Land Redemption in Muscovy during the Reign of Ivan IV

IF 0.3 3区 历史学 Q2 HISTORY KRITIKA-EXPLORATIONS IN RUSSIAN AND EURASIAN HISTORY Pub Date : 2023-09-01 DOI:10.1353/kri.2023.a910977
Charles J. Halperin
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According to Pipes, Weickhardt omitted \"the law as applied in numerous reported case transcripts.\" Because Russia had weak legal institutions, \"the gap between law and life [was] uncommonly wide.\"3 Weickhardt replied that Pipes was inconsistent in accepting some statutory laws at face value and rejecting others as legal fictions, but even so he conceded: \"I will be the first to admit that law as proclaimed nearly always differs from the law as applied.\" Weickhardt concluded that both statutory and case law had to be taken into account. \"While one can certainly find inconsistencies between the statutes and the cases, this is true of every legal system.\" More [End Page 721] research on the \"actual practice\" of private property in pre-Petrine Russia was necessary.4 This article examines the relationship between statutory and case law, as both Pipes and Weickhardt recommended, concerning the redemption of property in land. The earliest statutory reference to redemption appeared in the Law Code (Sudebnik) of 1550, followed by additional provisions in 1551 and 1557. I examine case law before the statutory law was issued, compare that statutory law to prior case law, and then compare subsequent case law to statutory law. I try to show that before statutory law was promulgated, case law reflected a widespread practice of redemption in land that accorded unlimited discretion to the seller or donor of land in choosing who could exercise redemption rights; that the statutory law established in 1550–57 strongly deviated from the pre-statutory model, setting restrictions and requirements on redemption that circumscribed the seller's or donor's choices of potential redemptors or even the very existence of the right of redemption for donated land; and that sellers and donors reacted to these newly issued requirements in a very inconsistent manner, obeying some, disobeying others, and to an inexplicably large extent ignoring some fundamental aspects of this legislation. Such a differentiated response by society to government regulation of redemption suggests considerable societal autonomy in this activity. Types of Redemption Nowadays, \"redemption\" commonly denotes redeeming a coupon or an offer; that type of redemption was unknown in Muscovy. Nor does this redemption have any connection to redemption of land after the emancipation of the serfs in 1861. Redemption (vykup) in Muscovy applied to several types of transactions. The redemption under examination here was a potential second step in a real estate transaction, either the sale of land or its donation to a monastery. Under certain circumstances a seller or donor, or someone else related or unrelated to the seller or donor, could \"undo\" or supersede the sale or donation, in the former case by returning or paying the purchase price, in the latter by paying a stipulated sum. Insufficient data exist to determine how often the original seller or donor, rather than someone else, exercised redemption or the time gap between the original transaction and its redemption, which could extend to as much as 40 years. Indeed, even the frequency with which any redemption occurred on sales and donations remains unknown. In 16th-century Muscovy the term also [End Page 722] applied to the redemption of mortgages in which land was collateral, as well as the redemption of enslaved prisoners of war or captives kidnapped for ransom. Sometimes it is difficult to distinguish between redemption of a sale or donation and mortgages, because a mortgaged estate could be sold or donated; the buyer or recipient assumed the obligation of the mortgage. 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Abstract

Land Redemption in Muscovy during the Reign of Ivan IV Charles J. Halperin (bio) The Englishman Giles Fletcher declared in his Of the Russe Commonwealth that no written law existed in Muscovy.1 Daniel Printz, envoy of the Holy Roman Emperor to Muscovy in 1576, made the same assertion.2 Historians know better, but they do not agree on the significance of Muscovite statutory law, which has left fundamental historical questions unresolved. In particular, the question of what kind of property law existed in Muscovy has long occupied historians. Richard Pipes strongly criticized George Weickhardt for claiming that there was private property in Muscovy based solely on statutory law. According to Pipes, Weickhardt omitted "the law as applied in numerous reported case transcripts." Because Russia had weak legal institutions, "the gap between law and life [was] uncommonly wide."3 Weickhardt replied that Pipes was inconsistent in accepting some statutory laws at face value and rejecting others as legal fictions, but even so he conceded: "I will be the first to admit that law as proclaimed nearly always differs from the law as applied." Weickhardt concluded that both statutory and case law had to be taken into account. "While one can certainly find inconsistencies between the statutes and the cases, this is true of every legal system." More [End Page 721] research on the "actual practice" of private property in pre-Petrine Russia was necessary.4 This article examines the relationship between statutory and case law, as both Pipes and Weickhardt recommended, concerning the redemption of property in land. The earliest statutory reference to redemption appeared in the Law Code (Sudebnik) of 1550, followed by additional provisions in 1551 and 1557. I examine case law before the statutory law was issued, compare that statutory law to prior case law, and then compare subsequent case law to statutory law. I try to show that before statutory law was promulgated, case law reflected a widespread practice of redemption in land that accorded unlimited discretion to the seller or donor of land in choosing who could exercise redemption rights; that the statutory law established in 1550–57 strongly deviated from the pre-statutory model, setting restrictions and requirements on redemption that circumscribed the seller's or donor's choices of potential redemptors or even the very existence of the right of redemption for donated land; and that sellers and donors reacted to these newly issued requirements in a very inconsistent manner, obeying some, disobeying others, and to an inexplicably large extent ignoring some fundamental aspects of this legislation. Such a differentiated response by society to government regulation of redemption suggests considerable societal autonomy in this activity. Types of Redemption Nowadays, "redemption" commonly denotes redeeming a coupon or an offer; that type of redemption was unknown in Muscovy. Nor does this redemption have any connection to redemption of land after the emancipation of the serfs in 1861. Redemption (vykup) in Muscovy applied to several types of transactions. The redemption under examination here was a potential second step in a real estate transaction, either the sale of land or its donation to a monastery. Under certain circumstances a seller or donor, or someone else related or unrelated to the seller or donor, could "undo" or supersede the sale or donation, in the former case by returning or paying the purchase price, in the latter by paying a stipulated sum. Insufficient data exist to determine how often the original seller or donor, rather than someone else, exercised redemption or the time gap between the original transaction and its redemption, which could extend to as much as 40 years. Indeed, even the frequency with which any redemption occurred on sales and donations remains unknown. In 16th-century Muscovy the term also [End Page 722] applied to the redemption of mortgages in which land was collateral, as well as the redemption of enslaved prisoners of war or captives kidnapped for ransom. Sometimes it is difficult to distinguish between redemption of a sale or donation and mortgages, because a mortgaged estate could be sold or donated; the buyer or recipient assumed the obligation of the mortgage. There are a few transactions that did not use the word but strike me...
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伊凡四世统治时期莫斯科公国的土地赎回
伊凡四世统治时期莫斯科公国的土地救赎英国人吉尔斯·弗莱彻在他的《论俄罗斯联邦》一书中宣称,莫斯科不存在成文法律。神圣罗马帝国皇帝1576年派往莫斯科公国的特使丹尼尔·普林茨也做出了同样的断言历史学家知道得更清楚,但他们对莫斯科成文法的重要性意见不一,因为它留下了一些根本的历史问题没有解决。特别是,历史学家长期以来一直在研究莫斯科存在什么样的物权法的问题。理查德·派普斯强烈批评乔治·威克哈特声称莫斯科的私有财产仅基于成文法。根据Pipes的说法,Weickhardt省略了“在许多报道的案件记录中适用的法律”。由于俄罗斯的法律制度薄弱,“法律和生活之间的差距非常大。”威克哈特回答说,派普斯在表面上接受了一些成文法,而拒绝接受另一些成文法,认为它们是法律虚构的方面是前后矛盾的,但即便如此,他也承认:“我将是第一个承认,宣布的法律几乎总是与实际实施的法律不同。”Weickhardt的结论是,成文法和判例法都必须考虑在内。“虽然人们肯定会发现法规和案例之间存在不一致之处,但每个法律体系都是如此。”更多的[End Page 721]研究私有财产在前俄罗斯的“实际实践”是必要的本文考察了关于土地财产赎回的成文法和判例法之间的关系,正如Pipes和Weickhardt所建议的那样。最早关于赎回的法定规定出现在1550年的《法典》(Sudebnik)中,随后是1551年和1557年的补充规定。我研究成文法颁布之前的判例法,将成文法与之前的判例法进行比较,然后将后来的判例法与成文法进行比较。我试图表明,在成文法颁布之前,判例法反映了土地赎回的普遍做法,即给予土地的卖方或捐赠者无限的自由裁量权,选择谁可以行使赎回权;1550 - 1557年建立的成文法严重偏离了立法前的模式,对赎回设定了限制和要求,限制了卖方或捐赠人对潜在赎回人的选择,甚至限制了受赠土地赎回权的存在;卖方和捐助者对这些新颁布的要求的反应非常不一致,有的遵守,有的不遵守,而且在很大程度上莫名其妙地忽视了这项立法的一些基本方面。社会对政府监管救赎的这种不同反应表明,在这一活动中有相当大的社会自主权。如今,“赎回”通常指兑换优惠券或优惠;这种救赎在莫斯科是闻所未闻的。这种赎买和1861年农奴解放以后的土地赎买也没有任何关系。莫斯科的赎回(vykup)应用于几种类型的事务。这里正在审查的赎回可能是房地产交易的第二步,要么出售土地,要么捐赠给修道院。在某些情况下,出卖人或赠与人,或与出卖人或赠与人有关系或无关系的人,可以“撤销”或取代出卖或赠与,在出卖人或赠与人的情况下,通过归还或支付买价,在出卖人或赠与人的情况下,通过支付规定的数额。目前还没有足够的数据来确定最初的卖方或捐赠者(而不是其他人)行使赎回权的频率,或者最初的交易与赎回之间的时间间隔(可能延长至40年)。事实上,即使是在销售和捐赠中赎回的频率也不得而知。在16世纪的莫斯科,这个词也用于赎回以土地为抵押的抵押,以及赎回被奴役的战俘或为赎金而绑架的俘虏。有时很难区分出售或捐赠与抵押的赎回,因为抵押的遗产可以出售或捐赠;买受人或受让人承担抵押义务。有几笔交易没有使用这个词,但让我震惊……
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来源期刊
CiteScore
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期刊介绍: A leading journal of Russian and Eurasian history and culture, Kritika is dedicated to internationalizing the field and making it relevant to a broad interdisciplinary audience. The journal regularly publishes forums, discussions, and special issues; it regularly translates important works by Russian and European scholars into English; and it publishes in every issue in-depth, lengthy review articles, review essays, and reviews of Russian, Eurasian, and European works that are rarely, if ever, reviewed in North American Russian studies journals.
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