Sokha

the basic unit of taxation used for the assessment of the state land tax, called the pososhnoe, from the 13th to the 17th century in Rus’. Until the mid-16th century the sokha was determined on the basis of the size of the work force; from the 13th to the 15th century two or more peasant workers constituted one sokha. Certain household items, for instance, a tanning vat, seine, shop, or smithy, also counted as one sokha for taxation purposes.

In the late 15th century, the Novgorod sokha was equivalent to three obzhi (the average obiha was equal to 15 desiatiny [1 desiatina = 1.09 hectares]). The Moscow sokha equaled ten Novgorod sokhi and was a tax district of varying dimensions in different parts of the country; in each case, a Moscow sokha would be calculated as a specified number of villages, house holds, individuals, and fields of arable land. Beginning in the mid-16th century, all sokhas were replaced throughout the Mus covite state by the bol’shaia (great) sokha, comprised of a given number of chetverti of land (a land measure equivalent to one- half a desiatina). In the late 16th and 17th centuries, the bol’shaiasokha, consisting of a specific number of households, was the uni versal unit of taxation in the posad (merchants’ and artisans’ quarter). The pososhnoe was replaced by a household tax in 1679.