after the abolition of russian serfdom in 1861, "volost" became a unit of peasant's local self-rule. a number of mirs are united into a volost, which has an assembly consisting of elected delegates from the mirs. these elect an elder ("starshina") and, hitherto, a court of justice ("volostnoy sud"). the self-government of the mirs and volosts was, however, tempered by the authority of the police commissaries ("stanovoi") and by the power of general oversight given to the nominated "district committees for the affairs of the peasants".