Vakil ol-Ra'aya

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Vakil ol-Ra'aya, meaning “Deputy of the People,” is a title best known for being adopted by the Zand ruler Karim Khan Zand in Shiraz in 1765. The idea may come from an ancient Sasanian office called driyōšān-jādaggōv ud dādvar, meaning “advocate-judge of the poor.” The title first appears in Safavid Iran in documents as part of the office of the kalantar (the chief official) of Isfahan. Later it became its own independent office and was used in many Iranian provinces until the Qajar era ended in 1925.