Federal law “On Fundamentals of Public Service in the Russian Federation” adopted

On July 31 1995 was adopted the Federal law “On Fundamentals of Public Service in the Russian Federation”. It was for the first time that the law defined the public service as a professional activity on execution of powers of state bodies, and also specified categories of public positions, principles of public service, list of qualifications for public servants, fundamentals of their legal status, key duties of public servants and restrictions, related to the public service. The law was based on expertise of pre-revolutionary Russia and USSR, as well as experience of public administration in foreign countries.

In ancient times different types of public service to a greater or lesser extent applied to all social groups. During the formation of a centralized state in 15th – 17th cc. public service turned into a specific sphere of professional activity with a system of prikazy becoming superior executive bodies of the state power.

In 18th c. principles of organization of public service were dramatically changed in accordance with the Table of Ranks of 1722, which resulted into the movement from a position to a rank as a stable social characteristic of a public servant. For the first time the Table on Ranks developed in Russia a single public service with an introduction of military, civil and court ranks. The brand new in relations between the government and officials was an introduction of regular money allowance to public servants of all the categories in the middle ’60s of 18th c.

During the reign of the Emperor Nicholas I public service was divided into the military service and civil service. An important step in organization of public service was codification of legislation and preparation of the Code of Laws on Civil Service. In 19th c. among the key requirements for taking a position of an official were origin, age, education, and nationality.

After revolutionary events of 1917 were adopted decrees “On abolishment of estates and civil ranks” and “On equalization of rights of all servicemen”. As a result the pre-revolutionary legislation regarding public service was abolished. In Soviet time public servants fell into the category of an administrative and managerial staff.

The Federative Act of 1992 and the Constitution of Russia of 1993 stipulated adoption at the federal level fundamentals of legislation on public service and the law on federal public service. The Federal law “On Fundamentals of Public Service in the Russian Federation” adopted in 1995 stipulated creation of levels of public service — federal public service and civil service of subjects of the federation, as well as division of federal public service into categories of civil service, military service and service in law enforcement agencies.

Lit.: Архипова Т. Г., Румянцева М. Ф., Сенин А. С. История государственной службы в России X–XVIII вв. М., 2001; Ежов М. В., Ежова Г. В. История управления и государственной службы России. М., 2004; Зеленов М. В. История государственной службы в России до 1917 г. : Программа, литература и планы семинарских занятий для аспирантов [Электронный ресурс] // Открытый текст. 2004-2017. URL: http://opentextnn.ru/old/history/rushist/dorevigu/index.html@id=2557; Козельчук Т. В. Представители духовного сословия на государственной службе: По материалам Тобольской губернии во второй половине XIX — начале XX вв. // Чиновникъ. 2005. № 3 (35); Кириллов А. В., Питулько Г. Н., Стецкевич Е. С. История государственного управления в России. СПб., 2009; Об основах государственной службы Российской Федерации : Федеральный закон от 31 июля 1995 г. № 119-ФЗ // Российская газета. 1995. 31 июля.

Based on the Presidential Library’s materials:

Нелидов Н. К. Юридические и политические основания государственной службы. Ярославль, 1874.