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Codifying Customary Law – Germersheim (Palatinate) (16th Century)

The codification of local, customary law was a prime instrument for integrating rural communities into a princely territorial state. The liberties cited presumably extended back to grants by a German king-emperor ("King's People") and an abbot ("St. Peter's People"). The legal status of these privileged groups of farmers lay somewhere between full serfdom and full liberty; they were regarded as “semi-serfs.”

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Ancient traditions, liberties, and rights of the Palatine semi-serfs, who are called "the King's and St. Peter's People," and who live in the mortgaged lands of Germersheim, which are drawn from the old royal liberties.

[1] Item, persons who moved from the Röder district and across the highway to Schaidt and other villages shall become, according to ancient usage, King's People and shall have the right of free movement in and out of the district.

[2] Item, persons moving from the commune of Gutenberg shall also be King's People and shall have the right of free movement.

[3] Item, people who come into the aforementioned village from the Palatinate, the duchy, the margraviate, the prince-bishopric of Speyer, or other lordships shall be King's People and shall have the right of free movement.

[4] Item, people who cross the mountain and navigable water and come into the village of Schaidt and its vicinity, and who are not pursued by their lords for a year and a day, shall be King's People and shall have the right of free movement.

[5] Item, anyone who comes from an Imperial free city into the aforesaid village of Schaidt and its vicinity shall also become King's People and shall enjoy the same liberties.

[6] Item, all bastards and newcomers without lord or family shall be King's People and shall enjoy the same liberties without any hindrance.

[7] Item, whoever is born of King's People shall be King's People and shall be seized of all the same freedoms without any hindrance.

[8] Item, in every way St. Peter's People who settle and live in this district shall be treated the same, without hindrance, for from olden times they have been treated no different and have always lived and worked among the rest.

Note: All King's People and St. Peter's People have been granted the same liberties and rights by the Holy Roman Empire and the Roman emperors and kings, and they have also possessed exactly the same obligations.

[9] Item, in return for the aforementioned liberties, these are the obligations and regular dues of the King's People and St. Peter's People.

[10] Item, first of all, the aforementioned King's People and St. Peter's People collectively pay a specific sum annually, their "Request" [Bede], which is apportioned according to their holdings, more or less, and which yields the sum of about 50 gulden or more, according to the people's situation.

[11] Item, further, each King's Man or St. Peter's Man who pays the "Request" must also pay a chicken or its equivalent in cash on an annual basis.

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