In this article the ideas of Constantin Stere in regard to the principle of local autonomy are examined. In this principle, the scholar saw a manifestation of sovereign power. In his opinion, the guarantee of civil rights and liberties and the realization of the principle of local autonomy constitute the basic traits of constitutional and democratic regime. In order to bring this principle to life, an adequate administrative and territorial organization is needed. At the base of this organization the scholar put the communities, which consisted of several villages. Through participation in the process of resolving problems of communal magnitude the people are to learn the art of participating in the government of state. In the scholars’ vision, the organs of public administration emerge naturally from those of local self-administration and are an organic extension of those.