At settlement, each family received 60 desjatines of land (crown’s land). A family piece of this size and the farm implements made up a farm, called a farmstead. The owner could not divide, sell or pawn this land. Crown's land was not personal property and the individual families were only receiving the rights to personal and inheritable use of the land without being the owners.

When a family died out the land reverted back to the community. There were restrictions pertaining to inheritable use. (See below)

In cases where farms were poorly managed, the community in agreement with the Welfare Committee could decide to take away a colonist’s rights of use. There were certainly such cases in Krasna. The census of 1835/1850 is noteable, since it records that many farmers had moved away and new ones had arrived.
See also 7.5, Fluctuations Among the Krasna Colonists

Although the farm could not be pawned or sold, a custom developed over the course of time to „sell“ parts of the crown's land. As it was not personal property, the seller only gave the right of usage to the buyer and this could also only be done with the agreement of the community by community members of the community. No foreigner, Jew, Russian or even another German colonist, not even from the same district (Okruga), even if he had relatives in the village, could buy land in a colony, not even a garden or a house. On one hand these rules led to severe restrictions, but on the other hand it guaranteed that the German character of the colony was preserved.

As shown above, there were strict laws pertaining to the division of farms. These were in place to prevent the splintering of the possessions and the creation of poverty in the communities. The rule of one farm per one family became less strict over the course of time. In the second generation divisions of family pieces were done underhandedly.

In the sixties of the 19th century the law of indivisibility of the farms was recinded officially which also abolished the Minorate Law. Soon the farms of the mother colonies, which had initially contained 60 desjatines were divided into halves, quarters and eighth. This was also the case in Krasna. According to a list from 1871 there were only 42 whole farms in existence, the other 72 were often divided at least once, some more. ¹⁾

The reforms of 1871 had severe consequences for the colonists. See also 2.3,The Changes from the Second Half of the 19th Century (ca 1860-1918) The land ownership law was restructured by the law of June 4, 1871. Prior to this the farmers had an inheritable right to use their land. According to the new law, the farmer became the owner of his parcels, but still responsible to the community, insofar as the community had a word in the sale of land. Sales to non-members of the community were still subject to community approval and the community continued to forbid sales to non-settlers, such as Jews, Russians, etc.

Each settler received an ownership document. When the document was issued, it listed the inheritable portions of the land divided among the male members of the family. Many small land owners were created per village and in Krasna there were around 200 of them.
See also 4.3, Landowners and Landless People in Krasna

The possibility to pay the buy-off tax early in agreement with the law enacted June 12, 1806 really did not change a lot in regard to ownership law. See also 4.10, Taxes, fees and Payments in Produce The owners of former crown's land were still not free to dispose of their land as they saw fit. Additionally, German colonists faced increasing difficulties in buying land caused by the laws of 1887 and 1892.

The Stolypin Law of 1906 finally made the farmers full owners of their land. It did away with all the communal laws and its consequences and sales were no longer subject to community approval. The German farmers could not enjoy these new freedoms, because the Liquidation Laws of 1915 rescinded all German landownership.
See also 4.3, Changes from the Second Half of the 19th Century, (ca 1860-1918)

Ownership documents, which were supposed to record the legalities according to the law of 1871 contained mistakes and irregularities. Added to this was the fact that very few farmers had documents officially notarized. Hardly a farmer in the German villages had documents of sale notarized. Some had receipts for moneys received, others considered oral agreements satisfactory. The Odessa newspaper addressed this in an article published in 1905: ²⁾ This has been an on-going problem for thirty years. At this point many people can no longer produce a purchase agreement. They are not direct heirs to the land they own nor do they have pertinent documents.

This problem also existed in Krasna. Land changed hands (inheritance, gifts or divisions when children got married) and often just agreed upon in oral contracts. In many cases the sons and even grandsons owned land still registered in the names of the father or grandfather. This led to complications when proof of ownership of a given parcel was needed.

Some Krasna people had the ownerships of their parcels acknowledged in community decrees. These decrees were based on the agricultural law of November 9, 1906, which foresaw such problems. The author has such a document from a Krasna community assembly of November 1909.

The most important problem the colonists faced right after annexation to Rumania was getting back their ownership rights. A Congress of the Germans from March 7, 1919, petitioned the Rumanian government to liquidate the (Russian) disownership and liquidation laws. See also 2.3.3, World War I (1914-1918)

A Royal Decree dated October 6, 1919, rescinded these laws and acknowledged the earlier possession rights of the colonists. The Bessarabian farmers were promised reinstatement of their former rights if they could show ownership proof from Russian times.

In combination with the German Peoples’ Council in Tarutino, the necessary formularies were handled by the district tribunal. The landowner had to pay a fee for this. The procedures leading to reestablishment of former land ownership were tedious. ³⁾

In early times, growing mother colonies had the option to establish daughter colonies, but this ceased under Rumanian law. The Rumanian Agricultural Law of March 13 1920, which was aimed at improving rural ownership conditions to further agriculture, actually limited the land ownership to 100 hectares and land amounts exceeding this were disowned. People who did not sign over the excess land to family members or sold it were disowned. They only received a pittance in compensation for it. See also 4.3, Landowners and Landless People in Krasna