office
Sotsky (village watchman)
sotsky
also: сотский, borough policeman, hundredman
A peasant chosen by rotation from roughly a hundred households to serve unpaid short terms keeping order, running errands for the police, and enforcing minor regulations at the village level -- the lowest rung of rural law enforcement, the office Yefimov holds.
Reading notes
- On Official Business §3 the constable
The sotsky, a peasant chosen by rotation to serve unpaid stretches of village policing and courier duty -- the lowest rung of rural law enforcement, and Loshadin's own office for thirty years.
- Sergeant Prishibeyev §2 the borough policeman Yefimov
The sotsky was a peasant chosen by rotation from roughly a hundred households to serve unpaid short terms as village watchman -- the lowest, least powerful rung of rural law enforcement, which makes it darkly comic that Prishibeyev orders Yefimov around as if he outranked him.