KOMORAS-EXPACKHAUSES IN THE SYSTEM OF STATE CUSTOMS SERVICE OF GREAT DUCHY OF LITHUANIA IN LATTER HALF OF XVIII CENTURY

Abstract

In the latter half of the XVII century, there was a reform of the state apparatus in the GDL; one of the results of this reform was the reorganization of the customs service and its transformation into a special institution in the system of the executive power of the State. During this period, the customs service of the GDL was rebuilt on the principles of bureaucracy and became one of the most perfectly organized state structures. In order to ensure that the money collected from duties on goods transported across the border is fully received by the budget, the state looked for optimal ways to organize the effective work of customs, including those by institutional changes.

Basing on the study and generalisation of archival materials, the article shows the role and significance of komo-ras-expackhouses for the first time in domestic and foreign historiography. In particular, it was noted that these special customs checkpoints appeared in the structure of the customs service of the GDL in 1788. They were organised in the cities where the most active trade in foreign goods was carried out - in Vilnius, Grodno, Kaunas, Minsk, Brest, Slonim, Pinsk, Mozyr, Niesvizh and Novogrudok. In addition to carrying out the procedure of customs inspection, valuation of goods and calculation of duty, expackhouses were also places of temporary warehousing and storage of goods. The study describes the activity of expackhouses, notes their role in the expansion and development of trade in the territory of the GDP in the latter half of the XVIII century.

The results of the research can be used when studying the activities of the state institutions of the GDL in the latter half of the XVIII century, preparing synthetical scientific works, textbooks on the history of the GDL and the history of the customs service.