Sobornoye Ulozheniye
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The Sobornoye Ulozheniye was a legal code promulgated in 1649 by the Zemsky Sobor as a replacement for the Sudebnik of Ivan the Terrible. The code survived well into the 19th century, when its articles were revised under the direction of Mikhail Speransky.
The code consolidated Russia's slaves and free peasants into a new serf class and pronounced that class was hereditary and unchangeable (see Russian serfdom). Travel between towns was made forbidden without an internal passport. Russia's nobles agreed to serve in the army, but were granted the exclusive privilege of owning serfs.
