Half, or
nearly half, the kingdom thus, by the voluntary concession of the
nobles, became converted from a feudal tenure, burdened with duties,
into an absolute freehold.
"Like every sudden change, the result was not unmixed good. The Wallacks
especially were not prepared for their emancipation; they thought
equality before the law meant equality of goods."
I now inquired how the working of the land laws was carried out, and to
this my friend replied:--
"As a lawyer I can give you an exact statement in a few words. The
disturbed state of the country after the war of independence, which
followed immediately upon the emancipation of the serfs, prevented for a
while the effective realisation of the great reform of '48. However, in
1853 several imperial decrees were promulgated, by means of which the
changed system was worked out in detail. 'Urbarial courts' were
instituted to inquire into the amount of compensation due to the lords
of the manors who had lost the tithes and the 'forced labour' of the
former serfs. To meet this compensation 'State urbarial bonds' were
created and apportioned; they bear five per cent. interest, and are
redeemable within eighty years, with two drawings annually. The fund for
this compensation is raised by a special tax on every Hungarian subject;
not only the freed peasant pays towards the fund, but the lord himself,
and those who never had any feudal tenants.
Pages:
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214