CHAPTER 11

CHAPTER 11. - The Judicial Process for Peasants. In It Are 34 Articles.

1. Concerning the sovereign's peasants and landless peasants of court villages and rural taxpaying districts who, having fled from the sovereign's court villages and from the rural taxpaying districts, are now living under the patriarch, or under the metropolitans, and under the archbishops, and the bishop [sic]; or under monasteries; or under boyars, or under okol'nichie, and under counselors, and under chamberlains, and under stol'niki, and under striapchie, and under Moscow dvoriane, and under state secretaries, and under zhil'tsy, and under provincial dvoriane and deti boiarskie, and under foreigners, and under all hereditary estate owners and service landholders; and in the cadastral books, which books the census takers submitted to the Service Land Chancellery and to other chancelleries after the Moscow fire of the past year 1626, those fugitive peasants or their fathers were registered [as living] under the sovereign: having hunted down those fugitive peasants and landless peasants of the sovereign, cart them [back] to the sovereign's court villages and to the rural taxpaying districts, to their old allotments as [registered in] the cadastral books, with their wives, and with their children, and with all their movable peasant property, without any statute of limitations.

2. Similarly, if hereditary estate owners and service landholders proceed to petition the sovereign about their fugitive peasants and about landless peasants; and they testify that their peasants and landless peasants, having fled from them, are living in the sovereign's court villages, and in rural taxpaying districts, or as townsmen in the urban taxpaying districts, or as musketeers, or as cossacks, or as gunners, or as any other type of servicemen in the trans-Moscow or in the frontier towns; or under the patriarch, or under the metropolitans, or under the archbishops and bishops; or under monasteries; or under boyars, and under okol'nichie, and under counselors, and under chamberlains, and under stol'niki, and under striapchie, and under Moscow dvoriane, and under state secretaries, and under zhil'tsy, and under provincial dvoriane and deti boiarskie, and under foreigners, and under any hereditary estate owners and service landholders: return such peasants and landless peasants after trial and investigation on the basis of the cadastral books, which books the census takers submitted to the Service Land Chancellery after the Moscow fire of the past year 1626, if those fugitive peasants of theirs, or the fathers of those peasants of theirs, were recorded [as living] under them in those cadastral books, or [if] after those cadastral books [were compiled] those peasants, or their children, were recorded in new grants [as living] under someone in books allotting lands or in books registering land transfers. Return fugitive peasants and landless peasants from flight on the basis of the cadastral books to people of all ranks, without any statute of limitations.

3. If it becomes necessary to return fugitive peasants and landless peasants to someone after trial and investigation: return those peasants with their wives, and with their children, and with all their movable property, with their standing grain and with their threshed grain. Do not impose a fine for those peasants [on their current lords] for the years prior to this present Law Code.

Concerning peasants who, while fugitives, married off their unmarried daughters, or sisters, or kinswomen to peasants of those estate owners and service landholders under whom they were living, or elsewhere in another village or hamlet: do not fault that person and, on the basis of the status of those unmarried women, do not hand over the husbands to their former estate owners and service landholders because until the present sovereign's decree there was no rule by the sovereign that no one could receive peasants [to live] under him. [Only] statutes of limitations [on the recovery of] fugitive peasants were decreed and, moreover, in many years after the census takers [did their work], the hereditary estates and service landholdings of many hereditary estate owners and service landholders changed hands.

4. If fugitive peasants and landless peasants are returned to someone: chancellery officials of the sovereign's court villages and the rural taxpaying districts, and estate owners, and service landholders shall get from those people [to whom the fugitives are returned] inventory receipts, signed by them, for those peasants and landless peasants of theirs and their movable property in case of dispute in the future.

Order the town public square scribes to write the inventory receipts in Moscow and in the provincial towns; in villages and hamlets where there are no public square scribes, order the civil administration or church scribes of other villages to write such inventories. They shall issue such inventory receipts signed by their own hand.

Concerning people who are illiterate: those people shall order their own spiritual fathers, or people of the vicinity whom they trust, to sign those inventory receipts in their stead. No one shall order his own priests, and scribes, and slaves to write such inventories so that henceforth there will be no dispute by anybody or with anybody over such inventories.

5. Concerning the vacant houses of peasants and landless peasants, or [their] house lots, registered in the cadastral books with certain estate owners and service landholders; and in the cadastral books it is written about the peasants and landless peasants of those houses that those peasants and landless peasants fled from them in the years prior to [the compilation of] those cadastral books, but there was no petition from them against anyone about those peasants throughout this time: do not grant a trial for those peasants and landless peasants on the basis of those vacant houses and vacant lots because for many years they did not petition the sovereign against anyone about those peasants of theirs.

6. If fugitive peasants and landless peasants are returned from someone to plaintiffs after trial and investigation, and according to the cadastral books; or if someone returns [fugitives] without trial according to [this] Law Code: on the petition of those people under whom they had lived while fugitives, register those peasants in the Service Land Chancellery [as living] under those people to whom they are returned.

Concerning those people from whom they are taken: do not collect any of the sovereign's levies [due from the peasants] from such service landholders and hereditary estate owners on the basis of the census books. Collect all of the sovereign's levies from those estate owners and service landholders under whom they proceed to live as peasants upon their return.

7. If, after trial and investigation, and according to the cadastral books, peasants are taken away from any hereditary estate owners and returned to plaintiffs from their purchased estates; and they purchased those estates from estate owners with those peasants [living on them] after [the compilation of] the cadastres; and those peasants are registered on their lands in the purchase documents: those estate owners, in the stead of those returned peasants, shall take from the sellers similar peasants with all [their] movable property, and with [their] standing grain and with [their] threshed grain, from their other estates.

8. Concerning those estate owners and service landholders who in the past years had a trial about fugitive peasants and landless peasants; and at trial someone's [claims] to such fugitive peasants were rejected, prior to this decree of the sovereign, on the basis of the statute of limitations on the recovery of fugitive peasants in the prior decree of the great Sovereign, Tsar, and Grand Prince of all Russia Mikhail Fedorovich of blessed memory; and those fugitive peasants and landless peasants were ordered to live under those people under whom they lived out the years [of the] statute of limitations: or certain service landholders and hereditary estate owners arranged an amicable agreement in past years, prior to this decree of the sovereign, about fugitive peasants and landless peasants, and according to the amicable agreement someone ceded his peasants to someone else, and they confirmed it with registered documents, or they submitted reconciliation petitions [to settle court suits] : all those cases shall remain as those cases were resolved prior to this decree of the sovereign. Do not consider those cases anew and do not renegotiate [them].[i]

9. Concerning peasants and landless peasants registered under someone in the census books of the past years 1645/46 and 1646/47; and after [the compilation of] those census books they fled from those people under whom they were registered in the census books, or they proceed to flee in the future: return those fugitive peasants and landless peasants, and their brothers, and children, and kinsmen, and grandchildren with [their] wives and with [their] children and with all [their] movable property, and with [their] standing grain and with threshed grain, from flight to those people from whom they fled, on the basis of the census books, without any statute of limitations. Henceforth no one ever shall receive others' peasants and shall not retain them under himself.

10. If someone after this royal Law Code proceeds to receive and retain under himself fugitive peasants, and landless peasants, and their children, and brothers, and kinsmen; and hereditary estate owners and service landholders demand those fugitive peasants of theirs from them [in a trial] : after trial and investigation, and according to the census books, return those fugitive peasants and landless peasants of theirs to them with [their] wives and with [their] children, and with all their movable property, and with [their] standing grain, and with [their] threshed grain, and with [their] grain still in the ground, without any statute of limitations.

Concerning the length of the time they live under someone as fugitives after this royal Law Code: collect from those under whom they proceed to live 10 rubles each for any peasant per year for the sovereign's taxes and the service landholder's incomes. Give [the money] to the plaintiffs whose peasants and landless peasants they are.

11. If someone proceeds to petition the sovereign against someone about such fugitive peasants and landless peasants; and those peasants and their fathers are not registered in the cadastral books under either the plaintiff or the defendant, but those peasants are registered under the plaintiff or the defendant in the census books of the past years 1645/46 and 1646/47: on the basis of the census books, return those peasants and landless peasants to that person under whom they are registered in the census books.

12. If a peasant's daughter of marriageable age flees from someone, from an hereditary estate or from a service landholding, after this royal decree; and while a fugitive she marries someone's limited service contract slave or a peasant; or after this royal decree someone entices a peasant's daughter of marriageable age, and having enticed [her] , marries her to his own limited service contract slave, or peasant, or landless peasant; and that person from whom she fled proceeds to petition the sovereign about her; and it is established about that conclusively at trial and investigation that that unmarried young woman fled, or was enticed away: return her to that person from whom she fled, along with her husband and with her children, which children she bore by that husband. Do not return her husband's movable property with her.

13. If that fugitive unmarried young woman marries someone's slave or peasant who is a widower; and prior [to his marriage] to her, that husband of hers had children by his first wife: do not return those first children of her husband to the plaintiff. They shall remain with that person in whose possession they were born into slavery or into peasantry.

14. If a plaintiff proceeds to sue for stolen property along with that fugitive unmarried young woman [which she allegedly stole when she fled]: grant him a trial for that. After trial compile the decree that is necessary.

15. If a peasant widow flees from someone; and her husband had been registered in the cadastral or allotment books, and in extracts [from them], or in any other documents among the peasants or the landless peasants [living] under that person from whom she fled; and having fled, that peasant woman marries someone's limited service contract slave or peasant: return that peasant widow with her [new] husband to that service landholder under whom her first husband had been registered in the cadastral or census books. or in the extracts, and in any other documents.

16. If the first husband of that widow is not registered [as living] under that person from whom she fled in the cadastral and census books and in any other documents: that widow shall live under that person whose slave or peasant she marries.

17. If a peasant or landless peasant flees from someone; and in flight he marries his daughter of marriageable age or a widow to someone's limited service contract slave, or to a peasant, or to a landless peasant [living under] that person to whom he flees; and later on after trial it becomes necessary to return that fugitive peasant with [his] wife and with [his] children to that person from whom he fled: return that fugitive peasant or landless peasant to his former service landholder, together with his son-in-law to whom lie had married his daughter [while] in flight. If that son-in-law of his has children by his first wife: do not hand over those first children of his to the plaintiff.

18. If such a fugitive peasant or landless peasant, while in flight marries his daughter to someone's limited service contract slave, or hereditary slave, or peasant, or landless peasant [registered under] another service landholder or hereditary estate owner: return that peasant's daughter who was married while in flight, along with her husband, to the plaintiff.

19. If a service landholder or estate owner proceeds to discharge from his service landholding or from his hereditary estate, or someone's bailiffs and elders proceed to discharge, peasant daughters of marriageable age or widows to marry someone's slaves or peasants: they shall give such peasant daughters, women of marriageable age and widows, manumission documents signed by their own hands, or by their spiritual fathers, in case of a future dispute.

Collect the fee for permitting such peasant daughters to marry peasants of another lord by mutual agreement. Concerning that which someone collects for the marriage departure fee: write that explicitly in the manumission documents.

20. If any people come to someone on [his] hereditary estate and service landholding and say about themselves that they are free; and those people desire to live under them as peasants or landless peasants: those people whom they approach shall interrogate them - what kind of free people are they? And where is their birth place? And under whom did they live? And whence did they come? And are they not someone's fugitive slaves, and peasants, and landless peasants? And do they have manumission documents?

If they say that they do not have manumission documents on their person: service landholders and hereditary estate owners shall find out about such people accurately, whether they really are free people. Having investigated accurately, bring them in the same year for registration to the Service Land Chancellery in Moscow; Kazan'-area residents and residents of Kazan' by-towns shall bring them to Kazan'; Novgorodians and residents of the Novgorodian by-towns shall bring them to Novgorod; Pskovians and residents of the Pskov by-towns shall bring them to Pskov. [Chancellery officials] in the Service Land Chancellery and governors in the provincial towns shall interrogate such free people on that subject and shall record their testimonies accurately.

If it becomes necessary to give those people who are brought in for registration, on the basis of their testimony under interrogation, as peasants to those people who brought them in for registration: order those people to whom they will be given as peasants to affix their signatures to the testimonies of those people after they have been taken.

21. If an estate owner or a service landholder brings in for registration the person who approached him without having checked accurately, and they proceed to take such people in as peasants: return such people as peasants to plaintiffs after trial and investigation, and according to the census books, along with [their] wives, and with [their] children, and with [their] movable property.

Concerning [what shall be exacted] from those people who take in someone else's peasant or landless peasant without checking accurately: collect for those years, however many [the peasant] lived under someone, 10 rubles per year for the sovereign's taxes and for the incomes of the hereditary estate owner and service landholder because [of this rule]: without checking accurately, do not receive someone else's [peasant].

22. Concerning peasant children who proceed to deny their fathers and mothers: torture them.

23. If people of all ranks, desiring to bind under themselves others' fugitive peasants and landless peasants as their own, take loan documents or loan notes on them for a large [crop] loan; and those fugitive peasants and landless peasants are returned to someone after trial and investigation; and they [who gave the loans] proceed to petition against those people [to whom the peasants were returned] for that [crop] loan on the basis of those loan notes and loan documents: reject those people who have such [crop] loan notes and loan documents. Do not grant them a trial on the basis of those [crop] loan documents or of any other documents. Do not believe those loan documents and [crop] loan notes.

Take those notes and loan documents from them to the chancellery and register [them] in the books. Return those fugitive peasants and landless peasants with the entire [crop] loan to [their] old estate owners and service landholders.

Concerning those people from whom those fugitive peasants or landless peasants are taken: reject [their claims] for that [crop] loan [because of this rule]: do not receive others' peasants and landless peasants, and do not give them a [crop] loan.

24. Concerning brothers, and children, and kinsmen of their peasants [living on the lands] of hereditary estate owners and service landholders who are registered in the census books in households together with their fathers and kinsmen; and after the census they split up and proceeded to live by themselves in their own households: do not place those households in the category of concealed households, and do not call them additional households, and do not register them in the Service Land Chancellery because they are registered together with their fathers and kinsmen in the census books.

Henceforth from September 1 of the present year 1648 [sic] no one shall petition the sovereign [to denounce] concealed households. Do not accept petitions in the Service Land Chancellery about that from anyone because in the past years 1645/46 and 1646/47 by the sovereign's decree stol'niki and Moscow dvoriane under oath took a census of peasants and landless peasants [living] under all hereditary estate owners and service landholders. [In instances where] they did not conduct the census according to the law, [census takers] were sent back to those places to conduct the census a second time, A severe punishment was inflicted on census takers for an illegal census.

25. Concerning people of all ranks who proceed to sue someone for their own fugitive peasants and for their peasant movable property, and they demand sums of 50 rubles and more in their claim [s] for such peasant movable property; and someone proceeds to sue someone for his own fugitive peasants, but he does not state the peasant movable property precisely in the plea, how much of what kinds of property, and the price of it; and the defendant does not testify that those peasants are [living] under him, and it becomes necessary [to resolve the case by] an oath: place [under the cross] 4 rubles per head for those peasants, as [demanded in] the plea; and for unspecified movable property, [place] 5 rubles for each [lot]; for large quantities of movable property, resolve [the case] by a trial.

26. If a defendant does not deny [that fugitive] peasants [are living under him] , but testifies about the movable property that that peasant came to him without any movable property; but the plaintiff testifies that his peasant came to that defendant of his with movable property; but he does not state in his plea how much of what kinds of movable property that peasants of his had, or the value of that peasant movable property; and it also becomes necessary [to resolve the case by] an oath: place 5 rubles per lot of undescribed peasant movables under the cross. Having taken the peasants from the defendant, return them to the plaintiff.

27. If someone at a trial denies [retaining] someone's peasant and takes an oath on the matter; but later on that peasant, whom he denied under oath, appears on his property: having taken that peasant from him, return him to the plaintiff with all the movable property as [demanded] in the plea. Inflict a severe punishment on him for the offense that he kissed the cross not in accordance with the truth, beat him with the knout around the market places for three days so that it will become known to many people why the decreed punishment is being inflicted on him. Having beaten him with the knout around the market places for three days, imprison him for a year. Henceforth do not believe him in any matter, and do not grant him a trial in any cases against anyone.

28. Concerning defendants who do not deny having possession of peasants at trial, and after trial it becomes necessary, having taken such peasants from the defendant, to return them to the plaintiff: return such peasants as peasants to the plaintiffs with [their] wives and with [their] children, even though the children of those fugitive peasants are not registered in the cadastral books, but are living together with their father and mother, and not in separate households.

29. Concerning defendants who at a trial proceed to deny [having possession of] fugitive peasants and their peasant movable property; and later on they testify under oath that they do have those peasants; and they proceed to return them to the plaintiffs, but as previously they deny having the movable property: order that peasant movable property exacted from them and give it to the plaintiffs without taking an oath because at trial they denied everything concerning both people and property, but later they returned the peasants, but they want to reap the benefits from their property themselves.

30. Concerning peasants and landless peasants who are registered in the cadastral books, or in allotment books, or in records of land transfers, and in extracts [from these books as living] under service landholders and hereditary estate owners separately on their service lands and hereditary estate lands: those service landholders and hereditary estate owners shall not move their peasants from their service lands to their hereditary estate lands. They shall not thereby lay waste their service landholdings.

31. If some service landholders and hereditary estate owners proceed to move their peasants from their service lands to their hereditary estate lands; and subsequently their service landholdings are given to any other service landholders; and those new service landholders proceed to petition the sovereign about those peasants who were moved from the service lands to the hereditary estate lands [and they ask] that such peasants be returned from the hereditary estate lands to the service lands from which they were moved: return those peasants from the hereditary estate lands to the service lands for those new service landholders with all their peasant movable property, and with [their] standing grain and with [their] threshed grain.

32. If someone's peasants and landless peasants proceed to hire themselves out to labor for someone: those peasants and landless peasants shall hire themselves out to labor for people of all ranks voluntarily with written documents or without written documents.

Those people to whom they hire themselves out to labor shall not take indentures, and [crop] loan notes, and limited service slavery contracts on them, and shall not bind them to themselves by any means.

When those hirelings have completed laboring for them, they shall release them from themselves without any restraint.

33. Concerning slaves and peasants who flee across the frontier from service landholders and from hereditary estate owners of all ranks and from the border towns; and, having been across the frontier and returning from across the frontier, they do not want to live with their own old service landholders and hereditary estate owners, [and] they proceed to request their freedom: having interrogated those fugitive slaves and peasants, return them to their old service landholders and hereditary estate owners from whom they fled. Do not grant them freedom.

34. Concerning slaves and peasants who flee across the frontier to the Swedish and [Polish-] Lithuanian side from any hereditary estate owners and service landholders who have been granted service landholdings in the frontier towns; and across the frontier they marry similarly fugitive older women and young women of marriageable age [who belong to] different service landholders; and having gotten married, they return from across the frontier to their own old service landholders and hereditary estate owners; and, when they return, those old service landholders of theirs proceed to petition the sovereign, one about the young woman of marriageable age or about the older woman, [stating] that his peasant woman married that fugitive peasant; and his defendant proceeds to testify that his peasant married that fugitive young woman or the older woman across the frontier while a fugitive: at trial and investigation, grant them lots on the question of those fugitive slaves and peasants of theirs. Whoever gets the lot, that one [shall get the couple and] shall pay a 5-ruble marriage departure fee for the young woman, or for the older woman, or for the man because they were both fugitives across the frontier.