Extracts from the Russian Constitution of April 23, 1906

[excerpted from Readings in Modern European History, James Harvey Robinson and Charles Beard, eds., vol. 2 (Boston:Ginn and Company, 1908), pp. 378-381]

ART. 4. The supreme autocratic power is vested in the Tsar of all the Russias. It is God's command that his authority should be obeyed not only through fear but for conscience' sake.

ART. 5. The person of the Tsar is sacred and inviolable.

ART. 7. The Tsar exercises the legislative power in conjunction with the Council of the Empire and the imperial Duma.

ART. 8. The initiative in all branches of legislation belongs to the Tsar. Solely on his initiative may the fundamental laws of the empire be subjected to a revision in the Council of the Empire and the imperial Duma.

ART. 9. The Tsar approves the laws, and without his approval no law can come into existence.

ART. 10. All governmental powers in their widest extent throughout the whole Russian empire are vested in the Tsar....

ART. 17. The Tsar appoints and dismisses the president of the council, the ministers themselves, and the heads of the chief departments of administration, as well as all other officials where the law does not provide for another method of appointment and dismissal.

ART. 25. The imperial throne of all the Russias is hereditary in the present beneficent ruling imperial house.

ART. 59. The full title of His Imperial Majesty is as follows:

We, ------ by the grace of God, Emperor and Autocrat of all 0 the Russias, of Moscow, Kiev, Vladimir, Novgorod, Tsar of Kasan, Tsar of Astrakhan, Tsar of Poland, Tsar of Siberia, Tsar of Tauric Khersones, Tsar of Grusia, Lord of Pskov, and Grand Duke of Smolensk, Lithuania, Volhynia, Podolia, and Finland, Prince of Esthonia, Livonia, Courland and Semgallia, Samogitia, Bielostok, Korelia, Tver, Jugor, Perm, Vyatka, Bulgaria, and other territories; Lord and Grand Duke of Novgorod, Chernigov; Ruler of Ryazan, Polotsk, Rostov, Jaroslav, Bielozero, Udoria, Obdoria, Kondia, Vitebsk, Mstislav, and all northern territories ; Ruler of Iveria, Kartalinia, and the Kabardinian lands and Armenian territories - hereditary Ruler and Lord of the Tcherkess and Mountain Princes and others; Lord of Turkestan, Heir to the throne of Norway, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein, Stormarn, Ditmarsch, Oldenburg, and so forth, and so forth, and so forth.

ART. 62. The established and ruling faith of the Russian Empire is the Christian, Orthodox Catholic, Eastern faith.

ART. 63. The Tsar who sits upon the throne of all the Russias may confess none but the orthodox faith.

ART. 64. The Tsar as Christian ruler is the supreme defender and upholder of the doctrines of the ruling faith, the protector of the true belief, and of every ordinance in the holy Church.

ART. 65. In the administration of the Church the autocratic power acts through the Holy Directorial Synod, which it has created.

ART. 66. All those subjects of the Russian State who do not belong to the ruling Church, natives as well as the inhabitants of annexed districts, foreigners in the Russian service, or temporary sojourners in Russia, enjoy the free exercise of their respective faiths and religious services according to their particular usages.

ART. 67. Religious freedom is granted not only to Christians of foreign faiths, but to Jews, Mohammedans, and heathen. May all the people residing in Russia praise God Almighty in their various tongues according to the law and faith of their forefathers, while they glorify the rule of the Russian monarch and pray to the Creator of the Universe for an increase of the public welfare and a strengthening of the power of the Tsar.

ART. 70. The defense of the throne and of the fatherland is the sacred duty of every Russian subject. The male population,

without distinction of class, is subject to military service according to the provisions of the law.

ART. 71. Russian subjects are in duty bound to pay the imposts and taxes legally imposed, and to fulfill all additional obligations according to the provisions of the law.

ART. 72. No one can be prosecuted for an offense except according to the process established by law.