The first peace arbitrators activities in the peasant reform of 1861 (based on the memories of peace arbitrators)

The study reviewed the institution of peace arbitrators created as a result of the 1861 peasant reform. Based on numerous sources such as memoirs, diaries, and notes of the first peace arbitrators (1861-1864), the paper analyzed the common features and arrangements of the officials who had to implement the emancipation reform at the local level. Besides, the author elaborated on the process of drawing up the charters by peace arbitrators which were the most important documents while carrying out the peasant reform. Peace arbitrators witnessed and took part in the abolition of serfdom in Russia. It emphasized the importance of studied memoirs, which contained the details of the pivotal reform in the mid-to-late 19th century and the evaluation of its results by the contemporaries of different social classes.