The Commission for Revision of Actions of the Bessarabian Assembly of Nobility

Establishment of the Commission for Revision of Actions of the Bessarabian Assembly of Nobility (under the Governing Senate Decree of November 29, 1834 for the provinces where there were noble societies) was the most important event in the formation of the Bessarabian nobility in the first half of the 19th century. The Commission was established in order “to avoid in the future the disturbances admitted by some Assemblies of the Nobility due to misinterpretation of the Charter to the Gentry”. It formally existed for 5 years (the Governing Senate Decree abolishing the Commission was released June 26, 1842), having considered the cases on the nobles for 1824-1829. According to the Senate Decree of May 15, 1835, the chairman of the Commission there was appointed C.I. Botezat, a famous person in Bessarabia, who was for many years a judge of the Conscience Court (Sovestnyi sud). The revision of actions of the Bessarabian Assembly of Nobility showed that most of the families of the local elite were incorrectly recognized nobles because of “wrong” interpretation of regulations and due to “inaccurate compliance with Moldavian privileges explained in the Statute of Formation of the Bessarabian Oblast, due to their misinterpretation or omissions through the accepting as proof of noble origin of such documents, which by reason of their sheer dubiousness should not be taken as proof”. Of 162 cases examined, only 37 were approved by the Commission.