the Guardianship Council’s legislative nature in the Fundamental Laws. It is shown that a similar position was taken by Nicholas II, which predetermined the exclusion of an article about the Guardianship Council from the final version of the Fundamental Laws.