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moveable property) wlint they earn cannot be taken from 

 tKt'm, proviiicd they duly piiy their common taxes, or per- 

 form their ibited l-dda of hdiour ; ror are they under any 

 arbitrary comniaiid, b'.it, hl:e tiiofe uf fuuerior rmik, own no 

 authority bciides t!:at ot the general laws of the ftate. 

 Among thefe, however, there are various gradations, as all 

 of them do not enjoy the fame degree of liberty. Some are 

 fxprcfsly called boors, and without violation of their free- 

 dom are treated as uicli, though with iomewhat more gen- 

 tlenefs than vafl'ah. Others polTefs true civil lilierty, and 

 differ only by th.'ir place of abode and cuftomary occupations 

 from town's people. To this clafs belong the foreign co- 

 loniih, fctlkd here as hnfliandmeu or fanners, fo that by 

 the'r occupation they are boors ; but on account of the 

 land which they polfcfs, this appellation docs not juRly be- 

 long; to them. To the free-pc;'.lants we may alfo refer the 

 '* Odnodvortzi," as they are called, orone-houfe oivneis, 

 whofe perfons are free, and who pofiefs their houfes with the 

 lands belonging to them, as real property, for which they 

 neither perform feudal fcrvices nor give any of their produfts: 

 b\it they are obliged to furnifli recruits, to pay the pole-tax, 

 and obrok, and they are not allowed to buy villages nor to 

 poITefo vaffals as property. The kozaks, or coflacks, in all 

 their ik-i;'.s and branches, the tartar tiibes, the badikirs, 

 vogule«, kalmucks, with moll pf the n:onadic tribes, and 

 people of the lUppe?, poflels their lands as real and heritable 

 property, and therefore belong to the fame clafs of free- 

 peafants. This is alfo the cafi with rel'peft to diPoanded 

 foldiers, who live in the country ; einancipated ferfs, who 

 have either bought their freedom of their lord, or obtained 

 it gratuitoully in reward (or faithful ftrvice ; malo-Rudian 

 boors, or boors of Little Riilha, who are neither coflacks 

 nor vafTals, but free people, ami frcc-peafants, who belong 

 to their laud, and can neither be fold nor alienated feparately 

 from it. 



The valTal-boors, as diflinguifhed from thofe we have now 

 defcribed, have no civil liberty ; their chddren belong not to 

 them, but to their manorial lord, on whtjfe will they de- 

 pend ; they alfo, with their childien, fingly or in families, 

 may be alienated, fold, and exchanged ; they polTefs no im- 

 moveable property, but they themlelves are trgited fome- 

 tinies as the moveable, fjmetimes as the immoveable property 

 of another. Thefe boors were originally free, but in Great 

 Ruiria they became gradually valFah, or heritable ferfs. 

 They are commonly divided into three kinds ; but it will be 

 more convenient to dillribnte them into fjur claffcs. The 

 firil confills of " crown-boors," called vulgarly, in Livonia, 

 public-boors ; who are very num.trous, and are the people 

 belonging to the crown. It is nece'hiry, hov.-ever, to dif- 

 tinguilh between boors whom the crown can grant away, as 

 its real vallals, and who pofT.fs no real pmperty, and thofe 

 tribes of people who are owners of immoveable poflcflions, 

 and enjoy certain rights and privdeges. i5i'.t there are, ex- 

 ciufively of thefe tcalvaflals, boors belonging to the crown, 

 whoin the crown cannot with propriety give awav, being at- 

 tached as workmen to the mines, either of the crowm, or of 

 private individuals. Moit of the cmwn-boors pay, befides 

 the head-money, the obrok, i. e. a fum of money for every 

 male foul, and this is the only benefit which the crown de- 

 rives from them. In fome diilriCls they do talk-work, or 

 pay of their produfts ; or, in Livonia, they do both in- 

 ftead of the obrok. Among thefe there are fome that are 

 not only in good circumilances, but even rich ; nor would 

 they be fenfible of their valfalage, if the crown did not poffefs 

 the power of granting them away. Boors of this clafs are 

 jnentionecl under feveral denominations ; as hours of the 

 black plough, boors of the empire, imperial boors, poll- 



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boors, and court -boor.;. In the RnlTi in Ijws anc! tikafcs, the 

 following eight dillinft kind.-, of cioa n-boor; are mcnlioncd, 

 viz. empiie-bofrs, who belong neither to the court, nor to 

 the nobility, nor to the inonalleries, br.t are m'.mberf, or 

 burghers of the empiie ; imperial boors, \\!io belong to tiie 

 monarch perfonally, or rather to the court ; boors of the 

 black plough, inhabiting a great part of the ncr;!ieMi Ruflia, 

 as lar as Archangel ; poll-boors, who are bound, in lieu of* 

 theim])olls, to keep poll-horfes ; coiirt-boors, whofe fervice 

 and tribute-, art drllined to thefiippoit of tl;c imperial comt; 

 monallery-boors, who fortnerly belonged to the motiaRerie.--, 

 but now every where in Great, Little, and White Rtillia, 

 arc under the kamcral-liofs ; economy-boor^•, v ho in Great 

 Ruflia we-e thole boors, who, about the yean "jC^, were tuki n 

 from the moiiaHcries and churches, and made lubordinatc to 

 a particular college of economy, ellablilhcd for that purpofe, 

 but now aboliflied, fo that the boors arc ut.dtr the kamer- 

 alliofs, retaining tiicir former name ; and peltry tribute pay- 

 ing boors, who deliver their tribute in peltry or lurs. Oi.i 

 privilege of the crown boors confills in this, that they may 

 buy of noblemen villages and lands, with the vaffali beloii"- • 

 ing to them. 



The fecond clafs of crown-boors bears the denomination 

 of " crown. boors," who belonged formerly to the bilhop:, 

 churches, and moi^afterics, hut wcic taken from them in 

 the year 1764 ; tlity are much the fame with thofe of the 

 crown-boors already mentioned, paying particular taxes, ai;d 

 enjoying certain privileges. The boors of the third clafj 

 are, " boors of the mines," who can never be feparated from 

 particular mines, and can never be fold or exchanged apart, 

 though they are transferrable with the woiks to another 

 mailer. The fourth clafs comprehends " nrble, or piivate- 

 boors ;" the condition of thefe depends very much on the 

 humour or caprice of their lord; ne\trtheltfs, thofe if 

 them who belong to wealthy lords, requiring neither tafl<- 

 fervice, nor deliveriea of products, and contenting them- 

 felves with a moderate obrok, live happily, grow rich, ;ind 

 would hardly exchange their condition with that of many 

 who enjoy nominal freedom. Hov.'ever, the dues from 

 thefe boors to their lord are fettled by no laws ; fome pay 

 the obrok, others perform tajlc -fervice, or, in lieu of it, de- 

 liver certain portions of their natural produfls ; from others 

 all thefe are demanded ; but the obrok alone, wlierc the 

 lord is rich, is the moff afnal. Mar.y take. for every ii^ale 

 head only three, otiiers five, and fome from the n:o!l opu- 

 lent of the boors, twenty-five rubles, or even more. Thofe, 

 who fare the worft, are the private boors,- who are obliged 

 to perform ta(k-fervice, in lieu of the obrok, at themirc-works 

 of their lord, which may be at a great diflancc, and with 

 refpeft to whom the dillance is not- coiilidered. The late 

 cmprefs declared it to be her wifli and inclination, that valfal- 

 age fhould be abcliilied; or at leall, that the condition of 

 the boors might be ameliorated, and all opp'tfllve abufis re- 

 fliained. She aiflually adopted feveral meafures for accom- 

 plifiiing her benevolent willies, by iiiflltutiiig a regular tri- 

 bunal for the boors, entirely chofen out of their own body ; 

 delivering the boors at the mines from opprefllon ; appointing 

 overfecrs and guardians to prevent every Ipeeies of violence ; 

 and on every occalion recommending geiitlenefs rnd humani- 

 ty, of which fhe herfell is faid to have exhibited an illullri- 

 ons example. Under her adminiflration inllanccs occurred 

 of noblemen, who were brought to a fevere account for 

 cruelties exercifcd on their vaffals. The moll ulual mode by 

 which a vaffal becomes fuch is, by being born of a valfal. 

 By the common law of Livonia, every child born of an un- 

 married female vaff.il belongs, without reganl to the father, 

 to the cflate on which it is bom. Peter L, however, by an 



ukafe, 



