20 THE ZEMSTVOS DURING THE WAR 
district zemstvo assemblies, the largest number of seats was held by 
the deputies of the first curia, it was only natural that the dominant 
influence in the institutions of the zemstvos should be in the hands 
of the local nobles. 
The budgets of the zemstvos were built largely on the principle 
of self-assessment. The chief source of zemstvo revenues was fur- 
nished by taxation of real estate (mainly land and forests). The 
rates of this taxation were not fixed by law, but were prescribed 
afresh by the zemstvo assemblies every year, in accordance with the 
expenditure contemplated. Compared with this basic source of reve- 
nue, others, derived from a special addition to the government taxes 
on commerce and industry, from real estate and capital owned by 
the zemstvos, and from other such sources, were only negligible 
quantities in most of the zemstvos. Consequently, every increase of 
the zemstvo budget resulted in an automatic increase of taxes on the 
land. 
Within the limits of the jurisdiction granted them by law the 
zemstvos were absolutely independent. All that the representatives 
of the central government—the provincial governors—were sup- 
posed to do was to watch that the decisions adopted by the zemstvo 
assemblies should not violate any law. If they found them to be con- 
trary to law, the governors could prevent the execution of such deci- 
sions. The disputes that arose in this connection were settled by the 
Senate (the supreme court of the Empire), whose verdict was final. 
Such, in broad outline, was the organization of the zemstvo under 
the law of 1864. “Questions concerning the essence and jurisdiction 
of the zemstvo institutions, of the composition of the zemstvo mem- 
bership, and of relations between zemstvo and the organs of the 
Crown,” says Professor Kisevetter,® “were ultimately settled in a 
spirit of compromise between the new principles and the legacies of 
a past that had obviously lost all reason to exist after the Emancipa- 
tion Act of February 19, 1861.” 
Nature of the Work of the Zemstoos. 
The newly established zemstvo institutions attracted keen public 
attention and interest from the outset. The most progressive and 
educated members of the landlord class took a very prominent part 
¢ Kisevetter, op. cit.