The first department of the state council of the Russian empire in 1906-1917
The article highlights the structure, powers and responsibilities of the reformed First Department as an administrative body of the State Council of the Russian Federation from 1906 to 1917. The relevancy of the study is reiterated by the fact that in historiography there is a tendency to consider the Russian parliament at the beginning of the 20 <sup>th</sup> century only in the context of the lower chamber of representation of the people - the State Duma, and several studies of the State Council in general. For the first time our article focuses on the activities of the First Department of the State Council, its competence, influence on the operations of the Council and the key political affairs. By the example of the cases regarding official responsibility of the higher officials and deputies the article demonstrates the procedure for consideration of cases by the Department and the further proceedings. The peculiarities of staffing of the First Department are also described. The combination of the aforesaid circumstances determines scientific relevancy of the study of a specific aspect of functioning of non-parliamentary institutions making part of the State Council of the Russian Empire from 1906 to 1917.