Serfdom, the definition of which was first revealed as the dependence of the peasants on the power of the feudal lord and administrative and judicial nature, was the hardest in Europe.
By
the jurisdiction of the judicial and administrative authorities of a certain feudal lord among the peasants was inherited. They
lost the right to alienate land plots and purchase real estate.
It is worth noting that serfdom in Russia dates back to Kievan Rus and existed until the middle of the 19th century. For the first time about serfdom there is a mention in the "Russian Truth", where the norms of law show the inequality of the provisions of the estate. It says that you can not refer to the testimony of a serf. In the event that there is no free person as a witness, then it is quite possible to point to the boyar tyun. If necessary, a small suit has the opportunity to refer to the procurement.
Purchase is a free man who worked for a farmer; he was called a stink. Another form of dependent people in tsarist Russia was the rank and file - these were peasants who entered into an agreement, a number.
Serfdom in Russia enslaved the population from the 15th to the 17th centuries. The code of laws of 1497 satisfied the necessary requirements for the ruling class. The restriction of the peasant exit was formalized at the legislative level. Now, at each departure, the peasant needed to pay the elderly - a certain amount of the agreed size, which was mandatory for all peasants. The size of the elderly was determined by the courtyard in which the yard was located: forest or steppe strip.
In comparison with the letters of the period XIV - XV centuries, the lawyer made serfdom in Russia tougher. This is especially evident in the second part of Sudebnik, where the exit of the largest and most mobile mass of the population from the countryside, which were called newcomers, or new ranks, is limited. We are talking about peasants, who passed upon the expiration of an annual or other short period, to another farmer.
The code of Tsar Fyodor Ivanovich of 1597 gave the landowner the right for five years and return to its owner. The term of the search for runaway peasants is increased by the Decree of 1642, which was published by
Romanov Mikhail Fedorovich. In accordance with it, runaway peasants were searched for for ten years, and those who were exported were searched for 15 years.
By the Council Regulation of 1649, Aleksei Mikhailovich imposed a complete ban on the transition of peasants, including St. George’s Day. Thus, the peasants were attached to the owner, and not to the land. During the reign of Peter 1, he gives the opportunity by way of recruitment to leave the peasantry. Despite the fact that serfdom in Russia lasted for several centuries, the general measures of peasant attachment were completely absent.
It is worth noting that serfdom in Europe did not have such a long and difficult period of time as in tsarist Russia. Here it was introduced several times and canceled.
Already in the middle of the 14th century, the labor of peasants who were too extinct after the plague epidemic became more valuable. If earlier European peasants were slaves, now they have already lost such a status, but have not yet been free.