Piotrków Statute of 1496

resolutions favoring the szlachta that were enacted by the Polish Sejm in the city of Piotrków. The statute legislatively bound the Polish peasantry to the land. Only one holder of a peasant allotment per village retained the right to leave his landlord, and only one of his sons could exercise the same right. No time limit was set on the landowners’ right to recapture runaway peasants. Members of the middle class were forbidden to own szlachta land and were thus prevented from becoming members of the szlachta. The szlachta was released from the obligation of paying taxes on foreign imports and agricultural exports and received a monopoly on the production and sale of alcoholic beverages—the so-called right of propination. The Piotrków Statute had a negative economic effect on Polish cities.