The term "municipal service" appeared relatively recently in the legislation of Russia. The content of the concept is directly related to the understanding and legislative establishment of local (territorial) self-government, the system of its bodies. This issue was previously related to the civil service, by means of which the state and municipal service, in fact, was disclosed and regulated. However, recently there has been a separation of the legal path.
Municipal service refers to an independent part of the professional power public apparatus of the state. This, in turn, affects the nature of the activities of persons working in it and exercising its powers. The passage of the municipal service is considered as one of the types of paid socially useful activities. This activity involves management and organization.
Municipal service is one of the tools for exercising the power of territorial (local) self-government bodies.
The term "municipium" was called a provincial city in the Roman state. In these cities, the free population had full or limited right to self-government and Roman citizenship.
In Western countries, this definition was used to designate a self-governing community. A municipality is a territorial self-government body and the building it occupies.
For a certain period in Russia, all employees of territorial bodies were government workers. In other words, local councils and executive committees were state bodies. Subsequently, the local government took an independent form of realization of democracy.
Municipal service, isolated from the government, contributed to the formation in Russia of territorial administration as a special level of power. The first legislative acts that enshrined the concept of local self-government reflected the general principles of activity. However, the concept of "municipal service" was not used in the laws. Initially, work in these bodies was considered part of government activity. Employees of the municipal and public services were treated equally. In accordance with this view, the essence of the position was determined. Thus, the municipal employee was a state employee who worked in the local government.
The Constitution contains provisions that enshrine and ensure the independence of the considered branch of power. Thus, according to the Law, territorial bodies are not included in the system of state authorities. This norm, in combination with a number of other provisions and regulations, formed the basis for the resulting construction of local self-government. This model has significant differences from previously enshrined in the Law of the RSFSR. Thus, in Russia the legal framework was laid for the formation of a new type of service activity - the municipal service.
The Constitution also establishes certain features of the activity in question. Thus, the distinction between municipal and public service.
The second one is the professional activity of Russian citizens, which provides for the enforcement of certain powers: federal bodies of state power, constituent entities of the Russian Federation, Russian Federation, persons who fill positions established by the Constitution, and others. Municipal service is considered as a professional activity carried out on an ongoing basis for the exercise of powers in the bodies of territorial self-government.