TRANSFORMATION OF THE LEGAL STATUS OF OLD BELIEVERS AND SECTARIES OF RUSSIA IN THE SECOND HALF OF THE 19 <sup>th</sup> -BEGINNING OF THE 20 <sup>th</sup> CENTURIES (on example of Tersk area)
The article is dedicated to studying of the questions of changing legal status of old believers and sectaries in the second half of the 19 <sup>th</sup> -beginning of the 20 <sup>th</sup> centuries, insufficiently investigated in historiography. Analysis of legislative, adopted by the government of Nicolay the Second shows, that due to adopted laws the religions activity of sectaries in the 20 <sup>th</sup> century was legalized. It was very important in solving the question about activity of confessions in the country.