Dead hand right

According to the "Law of the Dead Hand", the feudal lord had the right to seize part of his property (usually the best head of cattle, the best clothes) or its value in money after the death of the peasant.

This right was based on the personal dependence of the peasants and until the XI century in one form or another extended to all personally dependent peasants. The right of the dead hand was one of the many privileges that the ruling class possessed in the era of feudalism .

The selection of part of the inheritance caused discontent among the peasants and often led to unrest. In the Czech Republic, in the second half of the 14th century, these unrests took on the character of open peasant actions against feudal lords and, above all, against spiritual feudal lords, since on lands owned by churches and monasteries the appropriation of property of deceased peasants was practiced especially often. Fearing the uprisings of the peasantry, the feudal lords from the end of the XIV century somewhat limited the appropriation of peasant inheritance. In 1386, by decree of the Prague Archbishop, the right of the dead hand was abolished in separate possessions of the archbishopric.

In some countries, the "Right of the Dead Hand" began to gradually die back already from the XII century in connection with the personal liberation of the peasants. As a rare remnant of a serfdom (the so-called “ servage ”), it persisted in certain parts of Europe until the 18th century (for example, for the French menortable in Berry , Auvergne , Bourbonne , Nivern and Burgundy ).

In Russia

In Russia, the “Right of the Dead Hand" is not widespread. For example, article 90 of the Wide Edition of the Russian Truth read: “If the stench dies, then the inheritance to the prince; if he has daughters with him, then give them a dowry. ” Some scholars interpret it in the sense that after the death of the smerd, his property was transferred entirely to the prince, which means he is a man of the "dead hand", that is, unable to transfer the inheritance. However, further articles clarify the situation - we are talking about the escheat of the inheritance , that is, about those cases when the stink died, leaving no sons. The removal of women from inheritance in this way was characteristic at a certain stage for all the peoples of Europe.

Catholic Church

The special “Dead Hand Right” acted in relation to the Church : it meant a ban on the alienation of the land property of the Church (in some countries all land ownership of the Church was firmly assigned to it). Thanks to this right, the Church gradually turned into a large landowner, which has a definite advantage over kings and secular magnates, since church and monastery lands were not subject to fragmentation and return to the secular land fund. Hence the saying that the church holds the earth "in a dead hand."

This right caused discontent among many monarchs and gave rise to the desire to abolish the Dead Hand Right, or at least stop the expansion of the Church’s land holdings. The first was made by the English king Edward I. In 1279, he published the Statute “On the Dead Hand or Church People,” which forbade clergy and the Church to take possession of secular feuds , and to the owners of these feuds, sell or give their clergy and church their lands without the consent of their lords. Finally, the Right of the Dead Hand was abolished in the Protestant countries during the Reformation ( XVI century ), and in France during the French Revolution .

• Inheritance

• Depreciation, in the Middle Ages // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary : in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890-1907.
• Large legal dictionary. - 3rd ed., Ext. and reslave. / Ed. prof. A. Ya. Sukhareva . - M .: INFRA-M, 2007. - VI, 858 pp. - (B-dictionaries "INFRA-M").
• Michelle Pasturo . The daily life of France and England during the Knights of the Round Table / Per. with fr. M.O. Gonchar. - Scientific. Ed., Comment. and after T. D. Sergeeva - M.: Young Guard , 2001 .-- 239 p.
• The history of the state and law of medieval England of the 13th – 15th centuries: an anthology / Sost., Ed. and stand up Art. A.A. Teslya. - Khabarovsk: Publishing House DVGUPS , 2006. - 185 p.
• History of the state and law of foreign countries. Part 1. Textbook for universities. / Ed. prof. ON. Krasheninnikova and prof. O. A. Zhidkova - M.: NORMA Publishing Group - INFRA-M, 1998. - 480 p.
• Prameny k dejinвm statu a prдva v Ceskoslovensku (chrestomatie) red. doktor ved. univ. prof. Vclav Vanloek, cast I, Praha, 1957. 257 str.
• Sandra Raban Mortmain Legislation and the English Church 1279-1500 . - Cambridge University Press , 1982.- 216 p. ISBN 0521242339 ISBN 978-0521242332 (Cambridge Studies in Medieval Life and Thought: Third Series )