OthershavemadesimilarinquiriesintotheeconomichistoryofmedievalGermany，andtheirstudieshaveinducedsomeFrenchauthors，andamongthemM。Dareste，warmlytoopposetheoriginalbutone-sidedtheoryofFusteldeCoulanges。
BeforepassingtothedirectstudyofthedevelopmentoftheRussianvillagecommunity，ImustrecognisethefactthatthelongandsometimesviolentstruggleoftheearlySlavophilsonbehalfofthespontaneousoriginofthemir，hasbeenproductiveofthebestresultstothestudyofagrariancommunisminRussia。
Acomparisonbetweenthemodernconstitutionofthemirandthatdescribedinoldchartersprovesthewidelydifferentcharacterofthetwo，whilethedifferencesbetweenthemsupportthetheoryofanaturalevolutionofthecommunity，anevolutionnotyetcompletedinmorethanonepartoftheEmpire。ThedifferencewhichwetracebetweenthepastandthepresentoftheRussiancommunearethesamewhichweseeexistingbetweenthevariousmodernformsofitinourownday。Thestudy，therefore，oftheseformsandoftheirnaturaltransformationmaybeofgreathelptowardsunderstandingthetrueoriginandgrowthofthesystem。Theopportunity——Imayevensaythenecessity——ofsuchastudyisthemoreapparentonaccountofthelackofmediaevaldocumentsconcerningtheearlyconstitutionofthemir。
Oursourcesofinformationarelimitedindeed；forseveralcenturies，downtotheendofthefifteenth，theyarealmostentirelywanting，andtheyonlybegintobeatallabundantduringthelastthreehundredyears。Itisonly，therefore，byasurveyofthemodernevolutionofvillageownershipinsomeremotepartsofRussiathatwecangetanideaofthevarioustransformationswhichthecommunehashadtoundergobeforeitreacheditspresentcondition。
ThevastnessoftheareaandthefactthatcertainpartsofRussiaremainedforcenturiesunpeopled，partlyonaccountoftheirphysicalcondition，partlyowingtotheirinsecurity，due，asitwas，totheperiodicalinvasionsoftheTartars，explain，toagreatextent，whythecharacterofthecommunevariessomuchthroughouttheland。Itsgrowthhasbeenstoppedinoneplaceatanearlystage，inanotherplaceatalaterstage，ofitsdevelopment。Wecantracethesestagesinsomecasesbychartersandbylegalandjudicialdocuments，inothersbythetransformationofthecommuneintohigherandmoreelaborateforms。ItisonlybythestudyofthesedocumentsandtheseformsthattheRussianhistoriancanhopetobeabletodescribethegradualdevelopmentoftheagrariancommunismofhiscountry。Wewillnowconsiderthechiefresultswhichtheapplicationofthismethodhasproduced。