Pskov Sudnaia Gramota

a collection of laws of the Pskov Feudal Republic based on decrees issued by the veche (town assembly) and the Council of Boyars, princely charters, rules taken from the Russkaia Pravda (code), and customary law. The code reflected the main traits of socioeconomic and political life in the Pskov Land in the 14th and 15th centuries. It protected private property rights, particularly feudal landownership, prescribed the format for contracts used in transferring land, described the legal procedure for settling disputes over land, and defined the status of a special category of peasants, the izorniki. Many articles in the code dealt with commercial relations (sale, mortgage, gifts, loans, leasing of property, and hiring of workers). The death penalty was imposed for political and criminal offenses. The code reflected the interlocking of the secular and ecclesiastical administrative apparatus that was characteristic of the republic. The Pskov Sudnaia Gramota was an important source for the Sudebnik of 1497.