refully defined. Such a document was never
heard of in Russian Village Communes, except those belonging to the
Imperial Domains, and the special legislation which formerly regulated
their affairs was repealed at the time of the Emancipation. At the
present day the Constitution of all the Village Communes is of the
English type--a body of unwritten, traditional conceptions, which have
grown up and modified themselves under the influence of ever-changing
practical necessity. No doubt certain definitions of the functions and
mutual relations of the Communal authorities might be extracted from
the Emancipation Law and subsequent official documents, but as a rule
neither the Village Elder nor the members of the Village Assembly
ever heard of such definitions; and yet every peasant knows, as if
by instinct, what each of these authorities can do and cannot do. The
Commune is, in fact, a living institution, whose spontaneous vitality
enables it to dispense with the assistance and guidance of the written
law, and its constitution is thoroughly democratic. The Elder represents
merely the executive power. The real authority resides in the Assembly,
of which all Heads of Households are members.*

* An attempt was made by Alexander III. in 1884 to bring the
rural Communes under supervision and control by the
appointment of rural officials called Zemskiye Natchalniki.
Of this so-called reform I shall have occasion to speak
later.

The simple procedure, or rather the absence of all formal procedure,
at the Assemblies, illustrates admirably the essentially practical
character of the institution. The meetings are held in the open air,
because in the village there is no building--except the church, which
can be used only for religious purposes--large enough to contain all the
members; and they almost always take place on Sundays or holidays,
when the peasants have plenty of leisure. Any open space may serve as
a Forum. The discussions are occasionally very animated, but there is
rarely any attempt at speech-making. If any young member should show
an inclination to indulge in oratory, he is sure to be unceremoniously
interrupted by some of the older members, who have never any sympathy
with fine talking. The assemblage has the appearance of a crowd of
people who have accidentally come together and are discussing in little
groups subjects of local interest. Gradually some one group, containing
two or three peasan