CATHERINE II AND CITY GOVERNMENT IN THE OSTSEE REGION IN THE EARLY 1760s

The article examines the attitude of Empress Catherine II to the state of city self-government in the Baltic (Ostsee) Governorates in the early 1760s. The institutional feature of the Baltic region was the privileged position of the cities. The city council (Rat) had broad rights and exercised its sovereignty in resolving various issues of city life. The article shows that the Russian authorities were particularly concerned about the broad powers of the magistrate in regulating the city’s commercial life. One of the factors in the reduction of trade turnover in the Riga port were the various duties introduced by the magistrate. On the other hand, the magistrate extremely limited the settlement of Russian merchants and foreign traders in the city. The existing forms of trade in the Baltic lands began to increasingly contradict the economic interests of the Empire: the establishment of registration of local Russian merchants in cities, the introduction of a ban on them to buy goods from peasants outside city markets, as well as trade goods that were within the area of privileges of local German merchants. In Riga, there were trade rules that prohibited guest-to-guest bargaining, which hindered the free conclusion of trade deals. The Riga magistrate did not allow them to sell goods directly to foreign merchants, but forced them to give these goods to local German merchants. Using their monopoly rights in trade, they set low prices for them. The peasants also experienced similar coercion from the Great Guild. The article analyzes a number of decisions of Catherine II related to the complex of rights of urban estates to trade and fiscal independence. The result of the work of the Commission on Commerce in Riga was the Charter on Riga Commerce of December 7, 1765, which brought the functions of the magistrates in line with the interests of the Empire. The charter limited the hereditary rights of the urban estates to independently regulate trade circulation, establish taxes and fees. Weights were streamlined and various deductions of the magistrate on weight income were abolished. The magistrate was ordered to henceforth “not interfere” in customs matters and state tax revenues.