Uezd

(district). (1) In prerevolutionary Russia, an administrative and territorial unit that was established in the 15th and 16th centuries during the formation of a unified Russian state. In the early 18th century, the uezd, which was divided into units called volosti, became a component of the guberniia (province). In accordance with the guberniia reform of 1775, the administration of each uezd was headed by an ispravnik (chief of police). As a result of the zemstvo (local self-government) reform of 1864, zemstvo assemblies were established in the uezdy.

(2) In the USSR until 1930, a middle-level administrative and territorial unit that was part of a guberniia. Uezdy existed until 1949 or 1950 in the Latvian, Lithuanian, and Estonian SSR’s.