Volost (; ; ) was a traditional administrative subdivision in

Kievan Rus' Kievan Rus', also known as Kyivan Rus,. * was the first East Slavs, East Slavic state and later an amalgam of principalities in Eastern Europe from the late 9th to the mid-13th century.John Channon & Robert Hudson, ''Penguin Historical At ...

, the

Grand Duchy of Moscow The Grand Principality of Moscow, or Muscovy, known as the Principality of Moscow until 1389, was a late medieval Russian monarchy. Its capital was the city of Moscow. Originally established as a minor principality in the 13th century, the gra ...

, and the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

History

The '' Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary'' (1890–1907) states that the origins of the concept is unclear; whether it originally referred to an administrative subdivision or to a peasant '' obshchina'', the term referring to a territory under a single rule. In earlier East Slavic history, in the lands of Ruthenia, '' volost'' was a name for the territory ruled by the

knyaz A , also , ''knjaz'' or (), is a historical Slavs, Slavic title, used both as a royal and noble title in different times. It is usually translated into English language, English as 'prince', 'king' or 'duke', depending on specific historical c ...

, a principality; either as an absolute ruler or with varying degree of autonomy from the ''Velikiy Knyaz'' ( Grand Prince). Starting from the end of the 14th century, ''volost'' was a unit of administrative division in

Grand Duchy of Lithuania The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a sovereign state in northeastern Europe that existed from the 13th century, succeeding the Kingdom of Lithuania, to the late 18th century, when the territory was suppressed during the 1795 Partitions of Poland, ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

, Muscovy, lands of modern Latvia and Ukraine. Since about the 16th century it was a part of provincial

district A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...

s that were called " uezd" in Muscovy and the later

. Each uezd had several volosts that were subordinated to the uezd city. After the abolition of Russian serfdom in 1861, ''volost'' became a unit of

peasant A peasant is a pre-industrial agricultural laborer or a farmer with limited land-ownership, especially one living in the Middle Ages under feudalism and paying rent, tax, fees, or services to a landlord. In Europe, three classes of peasan ...

's local self-rule. A number of mirs are united into a volost, which has an assembly consisting of elected delegates from the mirs. These elect an elder ('' starshina'') and, hitherto, a court of justice (''volostnoy sud''). The

self-government Self-governance, self-government, self-sovereignty or self-rule is the ability of a person or group to exercise all necessary functions of regulation without intervention from an external authority. It may refer to personal conduct or to any ...

of the mirs and volosts was, however, tempered by the authority of the police commissaries ('' stanovoi'') and by the power of general oversight given to the nominated "district committees for the affairs of the peasants". Volosts were abolished by the

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

administrative reform of 1923–1929.

Raion A raion (also spelt rayon) is a type of administrative unit of several post-Soviet states. The term is used for both a type of subnational entity and a division of a city. The word is from the French (meaning 'honeycomb, department'), and is c ...

s may be roughly called a modern equivalent of both volosts and uezds.

Administration

Volosts were governed by volost administration (, ''volostnoye pravleniye''), which consisted of the electable chief of volost (''volostnoy starshina''), chiefs of villages (village '' starostas'') and other officials electable by the Volost Assembly (волостной сход, ''volostnoy skhod'').'' Large Encyclopedic Dictionary,'' vol. 1, Moscow, 1991 Volost Court was the

court A court is an institution, often a government entity, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between Party (law), parties and Administration of justice, administer justice in Civil law (common law), civil, Criminal law, criminal, an ...

electable by the Volost Assembly, which could handle smaller civil and criminal cases. It could sentence people to

corporal punishment A corporal punishment or a physical punishment is a punishment which is intended to cause physical pain to a person. When it is inflicted on Minor (law), minors, especially in home and school settings, its methods may include spanking or Padd ...

, fine or short-term incarceration.

Russian Federation

In modern Russia, Veps National Volost existed in the Republic of Karelia during 1996-2004. There were also volosts in Olonets Raion of Karelia during 1993-2004, e.g., Nurmolsky ''

selsoviet A selsoviet (; , ; ) is the shortened name for Selsky soviet, i.e., rural council (; ; ). It has three closely related meanings: *The administration (''soviet (council), soviet'') of a certain rural area. *The territorial subdivision administered ...

'' based on was renamed into Nurmolskaya volost in 1992. There were also :ru:Коткозерская волость, :ru:Видлицкая волость.

Notes

{{Authority control Types of administrative division Former subdivisions of Belarus Local government in the Russian Empire Russian-language designations of territorial entities