PROBLEM OF RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE RUSSIAN NOBILITY IN THE LEGISLATIVE (ULOZHENNAYA) COMMISSION AT THE TURN OF THE 1750s AND THE 1760s: THE HISTORY OF THE MANIFESTO ON THE FREEDOM OF NOBILITY
The paper deals with the discussion of the rights and responsibilities of the nobility by the Russian ruling elite in the 1750s and the early 1760s. The author studied the materials of the Legislative Commission on organization of new education system for the nobility; it is demonstrated that during the reign of Elizabeth I the government had no intentions of abolishing mandatory service of the nobility; moreover a system of compulsory education for the nobility was to be introduced. At the same time the reform also offered additional service privileges for the nobility. Thus the provision of the Manifesto on the Freedom of Nobility of 1762 abolishing the mandatory service of the nobility was not a direct result of the work of the Legislative Commission. However both the Commission and the Manifesto shared an understanding of the concept of “nobility” as the category structuring the battlefi eld (and cooperation ground) for the social hierarchy, and the issue of the government service was one of the components of this contention/cooperation.