CHAPTER 17. -- Hereditary Estates. In It Are 55 Articles.

1. In the past year 1627/28, the great Sovereign, Tsar, and Grand Prince of all Russia of blessed memory Mikhail Fedorovich, and his royal father, also of blessed memory, the great Sovereign, most holy Filaret Nikitich, Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia, promulgated a decree in accord with the canons of the Holy Apostles and the Holy Fathers on clan hereditary estates and on hereditary estates awarded for service: if someone dies, and a childless wife survives him, and also natural brothers, and cousins, and [other members of] the clan survive him: give those hereditary estates to [members of] the clan of that deceased who died, to natural brothers, and to cousins, and to [other members of] the clan, whoever is closer [to the deceased].

As for the wives of those deceased who remain childless, grant them a quarter of their movable property, plus the dowry. They have no claim on clan hereditary estates and on hereditary estates awarded for service. [They do have a claim on] purchased hereditary estates.

Concerning hereditary estate owners who have died, and in their wills and dowries their hereditary estates have been given after their death to their nieces, and unmarried eligible granddaughters, and great granddaughters: those hereditary estates shall remain their property on the basis of clan kinship.

2. Concerning hereditary estate owners who are survived by their married daughters and sisters: and petitioners, the married daughters and sisters of those deceased, proceed to petition for ownership of their hereditary estates on the basis of kinship: issue a decree for them according to statute -- they shall be the owners of those hereditary estates.

Concerning sons and daughters who proceed to petition about hereditary estates after their fathers have died: grant those hereditary estates to the sons, but do not grant the daughters shares of the hereditary estates with the brothers while their brothers are living. Grant maintenance allotments to daughters from service landholdings after their fathers' death according to statute. When their brothers die, the daughters shall become the estate owners of those hereditary estates.

In the past year 1628/29 the great Sovereign, most holy Filaret Nikitich of blessed memory, Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia, decreed that clan hereditary estates and hereditary estates granted for service should be given [upon the death of their owners] to the male children of the [late] estate owners. If the deceased left no son, then [grant] those hereditary estates to the daughters. If by God's judgment the daughters die, grant those hereditary estates to [surviving members of] the clan, whoever of that clan is closest to the [deceased] estate owners. They [the heirs] shall give money for those hereditary estates for saying prayers in eternal memory of the deceased, according to statute.

A purchased hereditary estate [may pass] to his [a man's] wife. She is free [to use] that hereditary estate as she wishes. No one is to have any claim on it.

That decree of 1628/29 of the great Sovereign, most holy Filaret Nikitich of blessed memory, Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia, was written down by his sanctified Sovereign hand.

Now the Sovereign, Tsar, and Grand Prince of all Russia Aleksei Mikhailovich has decreed and the boyars have affirmed: when, by God's judgment, people of the Moscow ranks, boyars, and okol'nichie, and counselors, and stol'niki, and striapchie, and Moscow dvoriane, and state secretaries, and zhil'tsy, and provincial dvoriane, and deti boiarskie, and foreigners, die, and their mothers survive them, and their childless wives also survive them; and those deceased [servicemen] did not leave any service landholdings, and there is nothing from which to grant the mothers and wives a maintenance allotment; and they did not leave any purchased hereditary estates, but they did leave hereditary estates awarded for service and clan hereditary estates: after review, grant a maintenance allotment from the estates awarded for service to the mothers and wives of those deceased, for the rest of their lives.

Those widows shall not sell those hereditary estates awarded for service. And they shall not mortgage them, and shall not give them away [to pay for the saying of prayers] for the soul, and [they shall not] register them in dowries for themselves. If she marries, or becomes a nun, or dies: grant those hereditary estates to hereditary estate owners, those who are closest to those [deceased] hereditary estate [owners], according to the prior royal decrees and statutes, as written above this.

3. Grant maintenance allotments from hereditary estates granted for service after [their] owners have died to their widowed mothers after a review [to determine] whether those mothers of theirs are living together with them, and [whether] heretofore anything had been given them for maintenance.

If those mothers of theirs already possess maintenance service landholdings from prior grants: do not give those mothers of theirs anything for maintenance from the hereditary estates awarded for service.

4. The sovereign has decreed and the boyars have affirmed that clan hereditary estates and hereditary estates awarded for service shall be [owned] according to the canons of the Holy Apostles and the Holy Fathers and according to the statute of the former sovereigns, both of his royal father of blessed memory, the great Sovereign, Tsar, and Grand Prince of all Russia Mikhail Fedorovich and his royal grandfather, also of blessed memory, the great Sovereign, most holy Filaret Nikitich, patriarch of Moscow and all Russia, of 1627/28 and 1628/29, as is written above this.

When people die without leaving sons: grant clan hereditary estates and hereditary estates awarded for service to their daughters, according to the prior decrees of the sovereigns. If the daughters have children, those hereditary estates [shall pass] to their children and grandchildren, after their natural grandfathers and grandmothers [have died]. They, with their own natural uncles and aunts, shall be the owners of the ancient hereditary estates and the hereditary estates awarded for service.

If no children survive the daughters: grant those estates to [other members of] the clan, whichever hereditary estate owners of that clan are closest [to the deceased], according to prior royal decrees and statutes.[1]

5. If a deceased leaves a purchased hereditary estate, but does not leave a clan hereditary estate, [or] an hereditary estate awarded for service, [or] a service landholding, and that same deceased leaves a second or a third wife, and the children whom he begat by the first, or by the second, or by the third wife; and there is nothing from which to grant those children of his whom he begat by the first, or by the second, or by the third wife a service landholding except a purchased hereditary estate: having divided [the hereditary estate] into shares, grant the purchased hereditary estate to his wife and all his children in an amount each share permits.

6. If, after someone dies, a purchased hereditary estate is granted to his wife, excluding the children: she is free [to do as she pleases] on that hereditary estate. No one has any claim on that hereditary estate.

7. If any people, departing this world, bequeath their own purchased hereditary estates in their wills to their childless wives, on the condition that their wives do not remarry after them; but if their wives do remarry: they shall have no claims on those hereditary estates. Grant those hereditary estates of theirs to their brothers, or to [other members of] the clan. Or, if it is written in the wills that their wives, when they become widows, shall possess those purchased hereditary estates of theirs only as long as they live, or until the time when they become nuns, but when those wives of theirs become nuns or die, those purchased hereditary estates of theirs for that reason should be given to their brothers, or to [other members of] the clan: on the basis of such wills their childless wives shall possess purchased hereditary estates after the death [of their husbands] until the time when they remarry, or become nuns, or die.

If they remarry: they shall have no claims on those hereditary estates. According to the will of the deceased, grant those hereditary estates to the clan, to whomever that hereditary estate is deeded in the will.

8. Concerning people who purchase for themselves their own service landholdings as an hereditary estate; or they purchase for themselves the clan hereditary estates and the hereditary estates awarded for service from hereditary estate owners of the clan: and subsequently they die, and their surviving wives are childless: grant those childless wives of theirs only those purchased hereditary estates which they purchased for themselves from their own service lands.

They shall possess those hereditary estates only as long as they live, or until that time when they remarry or become nuns. They shall not sell or mortgage those hereditary estates.

After they remarry, or become nuns, or die: grant those hereditary estates after them to relatives of their [late] husbands also as hereditary estates, to whomever the sovereign orders, after review. The relatives shall give [an amount of] money for that hereditary estate equal to [the sum listed in] the purchase document [for prayers] for his soul.

If he added heritable fixtures to that purchased hereditary estate after the purchase: for that additional construction the relatives shall also give money accordingly [for the saying of prayers] for his soul equal to [the amount listed in] the sovereign's statute as written about that below concerning purchased and mortgaged hereditary estates.

Concerning the clan hereditary estates or hereditary estates awarded for
service which their husbands purchase for themselves from the hereditary estate owners of their clan: do not grant them, the widows, those hereditary estates after their husbands' [decease]. Grant such hereditary estates to
[members of] the clan of the deceased because those hereditary estates belong to their clan, and have been awarded for service. The relatives shall give
for that hereditary estate [an amount of] money accordingly equal to [the
sum listed in] the purchase document [for prayers] for his soul.

9. Sell service lands as hereditary estates in accord with the sovereign’s signed decree, to whomever the sovereign so favors. Service landholders shall not sell their service lands as an hereditary estate to anyone without the sovereign’s signed decree.

10. Concerning the hereditary estates granted for service which in the past years through 1627/28 were granted after the [deaths of] husbands to their childless wives, but from 1627/28 through 1631/32 those hereditary estates were taken away from those widows and granted to [members of] the clan of their husbands, but [in instances where] no one of that clan has survived, those hereditary estates were granted to petitioners as service lands; but afterwards, since 1631/32, by the decree of the great Sovereign, Tsar, and Grand Prince of all Russia Mikhail Fedorovich of blessed memory and his royal father of blessed memory, the great Sovereign, most holy Filaret Nikitich, Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia, those hereditary estates were taken out of distribution [as service landholdings] and were given back to those same widows from whom those hereditary estates had been taken away, and they were ordered to possess those hereditary estates as long as they lived: those hereditary estates shall remain [in the possession] of those widows while they are living.

Those widows shall not sell those hereditary estates to anyone else, or mortgage [them], or give them to a monastery [for the saying of prayers] for souls, or give them to parish churches.

When they die, grant those hereditary estates to [the members of] their husbands' clan, whoever is close to those hereditary estates.

11. Concerning hereditary estate owners who died in past years prior to 1627/28; and childless wives survived them and sold their husbands' hereditary estates; and subsequently those wives died; and other wives of hereditary estate owners became nuns, and those hereditary estates of theirs are now in the possession of [other] hereditary estate owners as a result of sale and mortgage; and if [potential] hereditary estate owners of those hereditary estates turn up on the basis of kinship: they shall redeem [those hereditary estates] according to statute.

If there are no [such related] hereditary estate owners: those hereditary estates shall remain in the ownership of those people who purchased them or took them on mortgage.

12. Concerning hereditary estate owners who in years past, up to 1627/28, were survived by widowed mothers and wives; and those widows possess the hereditary estates of those hereditary estate owners, but those widows do not possess any service landholding maintenance allotments: do not confiscate those hereditary estates from those widows while they live. They shall not in any manner sell, mortgage, or give away those hereditary estates [for prayers] for souls.

13. If after the death of an hereditary estate owner his hereditary estate is given to his children, two sons, or three people jointly: they all together shall own that hereditary estate. No one of them shall sell or mortgage that hereditary estate without [the participation of every other] one.

If many debts remain outstanding after their father's death, and thy have nothing with which to pay those debts besides that hereditary estate, and they desire to sell or to mortgage that hereditary estate to pay off that debt of the father: all of them jointly shall sell or mortgage that hereditary estate.

If the senior brother, desiring to benefit himself, and not for the repayment of the father's debt, sells or mortgages to someone that hereditary estate without having made an agreement with the junior brothers; and his brothers at that time are small; but when they reach their majority, they proceed to petition the sovereign within the statutory forty years about that paternal hereditary estate against that senior brother of theirs and against the buyer who purchased from him that hereditary estate of their father's, or took it on mortgage; and it is established about that conclusively at trial that that brother of theirs sold that hereditary estate of theirs, without their knowledge, for his own gain, and not for the repayment of the father's debts: having taken their shares of that hereditary estate from that person to whom that hereditary estate of theirs was sold or mortgaged, return it to them.

Order that person to whom those hereditary estate shares were sold or mortgaged to exact the money for those hereditary estate shares in full from their senior brother on the basis of the purchase document, or the mortgage document. The hereditary estate share of their senior brother shall remain sold as before. If the younger brothers desire it, redeem that share of the hereditary estate: they shall redeem that share of the hereditary estate according to the sovereign's decree, as is written above about this.

14. If after someone's death his hereditary estate is given to his male children, two or three people jointly: and one of them desires to sell or to mortgage his share of that paternal hereditary estate because of his own poverty: he is free to sell or mortgage that share of his hereditary estate.

If his brothers do not desire to divide that paternal hereditary estate with him, and they proceed to petition the sovereign [and ask] that the sovereign bestow favor upon them, order their brother to take from them their money for that share of their brother's hereditary estate: order that their brother take the money from them for that share of the hereditary estate after appraising how much that hereditary estate is worth.

15. If deaf and dumb children survive a deceased; and their brothers, or sisters, proceed to harm them, and proceed to alienate their paternal or maternal estate: those children of the deceased shall divide the estates of their father or mother into shares, equally for all, so that no one of them will be harmed.

16. Concerning people who in past years, in the reign of the great Sovereign, Tsar, and Grand Prince of all Russia Mikhail Fedorovich of blessed memory, were granted hereditary estates for sitting out the siege of Moscow, when they had sat out the siege in Moscow, during the reign of the Sovereign, Tsar, and Grand Prince of all Russia Vasilii Ivanovich [Shuiskii] of blessed memory, and the great Sovereign, Tsar, and Grand Prince of all Russia Mikhail Fedorovich also of blessed memory during the campaign of the [Polish] Crown Prince [Wladyslaw], and hereditary estate charters for those hereditary estates were granted to them: those people shall [continue to] own those hereditary estates on the basis of the grant charters and the cadastral books.

17. Concerning people who were granted hereditary estates after investigation for having sat out the siege of Moscow; and petitioners proceed to petition against those people [and allege] that they were not in the siege, and their names are not written in the siege register: in response to that petition, rigorously investigate those people who own such hereditary estates. Arrange an eye-to-eye confrontation with those people who petition against them.

If the investigation [reveals] that someone did not sit out the siege, but took the hereditary estate on false pretenses: confiscate those hereditary estates from those [people] and give out [the land] in a distribution. But do not confiscate those hereditary estates from them in the absence [of the accused] and without having investigated with certainly.

18. According to the survey by cadastral officials, certain people in the past years held supplemental lands in [their] ancient and clan hereditary estates, but not in new grants, and they have tilled those [supplemental] lands: and they raised hamlets and settlements out of their own usufruct possessions, out of [their own] assigned forests, and out of [their own] meadows; and by the decree of the great Sovereign, Tsar, and Grand Prince of all Russia Mikhail Fedorovich of blessed memory, those supplemental lands were given to those same hereditary estate owners also as an hereditary estate because those lands in their possession [were] their ancient hereditary estates, and not new grants: those people shall [continue] to own those hereditary estates of theirs accordingly, on the basis of the grant charters and the cadastral books.

If in the future any supplemental lands come to light in their possession on those ancient and clan hereditary estates of theirs by the cadastre of new cadastral officials, which [supplemental] lands they henceforth till on their own usufruct possessions, out of their own assigned forests and meadows, or [if] they have raised new hamlets and settlements on their own usufruct possessions within their own borders and boundaries: do not confiscate those lands, and hamlets, and settlements from them accordingly. Order them [to continue] to own those lands, and hamlets, and settlements as part of the same hereditary estate.

19. Concerning stol'niki, and striapchie, and Moscow dvoriane, and people of all ranks who were given hereditary estates from their service landholdings for sitting out the siege of Moscow during the campaign of the [Polish] Crown Prince [Wladyslaw]: but their hereditary estate entitlements were not granted in full according to the sovereign's decree because at that time they had no service landholdings adequate to fulfill their hereditary estate grants, but later on new service landholdings were granted to them, and they proceed to petition the sovereign, would the sovereign bestow favor upon them, order them to complement their hereditary estate compensation entitlements from those new service landholdings of theirs: those petitioners shall complement their hereditary estate compensation entitlements from their new service landholding grants.

20. Concerning stol'niki, and striapchie, and provincial dvoriane, and deti boiiarskie who were granted service landholdings in Dorogobuzh, in Belaia, in Nevl', in Serpeisk, in Novgorod-Severskii, in Starodub, [and] in Roslavl'; and out of those service landholdings they were granted hereditary estates for sitting out the siege of Moscow, when they sat out the siege in Moscow, during the reign of the Sovereign, Tsar, and Grand Prince of all Russia Vasilii Ivanovich [Shuiskii] of blessed memory; and they have hereditary estate charters on those hereditary estates; and those hereditary estates of theirs passed with the towns into Lithuanian territory; and if those hereditary estate owners in the future proceed to petition the sovereign, would the sovereign bestow favor upon them, order that they be granted hereditary estate land out of their new service landholdings in the place of those lost estates of theirs, as much as they had in their old hereditary estates; and they present the hereditary estate charters on those old hereditary estates of theirs: grant those petitioners an hereditary estate equal to their lost estates out of their new service landholdings or as many acres as passed from the hereditary estate of each into Lithuanian territory.

21. Concerning those hereditary estate owners and service landholders who, according to the cadastral books, have their beehive trees on their service lands or on hereditary estate lands, within their limits and boundaries: those hereditary estate owners and service landholders are therefore free to clear those beehive trees of theirs, inside their own boundaries and limits, which boundaries and limits are registered in the cadastral books, for arable and for hay meadows, and to set up villages and hamlets.

22. Concerning those service landholders and hereditary estate owners who have their beehive tree usufruct possessions outside [of their own estates], on the lands or other service landholders and hereditary estate owners, and not on their own service lands and hereditary estate lands: they shall possess those outside usufruct possessions on the same basis as is written about such usufruct possessions above this in chapter [10] on the judicial process.

23. Concerning beehive trees, or fish weirs, and beaver dams, and fowl and game blinds, and places where one can catch birds with a net, and mills, and fords, and hay meadows and various usufruct possessions on the sovereign's lands, and not on service lands and not on hereditary estate lands; and those beehive trees and various usufruct possessions are on lands outside their estates: and peasants of those same service landholders and hereditary estate owners and various other people possess them in exchange for a rent payment: those rent payers shall [continue to] pay rent from those lands and from various usufruct possessions. Do not exclude that rent from the taxes [paid by the peasants].

24. Concerning court villages, honey-collecting hamlets, and rural taxpaying districts which by the sovereign's generosity are newly granted as service landholdings and as hereditary estates to various service landholders and hereditary estate owners, and those villages and hamlets in various usufruct possessions and in lumber and firewood forests are not measured off in terms of arable land; and in the future cadastral officials proceed to register those court villages, and honey-collecting hamlets, and rural taxpaying districts as belonging to those service landholders and hereditary estate owners: the cadastral officials shall divide up all those usufruct possessions and firewood and lumber forests, having measured them off in terms of arable land, according to their grants, except for old service and hereditary estate lands.

Concerning the lands which service landholders and hereditary estate owners possess according to old cadastral and census review books as a service landholding or an hereditary estate from long ago, and not as a grant from [the sovereign's] court villages, and [those] usufruct possessions and forests have not been measured: those people shall [continue to] possess their usufruct possessions on the basis of the old cadastral and census review books. Order anyone to ride into his forest as of old for firewood and lumber.

25. Concerning the fact that in past years, in the reign of the great Sovereign, Tsar, and Grand Prince of all Russia Mikhail Fedorovich of blessed memory, there were many petitioners about service landholdings and hereditary estates against stol'niki, and against striapchie, and against dvoriane and deti boiarskie, which stol'niki, and striapchie, and dvoriane, and deti boiarskie were in Tushino and in the towns, towns which were allied with the Impostor, during the Time of Troubles; the service landholdings and hereditary estates were not confiscated from those stol'niki, and from striapchie, and from dvoriane, and from deti boiarskie and were not distributed to petitioners in a distribution, and those stol'niki, and striapchie, and dvoriane, and deti boiarskie were ordered to possess the hereditary estates and service landholdings as previously: and hereditary estate charters were issued for their old clan and purchased hereditary estates because they, having come to Moscow after the destruction of Moscow, joined with the boyars and the generals, stood against the Lithuanians, and together defended the Muscovite state against the Lithuanians, and by the grace of God, with their own outstanding service they defended and cleansed the Muscovite state of the Lithuanians: for this reason those hereditary estates and service landholdings in the possession of such stol'niki, and striapchie, and dvoriane, and deti boiarskie shall be inviolate; they shall [continue to] possess those service landholdings and hereditary estates on the basis of prior grants and grant charters, charters which were issued to them after the destruction of Moscow.

If someone's old charters to such hereditary estates and service landholdings are lost: those [people] shall petition for new charters. In response to that petition of theirs, investigate those hereditary estates and service landholdings for which they proceed to petition the sovereign for new charters, in the Service Land Chancellery, in the [records of] grants and cadastral books, [to find out] whether they were given to them, and whether they once had charters on those hereditary estates and service landholdings. If the investigation [shows] that those hereditary estates or service landholdings were granted to them; and they once had charters on those hereditary estates and service landholdings, but lost them: after investigation, grant them new charters on those hereditary estates and service landholdings. On the basis [of those new charters] they shall henceforth possess those hereditary estates and service landholdings.

26. Concerning stol'niki, and striapchie, and Moscow dvoriane, and provincial dvoriane, and deti boiarskie who were in Tushino, and their hereditary estates were handed out [to others] in a distribution during the reign of the Sovereign, Tsar, and Grand Prince of all Russia Vasilii Ivanovich [Shuiskii] of blessed memory, and those hereditary estates of theirs were not given back to them until this time: those hereditary estates shall remain as they were handed out in the grants of the Sovereign, Tsar, and Grand Prince of all Russia Vasilii Ivanovich [Shuiskii] of blessed memory in the possession of those people to whom those hereditary estates were granted irrevocably.

27. When someone sells or mortgages a clan hereditary estate or an hereditary estate granted for service: henceforth his children and grandchildren shall have no claim to that hereditary estate, and do not give them that hereditary estate for redemption.

If the seller has brothers or kinsmen, and those brothers and kinsmen of
his affixed their signatures to the purchase or mortgage documents: they,
their children, and grandchildren henceforth accordingly shall have no claim
on that hereditary estate.

But if the signatures of brothers and kinsmen are not on purchase and
mortgage documents: those brothers and kinsmen shall redeem those hereditary estates on the basis of the purchase and mortgage documents in which the hereditary estate was sold or mortgaged, and not on the basis of acreage.

Concerning an expansion in [the number of] peasant households, and in
[the number of] people in them, and in arable and hay meadows [cleared]
from forest overgrowth on someone's hereditary estate, over [what is listed in] the purchase and mortgage documents: after trial and investigation, those hereditary estate owners who proceed to redeem those hereditary estates shall pay those people from whom they proceed to redeem those hereditary estates for that supplemental construction [on the] hereditary estates: 50 rubles for a peasant household occupied by people; 3 rubles per 2.7 acres for arable land which is newly cleared from forest overgrowth; 2 rubles per 2.7 acres for hay meadows which are also newly cleared from forest overgrowth; and pay cash for church construction, and for masters' houses and slave quarters, and for mill and for pond construction depending on the construction and on the appraisal of people of the vicinity.

28. But if it is written in an hereditary estate purchase document or in a mortgage document that for construction on the hereditary estate those people who redeem [it] shall pay cash according to the testimony of those people from whom they redeem those hereditary estates: according to those purchase documents and mortgage documents, for the additional construction on the hereditary estate those people from whom they proceed to redeem those
hereditary estates shall exact money from those people who proceed to redeem those hereditary estates from them on the basis of the purchase documents and the mortgage documents.

29. If someone proceeds to redeem an hereditary estate from an hereditary estate owner; and on that hereditary estate there are extra homesteads above [those listed in] the purchase document, but in those homesteads are settled peasant children, or brothers, or nephews who were listed in the purchase document, and not newcomers from elsewhere: and in the purchase document or in the mortgage document they were registered together with their fathers and with brothers, or with [their] uncles, and not [in] separate [homesteads]: do not consider those peasants a gain. Do not take money for them from those people who proceed to redeem them because they are the old peasants of that hereditary estate, and they did not arrive recently.

30. Hold trial concerning [the ownership of] an hereditary estate within forty years. But if hereditary estates have been [recorded] in a purchase document or in a mortgage document for more than forty years, and hereditary estate owners proceed to petition to redeem such hereditary estates after forty years: do not grant such hereditary estates to anyone for redemption after the statutory forty years.

31. If someone sells or mortgages his own purchased hereditary estate: or gives it away to someone for no money, and he gives a document on that hereditary estate; or wills it to someone after his death, and writes it down in the will, and that will is not disputed when it is witnessed: his children, and grandchildren, and others of his clan henceforth shall have no claim on that hereditary estate. Do not give that hereditary estate to them for redemption.

If someone at the witnessing of the will disputes it in a petition, investigate that at trial.

32. If someone mortgages to someone [else] his own clan, or service, or purchased hereditary estate until a certain date; and he gives a mortgage document on himself; and on the basis of that mortgage document proceeds to redeem that hereditary estate of his on the date, or prior to the date, and brings the cash to that person with whom that hereditary estate of his is mortgaged; and that person with whom that hereditary estate of his mortgaged, out of desire to seize that estate of his, does not accept that money prior to the date or on the date from him so that on the basis of the date he can win that hereditary estate from him in litigation: that borrower shall submit a petition to the sovereign against that person who does not accept that money from him, without letting that date lapse; he shall bring the loaned money to the [Service Land] Chancellery in full, equal to [the sum stated in] the mortgage document.

If that borrower proceeds to petition the sovereign about that matter against that person who does not accept the loaned money from him, without letting the date lapse, and he brings the loaned money to the [Service Land] Chancellery: on the basis of that borrower's petition send [a bailiff] out of the chancellery after that person against whom he proceeds to petition and order him to bring the mortgage document along with him.

When he brings the mortgage document, examine [that mortgage document, on what date he was supposed to take his loaned money back from the borrower according to that mortgage document; and if according to the mortgage document the date [for the repayment of] that money had not passed prior to the borrower's petition: having taken that mortgage document from him, give it back to the borrower. Give back to him the borrower's money in full, equal to [the sum stated in] that mortgage document.

33. If someone fails to repay someone the money for a mortgaged hereditary estate on time, and he proceeds to petition the sovereign after the date about the redemption of that hereditary estate of his: reject him in that matter. Do not give him his mortgaged hereditary estate for redemption. Order those to whom he was in debt in the mortgage to own such mortgaged hereditary estates. On the basis of the mortgage documents, order that such mortgaged estates be written down in the books as the property of those people to whom those hereditary estates were forfeit by default on the mortgage, in the absence of a petition of that person who, having mortgaged that hereditary estate, allowed the date to lapse, after having consulted with the Judicial Chancellery about whether or not his petition about the redemption of that mortgaged hereditary estate was [filed] in the Judicial Chancellery.

34. If someone sells his own clan, or service, or purchased hereditary estate to someone, and takes the money, and gives a purchase document; but does not register that hereditary estate in the books in the Service Land Chancellery as the property of the purchaser; and subsequently he feloniously sells that same hereditary estate of his to someone else, and takes the money, and registers that hereditary estate in the books in the Service Land Chancellery as the property of the latter purchaser: that person for whom that hereditary estate is registered in the books in the Service Land Chancellery shall own that hereditary estate. Order the first purchaser not to own that hereditary estate because he, having purchased that hereditary estate, did not register it as his own in the books in the Service Land Chancellery.

Order him to exact his money from that seller on the basis of the purchase document. Inflict a punishment on that seller for that felony of his, that he sold his one hereditary estate to two people, order him beaten mercilessly with the knout in the presence of many people at the [Service Land] Chancellery so that others, looking on, will learn not to do that.

If he, having sold that hereditary estate, does not register [the sale] in the books for either purchaser: on the basis of the purchase document give that hereditary estate to the first purchaser and register [it] in the books in his name. Order the latter purchaser to exact the money from him.

35. If someone feloniously sells or mortgages someone else's clan, or service, or purchased hereditary estate; and in the purchase document, or in the mortgage document, records that person to whom that hereditary estate belongs among the sellers; and he forges a signature on the purchase or mortgage document in the absence of that person to whom that hereditary estate belongs and also signs for him; and he registers that purchased or mortgaged hereditary estate in the books in the Service Land Chancellery in collusion with that person to whom he sells or mortgages that hereditary estate; and subsequently that person to whom that hereditary estate belongs proceeds to petition the sovereign against him [and alleges] that he himself did not sell or mortgage that hereditary estate of his to anyone, and did not order anyone to sell or to sign a purchase document or a mortgage document in his place: and that is established conclusively: on the basis of the registered documents give back that hereditary estate to that hereditary estate owner to whom that hereditary estate belongs.

Having exacted the money from the seller on the basis of the purchase document or the mortgage document, give it back to that person to whom he sold or mortgaged that hereditary estate which belongs to someone else.

Order that seller beaten with the knout for the felony, that he sold or mortgaged someone else's hereditary estate, so that others looking on will learn not to commit such a felony.

Concerning the fact that losses were suffered by that person to whom that hereditary estate belongs because of his [the felon's] sale of that hereditary estate: having exacted those losses from him [the felon], give [the money] to that person to whom that hereditary estate belongs.

36. If someone sells or mortgages his own hereditary estate to someone; and orders someone else to sign the purchase document or the mortgage document in his place because he himself is illiterate; and afterwards he proceeds to petition the sovereign against that person who signed in his place and says that he signed in his place without his knowledge; and that person who signed in his place proceeds to petition the sovereign and says that he is deliberately slandering him, that he signed the sale document or the mortgage document at his order, and not without his knowledge; and in response to that petition of his it is established about that conclusively that he signed the purchase document or the mortgage document at the order of that person who slandered him: on the basis of that investigation inflict a severe punishment on that person who deliberately slandered him for his slanderous petition, order him beaten mercilessly with the knout in the presence of many people so that others looking on will learn not to do that. Order that his hereditary estate not be taken away from that person to whom he sold or mortgaged [it].

If someone feloniously signs an hereditary estate sale document or mortgage document in someone's place in his absence, and that is established conclusively: inflict a severe punishment on that person accordingly, order him beaten mercilessly with the knout. Do not register hereditary estates in the registration books on the basis of such purchase documents and mortgage documents.

37. Concerning the deserted service lands in Moscow province and the hereditary estate lands in the provincial towns purchased as hereditary estates by deti boiarskie in the service of the patriarch, and the metropolitans, and archbishops; and those deti boiarskie in the employ of the patriarch and other high church officials are deti boiarskie of old ancestry: on the basis of the purchase, those lands in the future shall be owned by them as hereditary estates.

Concerning palace court officials, children of fathers who are not in [the sovereign's] service, in the employ of the patriarch and the metropolitans, and archbishops, and bishops, and are not deti boiarskie of old ancestry, who have purchased hereditary estates for themselves: on the basis of those hereditary estates, register such palace court officials of the patriarch, and metropolitans, and archbishops, and bishops in the sovereign's service from the provincial towns.

If someone of those deti boiarskie in the employ of the patriarch, and metropolitans, and archbishops, and bishops does not want to render the sovereign's service: having taken his purchased hereditary estate from him, give it away in a distribution of service lands to whomever the sovereign decrees.

38. If someone sells or mortgages an hereditary estate to someone and defaults on repayment, and registers the purchase or mortgage document for that hereditary estate in the books: and subsequently he commits treason, leaves the Muscovite state for another land: that person who purchased that hereditary estate from him shall own that hereditary estate without [any possibility of] redemption because he purchased that hereditary estate from that traitor Prior to his treason. Do not return that hereditary estate to the clan of that traitor for redemption.

39. If someone proceeds to assume ownership of a traitor's hereditary estate, but does not deposit a purchase document or mortgage document on that hereditary estate, or if he does deposit it, but the date [for registering] that hereditary estate has expired, and the purchase document or mortgage document is not registered in the books: confiscate that traitor's hereditary estate from him for the sovereign because, having purchased that hereditary estate, or having taken it on mortgage prior to [the expiration] date, he failed to register [the hereditary estate] for himself in the books until after the date, the date which is written in the mortgage.

40. If such a traitor, having mortgaged his hereditary estate, departs prior to the due date: confiscate that hereditary estate from that person to whom it was mortgaged for the sovereign, and give him back his money according to the mortgage document from the property of that traitor.

41. Slaves and monastery servitors shall not buy hereditary estates and shall not hold them in their possession on mortgage. Concerning the slave or the monastery servitor who buys an hereditary estate, of proceeds to hold [one] under a mortgage; and someone, having learned about such an hereditary estate, proceeds to petition the sovereign about it; and that is established conclusively: confiscate that hereditary estate from the slave or the monastery servitor for the sovereign and grant it as a service landholding to the petitioners who discovered that hereditary estate in their possession.

42. In the past years, since 1627/28, by a decree of the great Sovereign, Tsar, and Grand Prince of all Russia Mikhail Fedorovich of blessed memory, [the following] has been written in his royal charters granting hereditary estates: hereditary estate owners who, by his royal decree, are granted hereditary estates for service, those estate owners, and their children, and grandchildren, and great-grandchild are free to sell, and mortgage, and give away in a dowry, and give away to a monastery [to pay] for [the saying of prayers for] the soul hereditary estates granted for service.

If someone from his clan desires to redeem that hereditary estate from a monastery: he shall redeem that hereditary estate according to the previous statute [on hereditary estates], as clan and purchased hereditary estates were redeemed during the reigns of previous sovereigns.

If no clan [members] survive him, or some survive, but they do not desire to redeem [it]: confiscate that hereditary estate from the monastery for the sovereign. Give the monastery money for it from the sovereign's treasury, according to the statute [on hereditary estates], .50 ruble per 1.3 acres of land. That hereditary estate shall not be registered as the property of that monastery.

Now, the Sovereign, Tsar, and Grand Prince of all Russia Aleksei Mikhailovich, having consulted with his father and spiritual intercessor, the most holy Iosif, Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia, and with metropolitans, and with archbishops, and with bishops, and with archimandrites, and hegumens, and with the entire Holy Assembly: and having spoken with his royal boyars, and with okol'nichie, and with counselors, and with stol'niki, and with striapchie, and with Moscow dvoriane, and with provincial dvoriane and deti boiarskie, has decreed, and they established as law in assembly: henceforth, from the time of this present Law Code, the patriarch, and metropolitans, and archbishops, and bishops, and monasteries shall not buy clan, and service, and purchased hereditary estates from anyone; nor shall they take them on mortgage, keep them in their possession, or take them by any means [in exchange for saying prayers] for the eternal memory of souls.

Do not register such hereditary estates in the Service Land Chancellery as the property of the patriarch, and of metropolitans, and of archbishops, and bishops, and of monasteries.

No hereditary estate owners shall give hereditary estates to monasteries.

If someone assigns an hereditary estate to a monastery in a will, do not grant those hereditary estates to monasteries on the basis of wills. Their clan relatives instead shall give money to the monastery, whatever that hereditary estate is worth, or whatever the deceased wrote as the value of the hereditary estate in [his] will.

If the clan relatives do not want to take that hereditary estate for themselves, and do not pay money to the monastery, the bailiffs shall sell that hereditary estate to third persons, and give the money to the monastery for the soul of the deceased, according to the will.

If after [the promulgation of] this Law Code someone sells, or mortgages, or gives up [in exchange for prayers] for his soul his clan, or service, or purchased hereditary estate to the patriarch, or a metropolitan, or an archbishop, or a bishop, or to any monastery: confiscate that hereditary estate for the sovereign without compensation and give it out in a distribution to petitioners, whoever proceeds to petition the sovereign about that hereditary estate.

43. If an hereditary estate owner of whatever rank becomes a monk, or a widow becomes a nun, and they own clan, or service, or purchased hereditary estates: they shall not give those hereditary estates to monasteries, and they shall not themselves [continue to] own those hereditary estates after they have been tonsured. They shall give away those clan and service hereditary estates to hereditary estate owners according to the statute [on hereditary estates]. In exchange for those hereditary estates, the hereditary estate owners shall feed and clothe them and provide them with comfort until their death.

If they proceed to petition the sovereign that their clan relatives, having taken their clan, or service, or purchased hereditary estates from them, are not feeding them, and that they have no peace from their clan relatives: they shall sell those hereditary estates either to those same relatives of theirs, or to third persons.

If they have purchased hereditary estates: they are free to sell those hereditary estates of theirs, or to give them away without compensation, to whomever they desire. But having been tonsured and residing in a monastery, henceforth they shall not keep hereditary estates for themselves.

44. If hereditary estate owners or widows were tonsured prior to this decree of the sovereign, and they [continue to] own hereditary estates: henceforth after this decree of the sovereign they shall not own those hereditary estates of theirs accordingly. Residing in the monastery, they shall not retain hereditary estates for themselves. Issue that same decree about those hereditary estates of theirs as is written above this.

45. Decree on sold lands, which are sold in the Service Land Chancellery and in the palace court from deserted lands as hereditary estates.

In the past year 1627/28 the great Sovereign, Tsar, and Grand Prince of all Russia Mikhail Fedorovich of blessed memory and his royal father also of blessed memory, the great Sovereign, most holy Filaret Nikitich, Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia, decreed: sell deserted lands in the Moscow province in accord with the terms of the prior decree of 1572/73 of the Sovereign, Tsar, and Grand Prince of all Russia Ivan Vasil'evich of blessed memory. Sell lands for a ruble for each 8.1 acres in one field in a three-field system. Sell court lands at the rate of a ruble for each 5.4 acres, without making a distinction among good, and average, and poor land.

The sovereign decreed that those sold lands should be registered in purchase documents as the hereditary estates of those people who purchase them, and their wives and children, and they are free to give away those lands in dowries.

If someone is not survived by a wife and children, those hereditary estates [shall pass] to [other members of] their clan. If no [other members of their] clan survive them, convert those hereditary estates into service lands. Give money for them from the sovereign's own treasury to monasteries [for the saying of prayers] for their souls, [in an amount] corresponding to [the value of] fixtures [built on the estate].

The sovereign ordered that deserted lands in Dmitrov, and in Ruza, and in Zvenigorod [districts] be sold at the same [price] as in Moscow province, one ruble for each 8.1 acres in one field in a three-field system.

Concerning deserted service lands in Moscow province, and in Dmitrov, and in Ruza, and in Zvenigorod, which in past years, by the decree of the great Sovereign, Tsar, and Grand Prince of all Russia Mikhail Fedorovich of blessed memory and of his royal father, also of blessed memory, the great Sovereign, most holy Filaret Nikitich, Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia, and [of] the Sovereign, Tsar, and Grand Prince of all Russia Aleksei Mikhailovich, were sold to boyars, and okol'nichie, and counselors, and stol'niki, and striapchie, and dvoriane, and deti boiarskie, and merchants of the first corporation, and various servicemen and non-servicemen as hereditary estates: those people, to whom those deserted lands were sold as hereditary estates, and their wives and children shall own those purchased hereditary estates on the basis of the purchase documents. They are free to sell, mortgage, and give away in dowries those purchased hereditary estates of theirs.

If supplemental lands appear henceforth in those purchased hereditary estates of theirs, according to the cadastre compiled by the new cadastral officials, lands which they are clearing for arable out of their own usufruct possessions, out of forests, and out of meadows within their own boundaries and limits: do not take those lands away from them. Order them also to own those supplemental lands in the very same hereditary estate.

If someone of those hereditary estate owners dies, and he is not survived by a wife and children: give those hereditary estates to [other members of] their clan. If there are no [surviving members of] their clan: confiscate those hereditary estates for the sovereign as service lands. Give money for them to monasteries [for the saying of prayers] for their souls from the sovereign's treasury, in an amount corresponding to the [value of the] fixtures [built on the estate].

46. Concerning service lands which have been lying waste in Novgorod province since years long ago: sell those waste service lands to Novgorodian dvoriane and deti boiarskie according to the sovereign's decree accordingly, as waste service lands are sold in Moscow province, and in Dmitrov, and in Zvenigorod, and in Ruza, at a ruble for each 8.1 acres.

47. If in [districts adjacent to] other towns someone finds waste service lands which have been lying deserted since years long ago and [which] no one has been taking as service landholdings: sell those lands as hereditary estate[s] to dvoriane and deti boiarskie who have been initiated into service, [and] who are rendering the sovereign's service, in those [districts adjacent to those] towns to which those deserted service lands [belong].

Sell them those deserted service lands as hereditary estate[s] in [the quantity of] 270 acres per person at a price of one ruble per 8.1 acres. Do not sell such lands to those who have not been initiated and who are not rendering the sovereign's service.

If someone proceeds to petition the sovereign about the sale of such lands, and another at the same time proceeds to petition the sovereign about those lands as a service landholding: grant such lands as a service landholding, do not sell them as a purchase.

Concerning service lands and deserted lands in other towns, besides those towns which are listed above, which have been sold as hereditary estate[s] to various people and in response to signed petitions in past years according to the decree of the great Sovereign, Tsar, and Grand Prince of all Russia Mikhail Fedorovich of blessed memory: those people shall own those purchased hereditary estates on the basis of the purchase documents accordingly.

48. If a Moscow-region service landholding is sold to someone as an hereditary estate: henceforth do not grant those people a Moscow-region service landholding in place [of the old one].

49. Concerning Moscow-region service landholdings which in past years were granted to people as an hereditary estate for sitting out the siege of Moscow, when they sat out the siege of Moscow, during the reign of the Sovereign, Tsar, and Grand Prince of all Russia Vasilii Ivanovich [Shuiskii] of blessed memory, and during the reign of the great Sovereign, Tsar, and Grand Prince of all Russia Mikhail Fedorovich of blessed memory, during the campaign of the [Polish] Crown Prince [Wladyslaw], because they had no service landholdings in the provincial towns at that time, and there was nothing to give them as an hereditary estate besides the Moscow-region service landholdings: those people shall own those Moscow-region hereditary estates awarded for service on the basis of the sovereign's grant charters.

If those people proceed to petition the sovereign about [granting them] Moscow-region service landholdings in place of those Moscow-region service landholdings which were granted to them as an hereditary estate: grant them Moscow-region service landholdings according to their land compensation entitlement as is written about that above this.

50. Concerning people who proceed to petition the sovereign for a survey of their own Moscow-region and provincial service lands and hereditary estate lands, service and hereditary estate lands of theirs which the cadastral officials did not survey: grant those petitioners the sovereign's surveying documents and extracts from the cadastral books. Order the survey of those service and hereditary estate lands of theirs with neighbors and long-term residents according to those extracts. Order pits dug, and posts set up, and markers hewn, and various signs made on the boundaries so that henceforth no one will have any dispute with anyone else over service and hereditary estate lands.

51. If a dispute arises on the boundary between two parties in the presence of the surveyor: the surveyors shall interrogate rigorously all neighbors and long-term residents using all methods of inquiry about those disputed lands, and after investigation, divide those disputed lands accordingly, and set up boundaries and limits on those disputed lands [in cooperation] with the long-term residents and the neighbors.

52. If the surveyors are unable to issue a decree on the disputed lands for some reason: those people involved in the dispute over those lands shall walk around with an icon on those disputed lands. Order them to walk around with an icon after a casting of lots, as is written about that above this in chapter [10] on the judicial process.

Concerning the lands which have been divided by walking around with the icon: set up markers and various signs on the boundaries between such lands accordingly, in the presence of the neighbors and those service landholders and hereditary estate owners in possession of those lands in dispute, so that henceforth there will be no dispute about those lands between adjacent service landholders and hereditary estate owners.

Dispatch worthy dvoriane as surveyors to divide disputed lands, or [else] send the sovereign's documents to the governors and to the senior officials of the felony control administration.

53. If someone is dispatched to survey disputed land, and divides it unjustly, for his own gain; and there are petitioners against him for that; and it is established about that conclusively that he committed an injustice in that case: inflict a severe punishment on him for that felony, order him beaten with the knout around the market places.

Order someone else to divide that disputed land so that in the future there will be no dispute between adjoining service landholders and hereditary estate owners over that land.

54. Concerning people who proceed to petition the sovereign about the registration of an hereditary estate on the basis of gift charters and wills, and in those gift charters or wills it is not written down who gave, or turned over, an hereditary estate to whom for how much money: collect the fees for the registration of those hereditary estates on the basis of the cadastral books and the grant records at the rate of .015 ruble per 1.3 acres.

55. Concerning service landholding cases which were resolved prior to the great Moscow fire, when in the past year 1626 on May 3 the Kremlin and Kitaigorod burned down, and cases which were resolved after the fire through January 28 of the present year 1649: such service landholding cases shall remain as they were resolved. Henceforth do not reopen them and do not make extracts of them.

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[1] The following decrees explain inheritance in collateral lines:

January 15, 1562. Tsar and Grand Prince of All Rus' Ivan Vasil'evich [IV] and the boyars decreed . . . . . . . . . . . If a prince assigns his hereditary estate to his own natural brother, or to his cousin or to his nephew, the son of his own natural brother, or to any close relative of his besides those who may marry among themselves: the sovereign shall order a decree compiled for that person to whom any hereditary estate is assigned, depending on the hereditary estate and depending on the will and depending upon the service [of the parties];

October 9, 1572. According to the command of the Sovereign, Tsar, and Grand Prince, the Most Holy Antonii, Metropolitan of All Rus’, the archbishops, the bishops, and the entire Holy Assembly, and the boyars, Prince Ivan Fedorovich Mstislavskoi, and all the boyars have affirmed: . . . . . . . . . . . If any natural brother dies childless, and his natural brothers survive him: that hereditary estate [shall pass] to the natural brothers and children and grandchildren. If a son, or a grandson dies childless, give those portions to their natural brothers who survive, and to [their] uncles, nephews, and grandsons. Do not give hereditary estates to [members of] the clan further [removed] than grandchildren. If a grandson dies childless, and his brothers survive him as [other] grandsons: confiscate that allotment, that hereditary estate, for the sovereign, and do not pass a grandson's hereditary estate to [another] grandson.