Vyvodnaia Kunitsa

a marriage tax in Russia from the 15th to 17th century. The tax was exacted from the betrothed woman (from the person giving her in marriage) in cases of marriage to a person from another volost (small rural district) or principality when the woman went (was led away) to the husband—that is, she went out of the volost, to the city, or across the border. In volosts populated by free peasants, the vyvodnaia kunitsa was collected for the state administration; on privately owned lands it was collected for the benefit of the feudal lord. Later, this tax was called a“leading away” tax, and its size was defined by the agreement of both parties. The vyvodnaia kunitsa was abolished for marriages of state peasant women in 1775 and for privately owned peasant women after the reform of 1861.