In Russia, civil registration is a fundamental system that records vital events of its citizens, such as births, marriages, divorces, and deaths. These registrations are crucial for legal recognition and social welfare benefits, among other reasons. The system operates under the jurisdiction of the Federal State Statistics Service of the Russian Federation, following the guidelines outlined in the Federal Law on the Acts of Civil Status.
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Registration acts
The civil registration system in Russia maintains the integrity and accuracy of records, ensuring the proper documentation of vital events for all citizens. These records are instrumental in providing legal and social recognition, enabling access to various rights, and serving as an essential tool for the country's statistical and administrative purposes.
- Birth registrations are necessary for obtaining various rights and benefits, including citizenship, healthcare, education, and social security. Every birth must be reported within a week to the local civil registry office. The birth certificate issued after registration serves as an essential document for the child's future. See more on birth records in Russia.
- Marriage registrations are mandatory for legal recognition of a couple's relationship. Couples must register their marriage at a ZAGS (Zapis Aktov Grazhdanskogo Sostoyaniya) office, which is a civil registry office. The marriage certificate is a legal document certifying the marriage and is required for various legal and administrative procedures. See more on marriage records in Russia.
- In case of divorce, the dissolution of marriage must also be registered at the civil registry office. This process involves providing essential documents and completing formalities to record the legal termination of the marriage.
- Similarly, deaths must be officially registered within a specific timeframe after the occurrence. The death certificate is a critical document for legal procedures, inheritance matters, and closure of official records. See more on death certificates in Russia.
- When an adoption process is finalized, the adoptive parents submit the required documents and formalize the adoption at the ZAGS office. This legalizes the adoption and registers the child under the care of the adoptive parents. The ZAGS maintains the official records of the adoption, ensuring the legal status of the child and the rights of the adoptive parents are formally documented and recognized.
The history of civil registration in Russia
The history of civil registration in Russia dates back to the early 18th century under the rule of Peter the Great. Before this period, documentation of vital events such as births, marriages, and deaths were mostly managed by the Orthodox Church. However, Peter the Great's reign marked the beginning of the establishment of a formalized civil registration system in the Russian Empire. The most famous early metric is an excerpt from the book of burials and baptisms of the Don Monastery for May 19 - December 31, 1703. The word "metric" in the title of the documents was used not by chance: the Greek word "meter," lying at its core, means "mother," or otherwise "origin," "foundation."[1]
In 1719, Peter the Great issued a decree ordering the creation of civil registry offices called ZAGS (Zapis Aktov Grazhdanskogo Sostoyaniya), which were responsible for recording births, marriages, divorces, and deaths. These offices were an initiative to shift the responsibility of keeping vital records from the church to the state. In addition to metric books, church officials also maintained marriage search books (marriage search is a written document containing specific information about individuals intending to marry in the church, establishing the absence of obstacles to their marriage).
The introduction of the marriage search procedure dates back to the Moscow Church Council of 1666-1667, whose decisions mandated the priest to "not perform the wedding without a search." A standardized form of marriage searches was approved by the Synod decree of November 30, 1837. By the late 19th to early 20th centuries, marriage searches acquired another name—premarital certificates.
On December 18, 1917, the decree "On Civil Marriage, Children, and Registry Books" was signed, proclaiming: "The Russian Republic henceforth recognizes only civil marriages, and the church marriage, alongside the mandatory civil marriage, is merely a private affair of those intending to marry." ZAGS offices became the official institutions for registering vital events. The documentation gathered in these offices became essential for legal and administrative purposes, providing individuals with official proof of their civil status. The system was designed to ensure accurate records of the population and their vital events for purposes of governance, legal documentation, and statistical analysis.
The separation of the church from the state obliterated the old system of organizing marriage and family relationships. The Soviet Republic needed a special body that would conduct secular registration of citizens' legal status. To put this into practice, an Instruction was issued that endorsed the creation of marriage and birth registration departments within district, county, and city authorities, defining their primary goals and tasks.[2]
The Civil Status Acts, Marriage, Family, and Guardianship Law Code adopted in 1918 obligated the population to register civil status acts such as birth, marriage, divorce, name changes, and death.The acceptance of these documents fundamentally altered the old regulation of marriage and family relations, primarily disassociating the church from civil status registration. The newly formed Civil Registration Offices (ZAGS) received metric books from Christian, Orthodox churches, Jewish synagogues, and various other religious institutions. These recorded entries consisted of birth details, for instance, noting the birth and baptism dates, the name coinciding with the name day, surname, residence, parents' and godparents' religion, the legitimacy of the birth, and social status. In marriage records, details included the date of the ceremony, the names of the bride and groom, their religion, social status, and permanent place of residence. Besides metric books, marriage information was also recorded in "search" books, where information about the investigation - essentially, statements from witnesses and guarantors about the absence of barriers to marriage - was documented. Presently, metric books are kept in the State Archive.
During the Soviet era, ZAGS offices were the primary civil registry offices, operating throughout the Soviet Union. They continued to handle the registration of vital events such as births, marriages, and deaths.
Following the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, these civil registry offices continued to function within the newly independent countries, including Russia. The ZAGS offices in post-Soviet Russia maintained their responsibility for registering vital events and providing essential documents for various legal and administrative processes.
Over the years, the system of civil registration in Russia has undergone changes and modernizations to adapt to evolving administrative needs and technological advancements. However, the fundamental role of registering vital events and maintaining accurate records for legal and administrative purposes remains a significant aspect of civil registration in Russia today.
See also
- Vital records in Russia at MyHeritage
- Birth records in Russia at MyHeritage
- Marriage records in Russia at MyHeritage
- Death records in Russia at MyHeritage
- Russian surnames
- Russian Jewish surnames
Explore more on civil records in Russia
- Civil records database at MyHeritage
- Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts
- ZAGS online
References
- ↑ https://pre.admoblkaluga.ru/sub/zags/Glav/istoria.php
- ↑ https://zags.midural.ru/article/show/id/216#:~:text=%D0%90%D0%BA%D1%82%D0%B8%D0%B2%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B5%20%D0%B2%D0%BD%D0%B5%D0%B4%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%B5%20%D0%B2%20%D0%B1%D1%8B%D1%82%20%D0%BB%D1%8E%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%B9,%D0%9C%D0%B8%D0%BD%D0%B8%D1%81%D1%82%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%B2%20%D0%A0%D0%A1%D0%A4%D0%A1%D0%A0%20(%E2%84%96%20203).