41. On Deceased Lords

If a lord have children, or if he have no children, and die, and upon his death the patrimonial estate remain vacant, wherever there be found someone of his kin up to the third cousin, that one shall have his patrimonial estate.

42.

And all patrimonial estates shall be free of all labours and tributes to my Imperiality, save to pay the corn-due and provide soldiers to fight according to the law.

43.

Neither the Lord Tsar, nor the King, nor the Lady Tsaritsa is free to take a patrimonial estate by force from anyone, nor to buy, nor exchange, unless someone freely consent.

44.

And when lords and other persons have hereditary churches on their patrimonial estates, neither the Lord Tsar, nor the Patriarch, nor any bishop may subject those churches to the Great Church, but the hereditary owner is free to appoint his own monk and to take him for ordination to the bishop in whose diocese it is; and in that church the bishop shall administer ecclesiastical affairs.

45.

And a lord who is found to have submitted his own church to another church, shall have no more authority over that church.

46.

And slaves that anybody hath, he shall have them as his patrimonial estate, and their children as his eternal patrimony. but a slave shall never be given as a dowry.

47.

And more: the slaves owned by lords shall be in their patrimonial estate. Only the lord, or his wife, or his son may free them, and none other.

48. On Deceased Nobles

When a noble dies, his good horse and arms shall be given to the Tsar, but his great tobes of pearls and golden girdle, let his son have them, and let them not be taken by the Tsar. And if he have no son, but have a daughter, let his daughter have title over them, to sell or give away freely.

49. On Insult

A lord who insults and disgraces a lesser lord shall pay 100 perpers, and a lesser lord who insult a lord, shall pay 100 perpers and be beaten with sticks.

50.

And if a lord or a lesser lord insult a commoner, let him pay 100 perpers; and if a commoner insult a lord or a lesser lord, let him pay 100 perpers and be singed.

51. On Taking by force

If any lord take a noblewoman by force, let both his hands be cut off and his nose be slit. But if a commoner take a noblewoman by force, let him be hanged; if he take his own equal, let both his hands be cut off and his nose slit.

52.

If a noblewoman commit fornication with her man, let the hands of both be cut off and their noses slit.

53.

Border lords: when any army crosses the frontier and plunders the imperial land, and returns again throught their land, those border lords through whose territory they pass, shall pay all.

54.

And whoever presents his son or brother at Court, and the Tsar asks him:” Shall I trust him” - and he shall say: “Trust him as myself”, if he do any evil, let him pay who hath presented him. And if he should serve as others serve in the imperial palace, he shall pay himself if he do wrong.

55.

For disloyalty, for any sin, brother shall not pay for brother, father for son, kinsman for kinsman, if they dwell separately from the culprit in their own houses; the who have not sinned shall not pay anything; but that one who hath sinned, his household shall pay.

56.

A lord shall not be summoned in the evening, but shall be summoned before dinner by a clerk, and if he come not by dinner time, he is at fault. And from that lord 6 oxen shall be taken.

57.

When a lord, or any other soldier return home from the army, if someone hath summoned him to the court, let him remain at home for 3 weeks and then let him go to the court.

58.

Greater lords shall be summoned by a writ of the judge, and the others with the seal.

59. On Misdemeanour

If any lord passing do some wrong to anybody out of spite, plunder his land or burn his house or do any other misdemeanour, from such a one that holding shall be taken, and another shall not be given to him.

60.

If someone die, and own one village in a district or in several districts, for any wrong done to that village, by fire or by any other cause, the surrounding settlements shall pay for all the wrong done to that village.

61. On Fiefs

No one is free to sell or buy a fief who does not own a patrimonial estate. No one is authorized to subject fief-lands to the Church; if he subject them, let it not be valid.

62. On the Tsar

Everyone shall provide transport for the Tsar wherever he goes, every town to the district, and the district to the town.

63. On Prefects

Prefects who are in the towns shall take their income according to the law, and let corn, and wine, and meat be sold to them at one dinar which is sold to others for two. But only a citizen may sell to him, and none other.

64. On Poor Women

A poor spinner woman shall be free, like a priest.

65. On Litigation at Court

Brothers who are together in one house, when summoned at their home, the one among them who comes shall answer. If he be found at the imperial court or at the judges court to come and say: “I will submit my elder brother to the court”, let him do so, and he shall not be forced to answer.

66. On Slaves and Serfs

Slaves and serfs who dwell together in one village, shall all together pay any payment which is due; according to the way men pay the payments and do the labour, so they shall hold the land, too.

67. On the Law

The law for the serfs on all the land: they shall work two days for the fief-holder and shall give him one imperial perper annually, and they shall mow his hay with all their household one day, and work his vineyard one day; and for those who own no vineyard, let them do other labour one day. And what a serf produces let all that be kept by the fief-holder, but nothing else outside the law shall be taken from the serf.

68.

And when someone be found in one house separated by bread and property, either brothers, or father from sons, or any other yet dwelling in one hearth, let him do labour like other small people.

69.

And whoever commits an evil, be it a brother, or son, or kinsman, if they dwell together in one house, all shall be paid by the master of the house, or he shall hand over him who committed the evil.

70. On the Commoners Council

Commoners shall have no council. If anybody is found participating in council, let his ears be cut off, and let the leaders be singed.

71.

A poor person who is not able to litigate or defend himself, let him provide a representative to litigate for him.

72. On Pasture

Let village graze with village: where one village, there also the other. Only legal enclosures and meadows may not be grazed by anyone.

73.

No district may graze its cattle within another district. If in a district a village be found belonging to any lord, or to my Imperiality, or to the Church, or belonging to a lesser lord, let nobody forbid that village to graze; let it graze where the district graze.

74. For Straying

If any mans cattle trespass on corn, or a vineyard, or a meadow in error, let him pay for this straying what the valuers assess. But if he trespass intentionally, let him pay the straying and six oxen.

75. For Fighting

A fight between villages, 50 perpers, between Vlachs and Albanians, 100 perpers. And of this fine one half to the Tsar, and one half to the lord owning the village.

76. On Litigation at Court

On land and on Church people, if the churches have an action with anyone and if he produce a deed of gift or say: I have an almoner, let no heed be paid either to that deed or the almoner, but the case shall be tried according to the law of the Church and to that of my Imperiality; but let the Tsar be asked.

77. On Boundaries

And if villages dispute between themselves touching land boundaries, let them sue by the law of the Sainted King from the year of his death. If anyone produce a Tsar`s deed of gift and say: The Lord Tsar gave me this, as my equal held before me, if he produce the Tsar`s deed of gift, let it be accordingly; let him hold it, save if it be of the Church.

78. For Village Boundaries

As for village boundaries, let both litigants bring witnesses, this one half and the other one half, according to the law, and where the witnesses assign, so it shall be.

79. On Mountains.

The mountains which are in the lands of my Imperiality, those mountains which are of the Tsar shall belong to the Tsar, and those of the Church shall belong to the Church, and those of the lords shall belong to the lords.

80. On the Vlachs and Albanians

In a village where a Vlach or an Albanian stay, another following him shall not stay in that village. If that one stay by force, let him pay a fine and for the grass he has grazed.