Emancipation reform of 1861 business. The Manifesto prescribed that peasants would be able to buy the land from the landlords. Household serfs were the least affected: they gained only their freedom and no land. In Georgia the emancipation took place later, in 1864, and on much better terms for the nobles than in Russia. The serfs were emancipated in 1861, following a speech given by Tsar Alexander II on 30 March 1856. State owned serfs, i.e. the serfs living on Imperial lands, were emancipated later in 1866. Prior to 1861 Russia had two main categories of peasants: with only those owned privately considered to
Capital punishment in Russia Capital punishment in Russia Currently, Capital punishment in Russia is not allowed. There exists both an implicit moratorium established by President Boris Yeltsin in 1996, and an explicit one, established by the Constitutional Court of Russia in 1999 and most recently reaffirmed in 2009. Russia has not executed anyone since 1996. In medieval Russia capital punishment was extremely rare, and was even banned in many, if not most, principalities. The Law of Yaroslavl (c. 1017) put restrictions on what crimes warranted execution. Later, the law was amended in much of the country to completely ban capital punishment. The Russian Empire