Active State Councillor
{{Short description|Civil position (class) in the Russian Empire}}
File:Dejstvitelnyj statskij sovetnik.jpg
Active State Councillor ({{langx|ru|действительный статский советник}}, deystvitelnyi statskiy sovetnik) was a civil position (class) in the Russian Empire, according to the Table of Ranks introduced by Peter the Great in 1722. That was a civil rank of the 4th class and equal to those of Major-General in the Army, Rear Admiral in the Navy, and the court rank of Chamberlain (up to 1809). The rank gave the right of hereditary nobility.{{cite web|last1=Segrillo|first1=Angelo|title=A First Complete Translation into English of Peter the Great’s Original Table of Ranks: Observations on the Occurrence of a Black Hole in the Translation of Russian Historical Documents|url=http://lea.vitis.uspnet.usp.br/arquivos/arttableofrankslea.pdf|publisher=lea.vitis.uspnet.usp.br|date=November 2016}}{{cite web|title=Table of Ranks|url=http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/russia/nobles-table-of-ranks.htm|website=Global Security|publisher=globalsecurity.org|accessdate=27 December 2016}}{{cite web|title=Peter the Great's Table of Ranks|url=http://faculty.virginia.edu/herman/tolstoy/tableofranks.htm|website=The University of Virginia|publisher=faculty.virginia.edu|accessdate=27 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181118193343/http://faculty.virginia.edu/herman/tolstoy/tableofranks.htm|archive-date=18 November 2018|url-status=dead}} The rank holder should be addressed as Your Excellency ({{langx|ru|Ваше Превосходительство}}, Vashe Prevoskhoditelstvo).{{cite web|title=Табель о рангах, Действителен в период с конца XIX века по 1917 год|url=http://www.akunin.ru/istoria/tabel/|website=Boris Akunin|publisher=akunin.ru|accessdate=27 December 2016|language=Russian}}
Overview
Those who had the rank served as directors of department, governors, mayors. From the middle of the 19th century, the rank of Active state councilor was included in the top of the four groups of civil officials. The group (from 1st to 5th grade) represented the high state bureaucracy, which determined the policy of the Russian Empire. The rankholders of this group had the highest salaries. In 1903, there were 3113 Active state councillors in Russia.
Initially, to qualify for the rank of Active state councilor, a candidate had to spend at least 10 years in the lower rank. Eventually, the requirement was canceled, and the rank was awarded solely by the Emperor's permission.
The rank was abolished in 1917 by the Soviet decree on estates and civil ranks.
See also
- Supreme Privy Council of Imperial Russia, founded on 19 February 1726
- Erast Fandorin
References
{{Reflist}}
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| width="30%" align="center"|Junior rank State Councillor |width="40%" align="center"|Table of Ranks |width="30%" align="center"|Senior rank |