dants were supposed to enforce the law, but there was considerable
uncertainty about what the law was. In theory, the commandants
were expected to decide matters in accordance with local common
law, but, since they had at best a tenuous notion of what that was,
the basis for their decisions was ambiguous and consequently a source
of dissatisfaction. Commander-in-Chief Paulucci tried to resolve the
problem in two provinces (Qobbeh-Derbent and Baku) by setting up
judicial-administrative panels that were composed of the local com-
mandant and representatives of the inhabitants and whose proceed-
ings were carried out in the local language. He also tried to clarify
the bases of the law: existing common law was to be used when it
was fitting; Russian law was to be used in all other cases. There was
a tendency to enlarge the sphere of Russian law, expecially since all
political offenses were tried by courts-martial. (Elizavetpol' was in a
different position, being subject first to Russian law, then Georgian.)^2
The financial system, too, was a mixture of local and Russian prac-
tice. Basically, the Russians continued to levy the same kinds of
taxes and sell the same kinds of concessions as the khans had, although
not necessarily to the same concessionaires. In general, the sources of
revenue were less productive than they had been before the Russian
takeover because of the accompanying warfare and emigration. What-
ever revenue was collected went to the Georgian rather than the im-
perial treasury. The quest for increased revenue led Russian authori-
ties to seek new concession agreements that promised higher profits.
The rationale for invalidating existing agreements was that any con-
tract with a deposed khan was no longer binding. In some cases, the
Russians created new concessions and taxes. For example, new taxes
were imposed on silk, gardens, and the use of water for irrigation,
while concessions were created for the making of pottery and wine
and the use of the farmland that had formerly belonged to the khan.
These innovations were very unpopular with the local inhabitants,
and the land concession was abolished in 1811. Although the speci-
fic concessionaires changed in a number of cases, no group lost or
gained. Russians and Armenians (some of whom lived in Russia) held
the great majority of concessions before and after the Russian take-
over. The tax-farming concessions were eliminated, and collection
was reassigned to regular state officials. Similarly, tariff concessions
on intraregional and foreign trade were abolished, and tariff collec-
tion was transferred to state officials. A few minor taxes were elimi-
nated (such as the ones on butter and salt), which produced little
revenue but were burdensome to the inhabitants. The most impor-
tant kind of change was the partial, episodic substitution of payments
The Consequences of the Struggle 147