LAST MAGISTRATE OF NAKHICHEVAN-ON-DON (1865-1870)
By the middle of the XIX century the potential of semi-autonomous self-government system of Nakhichevan-on-Don with villages, based on the letter of Catherine II, granted in 1779 during the resettlement of Armenians from the Crimea to the Lower Don, was practically exhausted. The magistrate, the mayor and other bodies of public self-government were elected for three years in full accordance with Russian legislation. A consistent attack on the rights and privileges of the Armenian city government, as well as the preparation and implementation of a number of bourgeois-democratic reforms on a national scale, were superimposed on the internal crisis of the Nakhichevan self-government system. By the middle of the XIX century, the service in elective positions in Nakhichevan-on-Don (as in other Russian cities) was perceived not as an honorable duty, but as an onerous duty, which they tried to avoid by all legal means. In this regard, the composition of the magistrate and other self-government bodies constantly needed renewal and replenishment through new elections and the replacement of posts by candidates. The last magistrate of Nakhichevan-on-Don, elected in 1865 (for a three-year period from 1866 to 1868), in connection with the all-Russian reforms, lost police, judicial and other functions. Elections to the new magistrate for the next three years, starting in 1869, in connection with the general decision to abolish magistrates in Russia, were not held. A small part of the powers of the Nakhichevan magistrate was retained by its economic part. In such a truncated form, the last magistrate existed longer than the statutory period. In November 1870, the economic part of the magistrate was subordinated to the mayor with four assistants attached to him. The president of the magistrate and his assessors tried to fulfill their functions further. The Nakhichevan magistrate was finally abolished on July 1, 1871. Thus, Nakhichevan-on-Don, having lost the status of a colony with the granted autonomy, turned into an ordinary Russian city.