Evil customs (Catalan: mals usos, lit. "bad uses") were specific medieval feudal customs, generally levies, which peasants were subjected to by their feudal lords in the Crown of Aragon and other European countries. These obligations are related to the Ius Maletractandi, a right approved by the Catalan Court of 1358, which empowered the feudal lords to treat their people in ways later considered unjust. Catalonia In the Principality of Catalonia, the population was controlled by the feudal nobility and a number of benefits were established that would later be considered evil customs. The customs were most often found in relation to the land of the so-called Old Catalonia. The ties of the peasant to the land he worked required him to pay a redemption if he wanted to leave it. The Usages of Barcelona collected only three of the most common obligations: the , and . The evil customs with the possibility of being redeemed paying a tribute to the lord in the were: : a right of nobles to confiscate of a portion, generally a third, of the property of peasants who died without making a will. Pella and Forgas said that this abuse occurred "almost in general" in the diocese of Girona. If it was a younger man who died intestate and without children, the lord of the manor received a third of it, and the rest of it was distributed for various purposes, some for the family, some for the church to pray for the soul of the deceased or as alms for the poor. : law by which the feudal lord received one-third of the inheritance of the peasant who had no descendants. : If the peasant's wife was found guilty of adultery, the feudal lord received half of her dowry if the woman had the consent of her husband, or the whole of her dowry if the woman did not. : indemnification of the peasant who had to pay the feudal lord in case of accidental fire of his belongings. of forced plunder: the extraction of a part of the goods of the peasants when they guaranteed the dowry of the woman with the farm of their feudal lord, after the marriage of his vassals. The peasant had the useful domain and the feudal lord had the direct dominion. Personal freedom: the peasants, subject to servitude, could not leave the farm they worked without having