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The Sobornoye Ulozheniye[a] (Russian: Соборное уложение, lit. 'Council Code', IPA: [sɐˈbornəjə ʊlɐˈʐɛnʲɪjə]) was a legal code promulgated in 1649 by the Zemsky Sobor under Alexis of Russia as a replacement for the Sudebnik of 1550 introduced by Ivan IV of Russia. The code survived well into the 19th century (up to 1832), when its articles were revised under the direction of Mikhail Speransky.
The code consolidated Russia's slaves and free peasants into a new serf class and pronounced class hereditary as unchangeable (see Russian serfdom). The new code prohibited travel between towns without an internal passport. The Russian nobility agreed to serve in the army, but were granted the exclusive privilege of owning serfs.
The law code conceded many demands that were raised in the preceding decades, it satisfied the nobility's demand to retrieve runaway serfs without a time-limit, and which allowed the 'serf bondage to the soil' to later evolve into a far more comprehensive serfdom system in the 18th century. Further, the code also forbade boyars in accepting taxpayers as bondsmen. It attacked the influence of the clergy by refusing them to accept landed estates and reduced the competence of the ecclesiastical courts.[1]
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- ^ Freeze, Gregory L. (2009). Russia: A History. Great Britain: Oxford University Press. pp. 81–82. ISBN 978-0-19-956041-7.