Regulation of the practice of submitting collective addresses of the nobility in the power discourse of the 1860s

The article is devoted to the current topic of relations between the authorities and the elite, namely, an analysis of the process of elaborating by the government of the Russian Empire of ways to respond to the increased petition activity of the nobility after the abolition of serfdom. M.A. Korf, who headed the Second Department of His Imperial Majesty’s own chancellery, took part in this activity, as evidenced by his note and its subsequent discussion with government representatives. The novelty of the article is represented by the author's conclusion that the ban on the submission of collective petitions of the nobility about abuses and problems in local and central administration was gradually formalized in government offices several years before its adoption and became an instrument of flexible policy of the authorities in relation to the upper class during the reform period.