Sergei Muromtsev | |
|---|---|
Сергей Муромцев | |
 Muromtsev before 1906 | |
| 1stChairman of the State Duma | |
| In office 27 April 1906 – 8 July 1906 | |
| Monarch | Nicholas II |
| Succeeded by | Fyodor Golovin |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Sergei Andreevich Muromtsev (1850-10-05)5 October 1850 |
| Died | 17 October 1910(1910-10-17) (aged 60) |
| Party | Constitutional Democratic Party |
| Spouse | Mariya Klimentova–Muromtseva |
| Children | Olga |
Sergei Andreevich Muromtsev (Russian:Серге́й Андре́евич Му́ромцев; 5 October [O.S. 23 September] 1850 – 4 October 1910) was a Russian lawyer and politician, and chairman of the FirstImperial Duma in 1906.
Muromtsev was a Russian nobleman fromTula and a Professor ofRoman Law atMoscow University. In 1893, he and his wife Marya built theMuromtsev Dacha in Moscow. In the late 19th century, he was among the creators of the Constitutional Democratic Party, better known as the KD orCadet party, of which he was chairman for several years. In April 1906, he was elected as a representative for Moscow in theFirst Duma, of which he was then elected chairman (or president) on 10 May. He tried to maintain some degree of order and dignity in this difficult assembly, which is often known as the "Duma of the Public Anger".
He was much praised for the way he chaired the debates, always keeping to the strictest legality but always pursuing a constitutional and anti-autocratic agenda. Despite his efforts, the Duma was dissolved on 21 July 1906, by Imperial ukase oftsarNicholas II. Muromtsev wanted the elected Duma to continue its work and proposed that it should retreat toFinland. For signing this appeal, he was imprisoned for some months and could not be re-elected in the later Dumas.
His funeral, at theNew Donskoy Cemetery on 7 October 1910, was the occasion of one of the first public demonstrations of support for constitutional ideas since the dissolution of the Duma. His niece, Vera Muromtseva, was the wife ofIvan Bunin, a celebrated Russian author.
In the 1870s, he advanced the then-novel sociological approach for the study of law, employing the functional (функционального) and historical comparative ("историко-сравнительного") methods. Muromtsev was a staunch opponent of formalism and positivism.
From 1879 to 1892, Muromtsev was the co-editor, along withMaksim Kovalevsky of thelaw journalJuridical Vestnik («Юридический Вестник»).
