The concept of land ownership in Serbia was subject to radical changes in the 1830s. By that time, the ownership of land had been fundamentally governed by the Ottoman feudal laws, which were generally characterized by the fiction of God as the supreme landowner and the inherent right of the Muslim community to enjoy the use of land (which was considered to be the collective property of the Ottoman state). The predominant type of estates in the Belgrade Pashaluk were the estates of military feudal lords; these estates were awarded ad personam to the Ottoman elite soldiers (spahi) in exchange for their military services. The spahis were not the land owners but they had the right to enjoy the benefits from the land. The estates which were held and cultivated by ordinary people in exchange for paying duties to the Ottoman state were subject to a limited inheritance right. The estates of military feudal lords were abolished by the Ottoman Hatisheriffs of 1830 and 1833, which eventually made private land ownership possible. The subsequent changes in the tax system facilitated the departure from feudalism and enabled the peasants (commoners) to become owners of the land they cultivated.