De succesione colonorum: On inheritance rights of tenant peasants in the Kingdom of Croatia and Slavonia

U radu se razmatraju pravila nasljeđivanja kmetova važeća u Kraljevini Hrvatskoj i Slavoniji, sadržana u Tripartitu, Slavonskom urbaru i zakonskim člancima Ugarskog sabora 1836-1840. Pri tome se ističe važnost razlikovanja nasljednih i stečenih dobara, kao i pokretnina i nekretnina, za izgradnju sustava nasljeđivanja. Nadalje se ističe kako su kmetovi nasljednici bili potomci, neovisno o spolu, a tek ako nije bilo djece, kmet je mogao oporučno raspolagati. Širina oporučnoga raspolaganja bila je ograničena pravima vlastelina koji je, između ostaloga, u slučaju da kmet nije oporučno raspolagao, nasljeđivao cjelokupnu kmetovu imovinu. Analizirana pravila nasljeđivanja bila su primjenjiva samo na kmetove koji su živjeli u inokosnim obiteljima.During the feudal period before 1848/1853, various rules of inheritance existed within the Croatian-Slavonian territory regarding the type of property inherited. Moreover, different rules of inheritance existed for individuals of different estates within the realm. This state of affairs was a consequence of estate-based differentiation in the society, differentiation between various objects of inheritance regarding the means of their acquisition, and the distribution of such assets according to a range of different criteria. In the process of inheritance, it was important to establish whether the property inherited was hereditary (bona hereditaria) or acquired (bona acquisita); whether it was immovable or movable; and finally, whether the parties concerned were noblemen, citizens, or tenant peasants (serfs). Rules of inheritance for the tenant peasants were mostly defined in the Tripartitum, the Slavonian Terrier (urbarium), and the laws issued by the Diet of 1836-1840. Regardless of the distinction between the assets and the means of acquisition, the inheritance rights of tenant peasants were limited by the landlord. Also, the problem of exercising what was broadly defined as the tenant peasants’ inheritance rights, as stipulated by the Tripartitum, was prominent in the Urbarium and regulated the size of the peasant’s sessio, prohibiting its partition beyond the set minimum, with an aim of levelling the size of the peasants’ land and intensifying their economic exploitation. Another important fact should be underlined regarding the inheritance of tenant peasants: these rules, when and if applied, were only applied to the tenant peasants, not the members of communal households