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第4章

lecture ii-第4章

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ramifications; joint households are as likely to be met with in
the defiles of the Himalayas as in the plains of old Erin or of
modern Servia。 Taking advantage of the recent investigations made
by Professor Bogisic in the customary law of the Southern Slavs;
Sir Henry Maine has presented a lively picture of the interior
organisation of the famous Servian 〃Zadrouga;〃 which; as he
shows; has more than one feature in common with the House
Community of the Rajpoots。 The barrier of language; of which he
so often complains; prevented this master in the field of
comparative jurisprudence from completing his studies of the
patriarchal system of House Communities by investigating the
Undivided Household of Great Russia。 This Undivided Household has
been recently the subject of numerous and serious inquiries on
the part of Russian ethnographers; and the results of their
investigations I desire now to lay before you。 
    First of all let me tell you that the undivided household of
the Eastern Slavs is a very ancient institution。 In the so…called
Chronicle of Nestor; mention is made of the 〃gens〃 organisation
of the Polians; a Slavonic tribe; dwelling as I have already
said; on the banks of the Dnieper。 The Polians are stated to live
(I translate literally) 〃each ruling his own kindred or gens (rod
svoi) and occupying distinct localities。〃 This rather obscure
text authorises the supposition that the Polians were divided
into independent house…communities; each of which possessed its
own piece of land。 Another reference is made to these Undivided
Households in one of the paragraphs of the Pravda of
Jaroslav;(2*) a sort of Mirror of Justice compiled in the middle
of the eleventh century; by order of the Grand Duke Jaroslav; son
of that Vladimir who introduced Christianity into Russia。 The
frequent occurrence of South Slavonic terms in this the oldest
Russian code; such; for instance; as that of 〃bratouchada〃 (the
son of the brother; the nephew) confirms the hypothesis first put
forth; so far as I know; by the well…known professor of Russian
history at Moscow; Mr Kluchevsky; that the work of codification
had been entrusted to some southern Slav。 This is the more likely
as owing to the recent introduction of Christianity and learning
into Russia; there was a lack of well…educated natives; so that
the Byzantine Church had frequently to have recourse to priests
of South Slavonic origin; in order to propagate the Gospel and
the elements of learning among their eastern and northern
brethren。 Old Russian being much more like the language into
which the Holy Scriptures had been translated; and the Slavonic
dialect of the translation being that of the Southern Slavs;
priests of Bulgarian or Servian origin were the fittest persons
in Russia to be employed in this work。 The translation of Greek
texts; the transcription and composition of Slavonic and Russian
MSS。; as also the first attempts at a written exposition of
Russian customary law would equally fall into their hands。 The
share of。 a Southern Slav in the work of codification would
explain the presence in the Pravda of Jaroslav of a term which
has led to much comment。 The word in question is verv。 Various
guesses had been made as to its meaning; when at last Professor
Leontovitch had the good fortune to find it used in an old South
Slavonic customary; the statute of Politza; and that in the sense
of Undivided Household or House Community。 The sense agrees with
the context of the two paragraphs in which the word is used in
the Pravda。 In one of them mention is made of a case where the
body of a man belonging to the 〃following〃 of the duke has been
found within the limits of a verv; and the other says that in
such a case the whole verv must pay in common a fine similar to
that which was inflicted in England in such cases during the
reigns of William the Conqueror and the early Plantagenets。 
    A 〃verv;〃 paying in common a sort of pecuniary composition
for a crime supposed to have been committed by one of its
members; a 〃verv〃 possessing its own proper limits; and therefore
its own territorial possession; exactly corresponds to a
house…community; in which several persons; living under the same
roof and owning land in common; are jointly answerable for the
crimes and misdemeanours committed within the limits of their
possessions。 
    If from the eleventh and twelfth centuries; during which the
different versions of the Pravda were drawn up; we pass to the
end of the fourteenth and the beginning of the fifteenth
centuries; we find the same village community mentioned; as well
in the North Western principalities of Russia  that of Pscov;
for example; as in those of the South West which were ruled by
the Statute of Lithuania。 The name under which the members of
these communities are known to the Russian law is that of
〃siabri。〃 This term is employed both by the judicial charter of
Pscov (1397…1467) and by the before…mentioned Statute of
Lithuania (1529)。 This word siabri is also to be found among the
Southern Slavs。 The code of Servian laws; published by King
Stefan Douschan in the year 1349; makes frequent use of it when
speaking of the peasants。(3*) The peasants of Servia; having
always lived; and still living; in undivided households; the term
meaning co…partners in the enjoyment of an undivided property;
was very naturally applied to them and it is this meaning that
the word still keeps in the judicial charter of Pscov; and also
in the Statute of Lithuania。 The latter was the chief source of
the customary law of Little Russia; and the term 〃siabri〃 and the
institution it calls to mind; are often mentioned in the Little
Russian documents of the last three centuries。 A recent survey of
these sources; made by Professor Louchitzky; has quite settled
the question of the existence of House Communities even in those
provinces of Little Russia where in our time division of property
most prevails。 Here as elsewhere individualism seems to have been
preceded by a sort of family communism like that of India;
ireland and the South Slavonian principalities。 
    The term siabri is not the only one used by Old Russian
writers to designate the members of such a household。 They are
often spoken of in the financial surveys of the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries under the characteristic name of hearth;
pechische。 The so…called piszoviia knigi; a kind of survey very
like the poll…tax rolls still preserved in the Record Office;
speak of the hearth as the unit of taxation。 The pechische of the
fifteenth and sixteenth centuries corresponds to the feu of
Burgundy and is even known by that name in some of the northern
provinces of Russia。 The private charters; which are still
preserved by more than one family in the Government of Archangel;
some of which were drawn up in the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries; when speaking of the house community always make use
of the term ognische; a word which means the hearthfire; thus
showing that what constituted the tie between members of the same
household was their cooking food at the same hearth。 
    Thus far we have shown the high antiquity of the institution
which we are engaged in examining。 Let us now proceed to the
study of its characteristic features。 
    All over Russia; but particularly within the boundaries of
the old Muscovite empire; communities of persons belonging to the
same kindred and living under the same roof are still in
existence。 The number of persons belonging to these communities
varies from ten; or even less; to fifty and upwards。 In the
government of Koursk; a community composed of about sixty persons
has recently been noticed by Professor Samokvasov。 But such cases
are rare; and the number of persons living in common does not; as
a rule; exceed twenty or thirty。 Among them we find the
grandfather and grandmother; the father and mother; sons and
daughters; grandsons and granddaughters; brothers and sisters;
nephews and nieces; with such other persons as may be united to
them by ties of marriage; as daughters…in…law in right of their
husbands; and sons…in…law in right of their wives。 Persons
incorporated into the family; wor

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