The
Russian Constitution of 1906 refers to a major revision of the 1832 Fundamental Laws of the
Russian Empire, which transformed the formerly
absolutist state into one in which the
emperor agreed for the first time to share his autocratic power with a
parliament. It was enacted on April 23, 1906, on the eve of the opening of the first
State Duma. This first-ever Russian
Constitution was a revision of the earlier Fundamental Laws, which had been published as the
Code of Laws of the Russian Empire (Russian:
Свод законов Российской империи, pre-1917 Russian:
Сводъ законовъ Россiйской имперiи) in 1832. It was granted during the
Russian Revolution of 1905, in a last-ditch effort by the imperial government to preserve its own existence and keep the nation from sliding into all-out anarchy.