text: Novgorod Republic The Novgorod veche was the highest legislative and judicial authority in the city until 1478, after Novgorod was formally annexed by Ivan III. Each of the kontsy (boroughs or "ends") of Novgorod also had their own veche to elect borough officials. The veche for the city selected the prince, posadnik and archbishop.
  Historians debate whether the Novgorod veche consisted of entirely free males or was instead dominated by a small group of nobles known as boyars. Traditional scholarship argues that a series of reforms in 1410 transformed the veche into something similar to the public assembly (Concio) of the Republic of Venice; it became the lower chamber of the parliament. An upper chamber knowns as the Council of Lords (sovet gospod) was also created which oversaw the veche, with title membership for all former city magistrates (posadniki and tysyatskiye). Some sources indicate that veche membership may have become full-time, and parliament deputies were now called vechniki. Some recent scholars call this interpretation into question.
  The Novgorod veche could be presumably summoned by anyone who rang the veche bell, although it is more likely that the common procedure was more complex. The whole population of the city, including boyars, merchants, and common citizens, then gathered in front of the Cathedral of Saint Sophia or at Yaroslav's Court on the Trade Side.
  Of all other towns of Novgorod Land, the chronicles only mention a veche in Torzhok; however they possibly existed in all other towns as well.