To this very day there pertains the custom in Slavic villages, according to which all regulations and instructions coming from the government, such as the collection of taxes, the summoning of recruits, etc., are carried out not by governmental officials, but rather by the town elders, who, just as their own fathers had done before them, carry them into effect after careful consideration and according to their best lights, apportioning the burdens among individuals and gathering recruits, etc., with justice.
Such a very important broadened local community in the Slavic world is the župa, or county. Just as the affairs of the village are seen to by the town elders, the heads of individual families, the affairs of the entire county (župa, województwo) are determined in concert at gatherings
