Tselovalnik (Russian: целовальник, literally, "kisser", actually "sworn man"), was a common term for various officials in Muscovy elected by zemshchina (the population, as opposed to the tsardom's state apparatus) in uyezds and posads in various judicial, financial and police functions. The term is a contraction of the expression krestny tselovalnik, "the one who kissed the cross", in reference to the sworn oath accompanied with the kissing of the Holy Cross. The term was first mentioned in the Sudebnik of 1497 and later in the statutory charters of Novgorod of Vasili III of Russia.