Balázs György (szerk.): The abolition of serfdom and its impact on rural culture, Guide to the Exhibition Commemorating the 150th Anniversary of the Revolution and War if Independence of 1848-49 (Budapest-Szentendre, Museum of Hungarian Agriculture-Hungarian Open-Air Museum, 1998.)

we do not cease to be free once we have liberated the people. But what is my liberty worth once everyone is free?..." At the Diet of 1832-36, Kölcsey, Deák, and other liberal representatives also urged for the reform of jurisdiction. Serfs remained defenceless, however, since it was their own landlords' manorial court or the county court that decided their cases. The Vienna Court and its representatives in Hungary aimed at intimidating the opposition trying to enforce social Cafe Pilvax, the haunt of young intellectuals of the March Revolution reform. Kossuth, Lajos and Baron Wesselényi, Miklós were tried and put to prison for offence against press-laws and for their oppositionist attitude at the Diet. However, times changed and an ever growing number of aristocrats felt the necessity of social reform. Their activities at the following Diet were organized by Count Batthyány, Lajos. In 1840, the possibility of voluntary manumission was enacted, which meant that the serfs themselves could buy off their tenure. However, having fulfilled their obligations, serfs had no money to redeem the land they used, so this form of manumission did not become a large-scale phenomenon. 29