Sergey Muromtsev

Who was Sergey Muromtsev?

Sergei Andreevich Muromtsev was a Russian lawyer and politician, and chairman of the First Imperial Duma in 1906.

Muromtsev was a Russian nobleman from Tula and a Professor of Roman Law at Moscow University. In 1893, he and his wife Marya built the Muromtsev Dacha in Moscow. In the late 19th century, he was among the creators of the Constitutional Democratic Party, better known as the KD or Cadet party, of which he was chairman for several years. In April 1906, he was elected as a representative for Moscow in the First Duma, of which he was then elected chairman on May 10. He tried to maintain some degree of order and dignity in this difficult assembly, which is often known as the "Duma of the Public Anger".

He was much praised for the way he chaired the debates, always keeping to the strictest legality but always pursuing a constitutional and anti-autocratic agenda. Despite his efforts, the Duma was dissolved on July 21, 1906, by Imperial ukase of tsar Nicholas II. Muromtsev wanted the elected Duma to continue its work and proposed that it should retreat to Finland. For signing this appeal, he was imprisoned for some months and could not be re-elected in the later Dumas.