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The Prussian Regulation Edict of 1811, signed by King Frederick William III, State Chancellor Hardenberg, and Justice Minister Kircheisen (September 14, 1811)

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a) property rights, which according to circumstances can be worth more or less;

b) the value of labor services, which, even when fixed in extent, afford a varying benefit depending on the quality of their performance;

c) most of the obligations of the landlords, which by their nature are sometimes frequent and significant, and at other times hardly an issue, and the worth of which is even more difficult to determine because the past can provide little guidance due to irregularity of these needs and obligations;

d) the sum of taxes lordships pay on their subjects’ behalf, which similarly sometimes does not occur for long intervals, but at other times can occur often;

In order to provide a solid foundation for the settlements and to not defeat their beneficent purpose with insoluble difficulties, we find it necessary to prescribe special norms for the objects of negotiation, which are derived from the constitution of the land and general legal precedents established thus far.

§8. These norms provide:

a) that in the case of hereditary peasant holdings, dues and obligations owed the lordships may not be raised;

b) on the contrary, they should be reduced if the possessor cannot subsist at their present level;

c) that the farms must be maintained in a condition which enables their payment of state taxes;

accordingly, and in agreement with general principles of governmental economics and law, the right of the state to receive both regular and special taxes and services takes precedence. Those services owed the landlords must be limited in such a way that their subject farmers have the means to subsist and satisfy the demands of the State.

§9. We elaborate therefore on the heretofore undefined concept of subsistence and ability to bear the full tax burden, determining that both will doubtless be assured when the landlord’s dues and services do not exceed the value of one third of output or gross yield of the property of hereditary tenants.

§10. The following rule shall therefore (with exceptions to be noted) apply:
in the case of peasant farms held on hereditary tenure, the landlords will be compensated for their property rights in the farms, and for the labor services and dues rendered from them, when and if their subjects cede to them one third of all their lands and renounce all claims on extraordinary support, maintenance of inventory, aid in the construction of buildings, and assistance in tax payment. [ . . . ]

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