The Conditions (Russian: Кондиции, Konditsii) were an 18th-century constitutional project in Russia, signed by Empress Anna of Russia in Mitau on 18 January 1730, giving substantial power to the Supreme Privy Council. When the Empress returned to Russia, she revoked her approval of the Conditions and dissolved the Supreme Privy Council on the 20th of February. The members of the Council were removed from government and exiled or repressed paving the way for Anna to become an absolute monarch in the model of her uncle Peter the Great.
The Conditions acted as a constitution binding the monarch in relation to:
- Declarations of War.
- Signing of Treaties.
- Imposing new taxes.
- Appointing officers to ranks higher than Polkovnik (Colonel).
- Depriving and granting estates.
- Appointing to the court ranks.
- Using of public revenues.
None of these powers could be exercised by the monarch, under the Conditions, without the approval of the Supreme Privy Council. Or else they would face the possibility of deposition.
Famous quotes containing the word conditions:
“Armies, for the most part, are made up of men drawn from simple and peaceful lives. In time of war they suddenly find themselves living under conditions of violence, requiring new rules of conduct that are in direct contrast to the conditions they lived under as civilians. They learn to accept this to perform their duties as fighting men.”
—Gil Doud, U.S. screenwriter, and Jesse Hibbs. Walter Bedell Smith (Himself)