But all this was the consequence of political subjugation.  Judged by the standard of the times, they were veritable freemen, freer than the Huguenots of France and the Puritans of England.  They were left unmolested in the administration of their internal affairs, and were permitted to appoint their own judges, enforce their own laws, and support their own institutions.  Forming a state within a state, they developed a civilization contrasting strongly with that round about them, and comparing favorably with some of the features of ours of to-day.  Slavonic Jewry was divided into four districts, consisting of the more important communities (kahals), to which a number of smaller ones (prikahalki) were subservient.  These, known as the Jewish Assemblies (zbori zhidovskiye), met at stated intervals.  As in our federal Government, the administrative, executive, and legislative departments were kept distinct, and those who presided over them (roshim) were elected annually by ballot.  These roshim, or elders, served by turns for periods of one month each.  The rabbi of each community was the chief judge, and was assisted by several inferior judges (dayyanim).  For matters of importance there were courts of appeal established in Ostrog and Lemberg, the former having jurisdiction over Volhynia and the Ukraine, the latter over the rest of Jewish Russo-Poland.  For inter-kahal litigation, there was a supreme court, the Wa’ad Arba’ ha-Arazot (the Synod of the Four Countries), which held its sessions during the Lublin fair in winter and the Yaroslav fair in summer.  In cases affecting Jews and Gentiles, a decision was given by the judex Judaeorum, who held his office by official appointment of the grand duke.

So far their system of self-government appears almost a prototype of our own.  The same is true of their municipal administration.  The rabbi, who had the deciding vote in case of a dead-lock, stood in the same relation to them as the mayor holds to us, only that his term of office, nominally limited to three years, was actually for life or during good behavior.  Yet the power vested in him was only delegated power.  A number of selectmen, or aldermen, guarded the rights of the community with the utmost jealousy, and tolerated no innovation, unless previously sanctioned by them.  There were also several honorary offices, with a one-year tenure, which none could fill who had not had experience in an inferior position.  The chief duties attached to these offices were to appraise the amount of taxation, pay the salaries of the rabbi, his dayyanim, and the teachers of the public schools, provide for the poor, and, above all, intercede with the Government.[38]