Votchinnaia Kollegiia

(Patrimonial Estate Collegium), a central state institution in Russia formed in 1721 to replace the Pomestnyi prikaz (Office of Fiefs). The Votchinnaia Kollegiia handled questions of landowner ship, including the legal definition of rights of the feudal lords to possession, the settling of land disputes, and fixing boundaries. In connection with the wish expressed in the gentry orders of 1767 concerning the transfer of the solution of land problems to local authorities and with the creation of a plan for provincial administrative reform (1775), the functions of the Votchinnaia Kollegiia were gradually surrendered to new provincial institutions. The Votchinnaia Kollegiia was abolished in 1786.