Desiatskyi

Desiatskyi or desiatnyk. An office of local government in Ukraine during the Princely era. The desiatskyi was in charge of a desiatok (a group of either ten men or ten households), the smallest military-administrative unit, and his functions were mainly those of a policeman. The name desiatskyi was still used in the Lithuanian-Ruthenian period to designate an assistant village bailiff. In tsarist Russia a desiatskyi was the lowest officer in the village commune. In the Ukrainian Galician Army a desiatnyk was a non-commissioned officer of the second rank.